Visual InterDev

Deploying an Integrated Web Solution

See Also

If your Web application uses components created using other Microsoft® Visual Studio™ tools, you can add their outputs to your Web project and deploy them along with your Web files.

For example, a banking application may include a .dll, .ocx, or .class file created in another type of project. You can include the project's output as part of your Web application by adding the component to the Web project. If it is a server component, you need to mark it as such. If you want the component to execute within the scope of a Microsoft Transaction Server package, you can specify a package. For more information about Microsoft® Transaction Server (MTS), see Microsoft Transaction Server.

In deploying an integrated solution, you might perform the following tasks.

Registering Server Components

If your component is designed to run on the server and not on the end user’s computer, you need to make sure it is registered on the production server. You also need to register it on your master server during testing and design time.

You can manually register components or specify the component as a server component within your Web project for registration when you copy them.

Note   In order to register components through Microsoft® Visual InterDev™ on a remote Web server, the Web server must have Microsoft® Internet Information Server (IIS) installed with the Visual InterDev RAD Remote Deployment Support option selected during custom installation.

To specify a server component

  1. In the Project Explorer, add the component to your Web project.

  2. Select the component you want to register on the server.

  3. In the Properties Grid, select Custom.

  4. In the Component Installation tab of the Custom property page, select Register on server, and then choose OK.

Note   If your master Web server and local project are on the same computer the registry for that machine only notes the component once — not twice for the master and local version. If you remove the local copy, the registry entry for the component is also removed even though the component is marked as a server component in the project.

When you use the Copy Web Application feature, the component is automatically registered on the server. If the registration fails, you need to check your permissions on the server.

Packaging Components for Microsoft Transaction Server

If your Web application uses components or business objects that you want to be controlled using Microsoft Transaction Server, you can deploy them to the server using Visual InterDev.

For example, in your banking application, three business objects work together to transfer money from one account to another. The Transfer Object calls the Debit and the Credit Objects to transfer the money. For the transfer component, you need something that makes sure both of the other objects run successfully before either committing the changes or rolling the entire transaction back in the case that one part of the transaction fails.

Microsoft Transaction Server can manage your components during transaction processing. All you need to do in Visual InterDev is specify the components that make up a Microsoft Transaction Server Package and deploy them on the server.

To package components for MTS

  1. In the Project Explorer, right-click the component you want to add to the package.

  2. Choose Properties from the short-cut menu.

  3. In the Component Installation tab, choose Add to Microsoft Transaction Server package.

  4. In the Package name box, type the name of the package to add the component to.

  5. Select the Transaction support option appropriate for your component.

    Note   Typically the component’s objects inherit the transaction specified by the client. You can set these options to specify otherwise.

    To Select
    Set the component's objects to execute within the scope of a transaction regardless of whether the client has a transaction Requires a transaction
    Create a new transaction for the component's objects to execute within regardless of whether the client has a transaction Requires a new transaction
    Set the component’s objects to execute within the scope of the client’s transaction Supports transactions
    Set the component's objects to run without a transaction regardless of whether the client has a transaction Does not support transactions

When you deploy the application, the package is provided to Microsoft Transaction Server. For more information about creating and using packages, see the Microsoft Transaction Server documentation.

Deploying an Application with Components

Once you have completed marking your components within the project, you can deploy your Web application.

If your production server has FrontPage Server Extensions installed, you can perform the following task. If you have a special configuration you want to use, see Application Deployment in Visual Studio.

To deploy a Web application with components

  1. In the Project Explorer, select the project that points to the Web application you want to deploy.

  2. From the Project menu, choose Web Project, and then Copy Web Application.

  3. In the Copy Project dialog box, choose the copy of the application you want to deploy.

    Note   If you work on a team, you typically deploy the master version because it includes the updated files from the team members.

  4. In the Server name box, enter the name of the Web server you want to use.

  5. In the Web project box, enter the name you want the users to type for the URL.

  6. Select Register Server Components.

  7. Choose OK.

A new application root is added on the destination Web server and the files in the Web application are copied to that new folder. The name you specified in the Copy Web Application dialog box becomes part of the application's URL. You can now test the application on the production server.