Encapulating a webapplication in a dll

[leblanc]

Attached is an image representing my current structure.

The goal is to move all the user controls in administrator.robusthaven.com
into the project robusthaven.components.knowledgebase.web

the goal is to deploy my knowlegebase to any website by just including the dll.

but a simple test called WebUserControl1 caused me problems.
visual studio isn't connecting the ascx with the codebehind.

simple test:

<&#37;@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="WebUserControl1.ascx.cs"  Inherits="RobustHaven.Components.KnowledgeBase.Web.WebUserControl1" %>
<asp:Button ID="Button1" runat="server" Text="Button" /> 

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Xml.Linq;

namespace RobustHaven.Components.KnowledgeBase.Web
{
    public partial class WebUserControl1 : System.Web.UI.UserControl
    {
        protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            foreach (Control c in this.Controls)
            {
                Response.Write(c.ClientID);
            }
//            this.Button1.Text = "test";
        }
    }
} 

Response.Write doesn't print any controls out.

and if i uncomment the line this.Button1.Text = "test";

Error    6    'RobustHaven.Components.KnowledgeBase.Web.WebUserControl1' does not contain a definition for 'Button1' and no extension method 'Button1' accepting a first argument of type 'RobustHaven.Components.KnowledgeBase.Web.WebUserControl1' could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?)    C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\share\RobustHaven.Components.KnowledgeBase.Web\WebUserControl1.ascx.cs    24    18    RobustHaven.Components.KnowledgeBase.Web 

anyone know what the problem is?

by the way i know i can write it all out in terms of code but i would like to have the designer file....

[wwb_99]

You need to look into VirtualPathProviders--that should let you do this.

That said, unless one is very, very carefully configuration driven, I think having all the assets inside a DLL is a manageability folly. The other issue is that, at least for images, you are going to put a boatload of stress on the server as it is serving everything out of the ASPNET isapi rather than taking advantage of the very, very fast and easy static file serving bits of IIS.