Aspnet_compiler and msbuild.exe
I am new to msbuild and aspnet_compiler.
I am using aspnet_compiler to compile a web application project. Now I just saw the MSBuild.exe file and noticed that it creates my site in the / mywebsite / precompiledWeb folder. Now why would I use MSBuild.exe? Can't I use aspnet_compiler directly to make sure my site can be built correctly?
(Not sure if I explained this very well).
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msbuild.exe is commonly used to build projects and their dependencies. When you have a web application project with a project file, vs can use it to create not only your web project, but all dependencies. This would only create source code files, not markup files (.aspx, .ascx, .etc).
aspnet_compiler is for creating a website project that doesn't have a project file. That being said, you can also use it to make sure your markup files are also generated for your web application project.
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You are right, you can manually invoke the aspnet_compiler.exe tool. But it would be better to use Web Deployment Projects to help you with this.
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