Getting started (from perspective of developer used to 'ASP.NET Web Site' not 'ASP.NET Web Application'

I've built quite a few smaller interactive web sites in Visual Studio (currently use 2010, Standard), using the File / New / ASP.NET Web Site method.

I have a general understanding of Web how to use File / New / Projecct / ASP.NET Web Application,' though. I would assume there are quite a few other potential nopCommerce users/developers with a background similar to this.

My problem is making sure I've goet nopCommerce w/ source code, loaded correctly into VS2010, so that I can make simple changes.

I've downloaded nopCommerce_1.90_Source.rar, and then in VS2010, opened the NopCommerce.sln file, so that I see all folders, including the NopCommerceStore folder (which is what actually contains the .aspx files).

Is this correct?

Part of the reason that I ask, is that after I set it up this way, sometimes when I'm in VS2010 it finds all references, sometimes it doesn't. The 1st time I loaded it, the "Designer" files were listed separately, and in the Default.aspx.cs file (in the NopCommerceStore folder) said it couldn't resolve line 56: topicHomePageText.Visible = false;

However, since I've restarted VS2010, it does resolve it.

Another problem I encountered was when trying to do a "Hello World" test by adding a Label control with the ID of Label1 to the Default.aspx page, and then setting the Text value of Label1 in the code-behind's Page_Load event. At first it didn't recognize a control named Label1.

However, since reloading VS2010 with the project it seems to work now.

Basically, I'm worried that I'm overlooking something fundamental in how I've set up VS2010 with the nopCommerce 1.9 files.

cdakz wrote:

Yes, that's correct.

Since you are using "SourceCode" version, you can customize nopCommerce project according to your requirement(s).

Just remember few things:

In many websites when you make changes to .cs file , there is no need to re-built the project and changes takes place.

But in nopcommerce project, whenever you will make any change in .cs file YOU NEED TO RE-BUILT your project that will update the .dll files/libraries and then only you will be able to see the changes.

In nopCommerce, if you are making change to .aspx page then you don't need to rebuilt/re-compile - It's only .cs file which requires project re-built on any change.

To know more about why on few websites you can make changes in .cs file without re-compiling and why in nopcommerce you are required to re-compile, take a look at this article: http://www.compiledthoughts.com/2008/05/web-site-vs-web-application-project.html

Hope it helps...

Good to know that my 1st steps were correct.

And thanks for the link to the page explaining "WEB SITEs" vs. "WEB APPLICATION" projects. I've been researching this quite a bit, and that's definitely one of the most helpful explanations.

Any idea on why objects resolve sometimes, but not others? In the example I first encountered, where I added a Label control with the ID of label, it wasn't recognized in the .cs file. I even made sure that the .aspx had been saved, and then refreshed the Solution Explorer.

Have you seen this behavior? It's kind of unsettling (not a nopCommerce issue, I realize, but a VS issue).

Oops, I meant it had a label ID of "Label1", not just "Label"!

FYI, that after updating default the Default.cs, and then rebuilding, I checked the /bin folder, and saw that NopCommerceStore.dll had also been updated.

So, to summarize (mostly for other newbies to web app projects), both the Default.cs in the root, as well as the NopCommerceStore.dll in the /bin folder, would need to be uploaded to the production web server.