I have this older, third-party control.  I think that I just need to recompile it and re-link it so that it links to the latest version of the Ajax control tookit (used by the rest of the website).

Is this possible with VWDE or do you need full-blown Visual Studio for that?

 Hey you can compile class libraries / assemblies using Visual C# Express which can be downloaded at the express website:

• http://www.microsoft.com/express/ 

Sure you can do that with express vwd.  Just create a webproject for it and build it it will output a class library.(dll).

It depends on the project type. You can create a dll from a class library and Web Application projects (supported in SP1). In case you are using Web site, there is no way to create a dll in VWD, but you can use aspnet_compiler.exe from command line.

Thanks Mikhail.  I believe that you are right. I played around with it for a while unsuccessfully, but I have the code, so I am now going to try and make a user control out of it, bypassing the issue of the .dll altogether.  Thanks for the help.  Every problem is solvable if I just worry away at it for long enough, and if I can get pointers from experts like you along the way.

Regards,

....

Hi Mikhail,

"It depends on the project type. You can create a dll from a class library and Web Application projects (supported in SP1). In case you are using Web site, there is no way to create a dll in VWD, but you can use aspnet_compiler.exe from command line."

Hmm... I  have just installed VWD 2008 express edition and could not find "aspnet_compiler.exe"... Can you help me about how I can publish my websites created with VWD 2008 Express?

By the way I use Windows Vista Home Edition... Do I have to install ISS or something else?

Can you help me about that?

Thanks,

aspnet_compiler is part of the Framework / ASP.NET, not VWD 2008. It is command line utility you can find in Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.xxxxxx. There is not surect support of Web site precompilation in Express, you need to use compiler manually from command line.

Mikhail Arkhipov (MSFT):

aspnet_compiler is part of the Framework / ASP.NET, not VWD 2008. It is command line utility you can find in Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.xxxxxx. There is not surect support of Web site precompilation in Express, you need to use compiler manually from command line.

Hello Mikhail,

As far as I understood from your reply that I can compile my VWD 2008 express website with the v2.xxxx version aspnet_compiler....

Am I right?

Rgerdas,

;)

3.5 is an extension to 2.0 (i.e. it does not work without 2.0 installed), CLR and base classes are the same, so yes, aspnet_compiler is the same, but it is updated, actual version is 50727.3053 from July 2008.

 I am sorry to have to re-open this post.  Mikhail or someone, could you give me some more pointers please?  I am really flying blind with the aspnet_compiler.  In this link is a screenshot of the console window.  the line in question is:

aspnet_compiler -p c:\AccordionSiteMap\AccordionSiteMap.sln

Error 1003: The directory ... doesn't exist.

If there is reading that I should be dong about .sln's and .csproj's and such, then just point me to it.  basically I downloaded one of these, and installed it.  Now I want to swap out the version of AjaxControlToolkit for a more recent one and re-compile it. 

If I need to figure out about virtual directories in IIS, then that will be more learning for me, never previously gone near IIS.

Many thanks,

aspnet_compiler is usally run by one of your IDE's.

Best thing to do if you want to create an assembly (dll) is to get Visual C# Express and create a new class library project.

You can also add a project like this if you have visual web developer with SP1. You would have to make a web application project so that the solution is created and you can add more than one project into it. But like i say the easiest way is to make a class library in visual c# express.

 Thanks Harry.  I believe you are correct. 

Ultimately I found another accordion that did not require me to try and upgrade the dll.  It isn't as sexy as the lavablast version, but it will do me fine until I move the site to Silverlight and away from Ajax. Plus I understand it, always a plus.

Thanks for the help,

Hyacinth.