It seems like there should be a way to do this, but I just can't seem to do it. I love VS and I want to use it to develop web apps that are strictly HTML/Javascript based. In other words, no C#, no VB, no resulting /bin folder, no web config, no nothing. A blank project meaning "truly 100% blank" and not trying force me into some Microsoft technology or otherwise. I just want to use VS to write the code because it's still the best HTML/Javascript/Typescript/Everything-else-script editor out there.
Any thoughts on this? Can it even be done? Or is VS just too dependent on "Microsoft thinking" to allow this?
What you have described is indeed possible in Visual Studio 2017 Community.
Step 1) Create a new Project via File / New / Project
Step 2) Select Other Project Types / Visual Studio Solutions / Blank Solution.
Step 3) Right-click the newly created solution and select Add / New Solution Folder. This step may not seem important, but it seems that files cannot be added directly to a solution without first creating a "Solution Folder". This solution folder is virtual in that it does not correspond a physical folder location.
Step 4) Now right-click the newly created Solution Folder and select Add / Existing Item.
Step 5) Insert all the files you want to add. These may be added via the menu option in Step 4 or otherwise drag-and-dropped onto the solution folder (not the solution itself!).
Notice that even after creating the new solution and adding files, the only things created by Visual Studio 2017 are the usual .vs internal folder and the solution file itself.
I haven't heard or found a template online that will do this. I'm assuming you meant just HTML, JS/TypeScript, CSS/SASS etc. without .NET for "truly blank". Me I just delete the files I don't use :)
It seems that what you want is to start with an empty canvas like Blank Solution and then add your files in the solution. You don't actually need to have library/console/web projects in a solution, you could just have html and js and whatever you use for web development.
You can find the Blank Solution when you create a new project under the Other Project Types tab.
Related
I have a .NET solution - let´s call it bookshop, that contains multiple project: bookshop.web, bookshop.lib.
The bookshop.web is a web-application that display the content to the user. Bookshop.lib is a library that contains plenty of javascript code. The javascript code will be concated (with Gulp) to a single file with a release version number.
When I work with the solution I often change in both web and lib, and find parts of javascript code in the concatenated lib file that should not be in that particular version. We use Git and branches in our project, but the branch involves changes in both web and lib, so it is hard to separate it to only the javascript version.
Is there a way to have my solution in a Git repository, but have a branch that only affects the lib folder - and a branch that only can change the web? I want to be able to switch lib branches depending on it´s release version, without having to change the web branch.
Any advice on this working progress problem would be great.
Like explained in this topic, there's a feature in git called submodule to handle nested git repositories. I think it's the way you should take.
Another useful link ! Good read :)
/
..Common/Scripts/Script1.js
..Sharepoint2010/Layout/Scripts/[reference to Script1.js]
..Sharepoint2013/Layout/Scripts/[reference to Script1.js]
Developement for Sharepoint allows to deploy resources such as js and css files.
Different versions of Sharepoint have different metadata (project types, webparts, paths), but the source js/css are the same.
Programmatically it's best to have a signle copy of resource and use it from these different projects.
So editing Script1 in Sharepoint2010 project and saving it eventually result in updated Common/Script1.js which will be i.e. updated automatically for Sharepoint2013.
I'm relatively new to sharepoint, but I'm not searching for "use build options, cmd xcopy /sp2010/script1.js common/scripts/script1.js".
I'm using WebEssentials to simplify development, there are bundles, which defines path to resources and then compile these resources, but that doesn't work with the given scheme.
If I understood your problem correctly, "Add as link" option in Visual Studio can help you. The article is actually about Win8 development, but whatever.
When developing javascript code, what are the best practices for maintaining the code in repositories?
For example, suppose I develop a set of useful functions and put them in a script called "sugar.js". In the code repository I put them in c:/codebase/suger.js.
Now I want to use the script in a web site being developed and I locate it at c:\mywebsite\sugar.js (ready for uploading to a server)
Do I keep a copy of sugar.js? What if I fix sugar.js in one location - it won't be synchronized with the other?
What if I build a second web site that also uses sugar.js? Do I take another copy located at, say, c:\mywebsite2\sugar.js?
If you are using something like visual studio, you can use NuGet for versioning many of the popular javascript frameworks on a per-project basis.
If you are writing in something else, you could try package managers such as npmjs or http://jspkg.com/JSPkg.
If it is your own library, I would recommend setting up source control and having versioned releases as branches or tags, that way you can keep track of everything. Git and GitHub support this type of thing, and you can set it up to have each version as a zipped download.
I would also try to keep each project's javascript files separate, that way any changes won't immediately break every site, just the one you recently updated. This advice could go out the window if you are running hundreds of sites and really just need a CDN.
What VS 2010 project template would you use for a plain HTML and JS project, no ASP or other code. Just plain vanilla HTML / JS. I am using an empty Web project ("ASP.net empty Web Application"), still giving me unnecessary files and directories. Is there anything better?
This question is not about extensions for JS, such as Visual Studio Javascript extensions feature comparison .
-- Update as of 15. August --
I have deleted the extra directories and references to the extend possible. The bin folder gets recreated whenever the application is build, but I can solve this on Solution level by switching of the build (Configuration properties). The webconfig is required for debugging - I cannot get rid of this one - so this is the best I get until now.
Damn - obj and bin directories are recreated when closing and re-opening VS2010 (preparing solution stage). So I have to live with some overhead of files / directories.
-- As of 18.August --
Guess there is no better way, delete as much as possible and live with the remaining "trash".
Visual Studio Web Development is orientated to ASP.NET projects creation, but you can build without any problem, HTML & JS applications *deleting the extra directories* created for ASP.NET apps, which need that.
Best regards.
Ángel Manuel.
Have you considered creating a web site in visual studio instead of using a web project? File -> New -> Web Site. It's still directed towards asp.net development but it might be more what you are looking for.
I'd just use a text editor/hilighter like Notepad++ :P
We're beginning work on a couple of fully JavaScript-dependent web apps (our previous apps have been ASP.NET MVC, with JavaScript 'goodness' sprinkled over-the-top).
We have a few files that will be shared across the board, and it would be nice to store these files in a Common project, and 'Add As Link' them into individual projects (as would be possible with compiled code).
Obviously this doesn't work with something like JavaScript as the file isn't actually 'there' in the correct location.
Does anyone have any suggestions on keeping a single version of a shared JavaScript file, for use across multiple projects?
I know this issue is ancient, but still wanted to put forward my solution because it is a bit simpler than beardtwizzle's.
You can ensure that Visual Studio copies all linked files to where you placed the link in Visual Studio's Solution Explorer by adding this at the end of your .csproj file:
<Target Name="CopyLinkedContentFiles" BeforeTargets="Build">
<Copy SourceFiles="%(Content.Identity)"
DestinationFiles="%(Content.Link)"
SkipUnchangedFiles='true'
OverwriteReadOnlyFiles='true'
Condition="'%(Content.Link)' != ''" />
</Target>
I've described how this works in my blog post at
http://mattperdeck.com/post/Copying-linked-content-files-at-each-build-using-MSBuild.aspx
In the end, this is how I've achieved it. It may not be to everyone's taste - but worked a treat for me.
Note: In all of our projects, static resources are in a root directory called 'Assets', so for example JavaScript is always in /Assets/js/ and CSS /Assets/css/.
Solution
In the project that is going to 'import' the common code, I simply add the common .js file 'As Link' within /Assets/js/.
Go to that new addition's Properties and set 'Copy to Output Directory' to 'Copy if newer'.
Now I simply edit the project's post-build event command line to the following:
xcopy /Y /E "$(TargetDir)\Assets" "$(ProjectDir)\Assets"
When the project builds, it copies the imported files to \bin\Assets\js - the post-build event then takes a copy of those over to the project directory - in time for the site to use them.
The correct solution is embedding javascript/css files in your project. You can do this by using WebResources.axd. This is the official way microsoft embeds js in its controls. (Like validation controls)
You can find a good tutorial on: https://web.archive.org/web/20211020131200/https://www.4guysfromrolla.com/articles/080906-1.aspx
I can also see this question is ancient, but thought I would add my two cents...
I have a javascript file in a separate project. I added a linked reference and this works well for publishing, but doesn't work in IIS Express or Casinni. I tried adding custom routing to catch the missing file and manually remap it, but it is bit of a hack and for some reason stopped working when I upgraded to MVC 5.1, so rather than fix the hack, I found a better way:
System.Web.Optimization has javascript bundles.
In your shared project, set the Copy To Output Directory to 'Copy Always' and Build Action to 'Content' on your js file. This means your js files end up in the bin folder of your website project. They cannot be served from there (IIS wont serve anything in the bin folder for obvious security reasons), but they can be included in bundles
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Optimization;
public class BundleConfig
{
public static void RegisterBundles(BundleCollection bundles)
{
bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/bundles/externalLibrary").Include(
"~/bin/scripts/externalLibrary.js"
));
}
}
You then need to add this to Application_Start in your global.asax file (right next to register routes)
BundleConfig.RegisterBundles(System.Web.Optimization.BundleTable.Bundles);
then use your bundle link this in your razor cshtml:
<script type='text/javascript' src='#System.Web.Optimization.BundleTable.Bundles.ResolveBundleUrl("~/bundles/externalLibrary")'></script>
you will need the nuget package for microsoft.aspnet.web.optimization
Anyone that stumbles across this question here in the future should know that there are now Shared Projects in Visual Studio to solve this problem. Universal Windows projects use them by default and you can create your own by downloading and installing the VS extension here: https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/315c13a7-2787-4f57-bdf7-adae6ed54450
Once you download the extension you can add a Shared Project (Empty) to your solution. The project can be found in the project templates for Visual C#, Visual C++, and JavaScript.
Then include the files you want to share to the shared project in any folder structure that makes sense for you.
Next you will include the shared project as a shared reference in the other projects in that solution that need access to the shared files. Right-click the other project and choose "Add Shared Project Reference".
Now you can reference the shared files in your main project as if the files in the shared project existed there. They are compiled as part of that project.
The technology was intended for Universal apps to share code between Windows Phone and Windows Store apps so be warned that you may have trouble sharing in different scenarios but it is worth a try to see if it will fill your need.
You could perhaps use visual studio templates
great question, I've been thinking about this for quite some time. The only solutions that have popped up in my mind are hosting the files on the web and using them like a cdn or using symlinks. You could add a code snippet into your visual studio to reference them.
This blog post describes an alternative solution to the answer by #beardtwizzle:
http://consultingblogs.emc.com/jamesdawson/archive/2008/06/03/using-linked-files-with-web-application-projects.aspx
The idea is similar:
Add the shared file to to web project as a link
Modify the _CopyWebApplication build step in the project, so that the linked files are copied correct destination path.
So instead of a post build event the files are copied by a modified build step. For me this solution feels a little bit cleaner (but this may well be a matter of taste). Anyway I just added this to our solution and it works great so far!
Use proper version control.
Keep the js in one location and then just git pull (or the equivelant Mercurial / Bazaar) them back into your code whenever you've updated your javascript.