Converting ASP.NET MVC Framework csproj Question

Palmer, Jared L 36

Hello - I have a few different ASP.NET MVC projects that build on .NET Framework 4.8 I want to convert to the new SDK style csproj format. I was able to convert it over fine, but once I try and publish the project, all of the DLL files are not located in a /bin folder and nothing works. Instead they are just all dumped in one big folder with the other web assets (CSS, JS, etc) are at the same level. I want to know if there is some setting that can be applied to the SDK csproj file that indicates it needs to be deployed as the old MVC projects were?

Thanks

SurferOnWww 2,741 Reputation points

2024-09-24T03:09:18.2166667+00:00

I want to convert to the new SDK style csproj format.

What does "new SDK style csproj format" mean? Are you saying that you want to convert the Web Site Project of ASP.NET Web Forms to the Web Application Project?
Lan Huang-MSFT 29,251 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-09-24T08:26:19.6533333+00:00

Hi @Palmer, Jared L,

Issue #2670 in dotnet/project-system mentions the same problem as yours.

https://github.com/dotnet/project-system/issues/2670#issuecomment-1351860014

You can try the solution provided there.

https://github.com/dotnet/project-system/issues/2670#issuecomment-1765958424

Running dotnet build ./path/to/<name>.csproj spits out a full build into bin/.
Palmer, Jared L 36 Reputation points

2024-09-24T14:51:12.1133333+00:00

Hello -

I tried using dotnet build & publish and got the same problem.

I think the root of the problem here the integration from the csproj (SDK) to msdeploy.exe. I don't know which one is the blame, but when you call msdeploy in the command line you supply the *.csproj or *.sln. MsDeploy then goes off into its black box and builds the solution and packages it for you - which ends up being wrong. I don't know how you force MsDeploy to use dotnet build instead of msbuild to get the files in the correct location? I am not sure if there is hack around this other then the product team at MS fixing it for ASP.NET 4.8 SDK projects? I really wish I could get this to work.

Thanks
Lan Huang-MSFT 29,251 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-09-25T06:12:15.9066667+00:00

Hi @Palmer, Jared L,

Have you looked at the link I provided?

You can try the methods mentioned here:

https://github.com/CZEMacLeod/MSBuild.SDK.SystemWeb

the docs are there (on main repo readme) and examples are in that repo itself ('samples' folder). With his toolset, you should be able to create a working sdk-style csproj file for a new mvc5 app, and then you can fill it with your things from old project.
Palmer, Jared L 36 Reputation points

2024-09-25T13:04:46.22+00:00
Funny you mention because I have tried that github repo. I first installed the templates with this cmd:

dotnet new -i MSBuild.SDK.SystemWeb.Templates

Once that was done I created a brand new MVC project with one of those templates. I used the "Web Application (Model-View-Controller) (CZEMacLeod)" template.

Next I built it. That works fine, but building hasn't been a problem - deployment has been the issue.

Next I created a publish profile for it, and just set it up to deploy on local disk.

This ran fine, but the publish directory is empty?

Since step #3 didn't work, I tried using the dotnet CLI to publish instead with this command:

dotnet publish ./webapplication3.csproj -c Release -o C:\custom\deploymentFolder

The CLI publish command fails with this error:

C:\Users[my user id].nuget\packages\msbuild.sdk.systemweb\4.0.88\Sdk\Sdk.targets(31,3): error MSB4019: The imported project "C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\8.0.401\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v17.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" was not found. Co nfirm that the expression in the Import declaration "C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\8.0.401\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v17.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" is correct, and that the file exists on disk. [C:\Users[my user id]\source\repos\WebApplic ation3\webapplication3.csproj]

I don't understand why none of this is working?
Lan Huang-MSFT 29,251 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2024-09-26T09:01:52.0466667+00:00
Hi @Palmer, Jared L,

I used upgrade-assistant to convert the project to SDK style, and the dll file is in the bin file when publishing.

Below are the steps I tested; you can check what is different.

First create a new MVC project and execute the following command line on the CLI:

upgrade-assistant upgrade MyProj/MyProj.csproj -o feature.sdkstyle

Then reopen the project and rebuild, the error message will appear.

Right-click the project to add a reference and check the following "System.Web".

Download the two packages shown below:

Right-click the project and click Properties to change the output type to Class Library:

Finally, Rebuild the project.

Then right click on the project and click "Publish".

The wwwroot folder needs to be published separately.
Palmer, Jared L 36 Reputation points

2024-09-26T10:47:07.6533333+00:00

Interesting, so you'd have to publish twice with that method? That's a possibility.

I also dug into the MSBuild.SDK.SystemWeb/4.0.88 more. I started a discussion about my question I had with deployments and this is what she said here. Not a bad way to go either. At the end of the day, the "Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web" for net48 has issues and should be avoided. Based on your note above, you can sort of work around those issues if you want to do 2 deployments (not ideal). The usage of "MSBuild.SDK.SystemWeb/4.0.88" works perfect if you go down that route if you're OK with not using the stock MS SDK.

1 answer

youzedev@gmail.com 640 Reputation points

2024-09-21T12:01:17.7733333+00:00
When migrating ASP.NET MVC projects from .NET Framework 4.8 to the new SDK-style .csproj format, publishing might result in all files (DLLs, CSS, JS, etc.) being placed at the same level. To address this and mimic the old deployment structure, you can configure a few settings in the .csproj file.1. Publish Output Structure: You can ensure that your assemblies and web assets are placed in their appropriate folders by adding the following settings to your .csproj:

<PropertyGroup>  <PublishDir>$(PublishDir)\bin\</PublishDir>  <WebPublishMethod>FileSystem</WebPublishMethod> <TargetFramework>net6.0</TargetFramework>  </PropertyGroup> <ItemGroup> <None Update="wwwroot\**\*;web.config"> <CopyToPublishDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToPublishDirectory> </None> </ItemGroup>

Organizing the Output: You can also use the CopyToOutputDirectory property to ensure resources are copied to the right locations.

For example, you can add the following lines to ensure certain assets are copied correctly:

<ItemGroup> <Content Include="wwwroot\**\*;Views\**\*;web.config"> <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory> </Content> </ItemGroup>

Self-contained or Framework-dependent: Depending on whether you're publishing the app as self-contained or framework-dependent, ensure the output directory is correctly structured:

<PropertyGroup> <RuntimeIdentifier>win-x64</RuntimeIdentifier>  <SelfContained>false</SelfContained>  </PropertyGroup>

By organizing these properties, your output structure will better resemble the traditional bin and web folder setup in older ASP.NET MVC projects. Let me know if you need more details!

If my answer is helpful to you, you can accept it. Thank you.
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Palmer, Jared L 36 Reputation points

2024-09-23T12:54:32.45+00:00

I tried your recommendations with a brand new ASP.NET 4.8 project in Visual Studio (upgrading the csproj file with the upgrade extension in VS) and still non of it worked? The publish is still throwing all the DLLs at the root of the publish folder, then at that same level putting web assets?

Palmer, Jared L 36 Reputation points

2024-09-23T12:58:11.82+00:00

Hello - I tried your recommendation with brand new ASP.NET 4.8 web project and upgraded the csproj file using the Visual Studio .NET Upgrade Assistant to SDK style. I took your changes and applied them to the csproj file. The published results were still wrong with all the DLL files at the root and the web assets at that same level?

youzedev@gmail.com 640 Reputation points

2024-09-26T06:54:35.3166667+00:00

yeah !
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