Configuration of publishing an ASP.NET web site

Question

Forgive my ignorance, though I am new to this. I've search a lot but can't seem to come to a definite conclusion, so any information is appreciated.

So to the question: Is there a built-in configuration for web site publishing in MS Visual Studio called "Release"? The reason I'm asking is that some have told me it is, but I can only find the "Debug" configuration in Visual Studio.

So, if there's supposed to be a "Release" as well, how can I get it or can I manually add a new equivalent?

Answer 1

Go to the Solution Explorer (CTRL+W+S), then find your project. Right click on it and go to its properties. Find the Build tab. The top of the window will contain the active build configuration for your project. You can then change from debug (the default) to release.

By default, projects have two configurations: release and debug. You can make more, but first learn more about those two. The most important differences are explained in the question linked by Nacho in the comments. Good luck and happy codding.

edit: Web Site projects don't have the Release configuration available, but it makes no difference since they are not compiled. Web Application projects, on the other hand, do get compiled and have both configurations available.

Answer 2

It's been a long time (~4,5 years), but I think I might have used a Web Deployment Project for a Web Site Project once, for changing config files (replacing by copying from another directory) (xml node: WebConfigReplacementFiles)

I used Web Deployment Projects before web.config transforms where invented. (If you are interested in web.config transforms, check out my tutorial for VS 2010: http://www.tomot.de/en-us/article/5/asp.net/how-to-use-web.config-transforms-to-replace-appsettings-and-connectionstrings)

Another useful link might be: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/377y0s6t(v=vs.100).aspx