eWorld.UI - Matt Hawley

Ramblings of Matt

Updated Utility: WebDeploy

March 19, 2004 19:50 by matthaw

Updated: Please View this post for the latest version.

WebDeploy has hit v0.7 with a ton of new features (yes again) that are even more appealing to developers.  This updated version is still the same simple windows application that it was, however it has yet again been beefed up tremendously.  Below is a screen shot of the new main form.

New Main Form for WebDeploy

 

Along with a new user friendly look to it, I've also re-done the profile configuration dialog so they're more user friendly to everyone. Below is a screen shot of the profile configuration.

Profile Configuration Dialogs for WebDeploy

 

Like always, I wanted to give you a teaser of the UI before I get to the good stuff, aka the changelog. So, here ya go...

  • New UI design for editing profiles.
  • Added new images to give a more user friendly environment.
  • Fixed old profile information is restored when "Cancel" is clicked when editing profiles.
  • Fixed blank profiles are no longer added when Cancelling a new profile creation.
  • Added deploying to ZIP files now supported, however backup/restore does not work.
  • Added ability to test FTP settings.
  • FTP information is now validated.
  • Added a new dialog and option to view files to be deployed prior to deploying.
  • Added ability to change the destination file name via dialog above.
  • Added ability to selectively choose files to be deployed via dialog above.
  • Added logging and ability to view log within WebDeploy.
  • Added command line functionality, however I had to split the application into 2 pieces.  WebDeploy.exe is the console app, that can call WebDeploy-GUI.exe if /u parameter is not specified.
  • Fixed random error message attempting to create directories via FTP.

Like always, WebDeploy is freeware, and the source code is not available.  If you have any further suggestions/comments/ideas/problems, please do not hesitate to contact me or post them on this blog post.

If you wish to download WebDeploy, click here. You will need the .NET Framework 1.1.4322 to run WebDeploy.



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Comments

March 19. 2004 21:02

Very nice...especially like the command-line stuff - I can see this being very useful for little deployment scripts - which are pretty tricky to do right now.

Scott Galloway

March 19. 2004 21:16

That was the whole idea behind the command line functionality Smile

Matt Hawley

March 19. 2004 21:49

Good work Matt, curious about the split between the GUI app and console; how come?

M. Keith Warren

March 19. 2004 22:03

Its how the .NET framework handles GUI (windows based apps) and console apps.  If you say the .exe is a windows based app, then nothing is written to the console when you do a console.writeline.  The only way around this was to split the 2 assemblies apart and have a console app & win app.  Also, as I was able to start the win app from a console build, the console would still appear while the win app was running.  Not reasonable.

Matt Hawley

March 20. 2004 00:26

Very nice, Matt.  We have actually developed a simple deployment tool as well.  We utilize the Visual Studio .NET project file to help us determine what files to deploy.  This is handled with the 'Build Action' tag that every file in the project has.  Basically every file that has a build action of 'Content', 'None' is deployed.



It sure would be a nice feature to import a VS .NET project file for the file types to be deployed.  Let me know if you would like some help in implementing this feature.  I'd be glad to lend a hand.

Dave Bost

March 20. 2004 01:13

It would nice to be able to parse a VS.NET project file for included filex and exclude *.cs and *.resx.

http://

March 21. 2004 03:50

Awesome program idea.

I get a couple of minor errors/problems though.



1) When I TEST the FTP connection, I get FAILED when I type a folder in - even thought that folder not only exists, the whole deploy still works when I ignore the error message!



2) Why is it painfull slow when FTPing just one file. I uploaded my small .css file (super small) and it tool like 70 seconds. Kept saying....Uploading file.



Keep up the good work!

Jim

Jim@cheseborough.com

Jim C

March 22. 2004 19:16

Jim C - send me an email via my Contact link, maybe we can work on solving the problem Smile

Matt Hawley

March 26. 2004 00:26

It's nice to get there. I am going to try right now...

http://

March 27. 2004 00:48

Hmm.. I'm having some trouble with WebDeploy reporting that access is denied to certain files that are plainly not.  I can copy the files manually over the existing files, I can delete the existing files, I can modify them.  But if I use WebDeploy to overwrite them with newer versions, I get:



File: blah.aspx

Path: Path\blah.aspx

Exception: Access to the path "Path\blah.aspx" is denied.



Any ideas?

http://

March 27. 2004 00:51

Check to see if those files that are failing have the "Read Only" attribute checked in the properties.  This is the only time I've seen this.

Matt Hawley

March 27. 2004 04:10

Come to think of it, they probably are.



I would really like to see an option in the next version that will overwrite even read-only files (if checked) because this is very common with files that are kept in version control.

http://

March 27. 2004 05:30

Its been on my mind, though its already "overwriting" files... but for some reason it blows up if that attribute is set.  I'll make a note of it, and make sure items like this don't happen in the future.  I know you're pain, as I've had to uncheck that attribute a lot as well.

Matt Hawley

March 30. 2004 18:06

One other thing i've noted is that the Web URL for the "homepage" in the About box brings me to a page that has nothing to do with WebDeploy.  Just an FYI

http://

March 30. 2004 18:08

That would be my website Smile

Matt Hawley

March 31. 2004 02:24

Yes, but you have no links on there about WebDeploy

http://

April 1. 2004 01:25

Another thing i'd like to see is exclusions.  I'd like to exclude certain directories from being scanned, and possibly the ability to exclude certain files as well (or patterns of files).



For example, suppose I have a test directory on my localhost and I don't want to upload that to my server, or suppose I want to upload all .config files except for my test .config file.

http://

April 1. 2004 20:08

Matt, I would like to use this utility to copy updated files from my development webserver to my production webservers. Would this WebDeploy utility be able to do this? I would like to just copy out those files that have changed since the last replication event (similar to the /MIR option in Robocopy Wndows Resource Kit Utility). I would also like to exclude certain directories as well. Can WebDeploy handle this as well?



Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

http://

April 1. 2004 20:11

This is the tool for you...except for the exclusion of directories.  In the latest build, though, you get the option to include/exclude certain files....so you could deselect the files from those directories specifically.

Matt Hawley

April 2. 2004 20:49

The ability to exclude directories would be a great enhancement. I am going to use the software anyway. Kudos for the great program!!

http://

April 2. 2004 21:57

I got this error when trying to run the program:



Application has generated an exception that could not be handled.



Process id=0x1a0(416), Thread id=0x190(400).



Click OK to terminate the application

Click Cancel to debug the application



Does anyone know why I am gettin this error?

http://

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