Views do not recompile if namespaces section was changed in web.config from views forlder.

[itd3v]

So as the exmaple of an issue I created new project and replaced some extensions and objects from web project to new one. Then I've added new namespace to system.web.webPages.razor -> pages -> namespaces section of web.config located in 'Views' folder and got the errors while building project. The reason is missing namespace in views.

On developer machine I can just clear folder with compiled views but what I need to do on production server to force views recompilation, I have no access to production server.

I really like RazorGenerator, it's pretty cool feature!!! Thanks for attention.

[daiplusplus]

Views do not recompile if namespaces section was changed in web.config from views forlder

RazorGenerator currently does not check the web.config last-modified-times or compare file hashes to trigger recompilation - because the main use-case of RazorGenerator is when you don't want to publish the cshtml files.

On developer machine I can just clear folder with compiled views but what I need to do on production server to force views recompilation, I have no access to production server.

When you're developing, ASP.NET will use its own BuildManager with its own Razor view-engine which does check web.config files, and won't invoke RazorGenerator - when you publish the project will defer to RazorGenerator always.

It sounds like you're asking how precompile your views while also allowing them to be updatable on the server?

[itd3v]

Hi Jehoel! Thanks for your reply.

It sounds like you're asking how precompile your views while also allowing them to be updatable on the server?

I need a way to force rebuild views by RazorGenerator for Release configuration. If there is no such setting, I think I need to update deployment script to delete CodGen folder before building a web project.

[daiplusplus]

I need a way to force rebuild views by RazorGenerator for Release configuration.

They should rebuild any time you do a project Rebuild - there's nothing special in the RazorGenerator MSBuild targets.

What does your build process look like?

[itd3v]

Hello there! May be a test case will be helpful to understand an issue...

• Visual Studio 2017
• .NET Framework 4.6.1
• C#

1. Create ASP.NET MVC 5 project (namespace Web) with RazorGenerator.Mvc and RazorGenerator.MsBuild dependencies. By default namespace Web will be added to ~/Views/Web.config file system.web.webPages.razor -> pages -> namespaces section as <add namespace="Web" /> child.
2. Create a class NumberExt (namespace Web) in the root of web app project. Add there some const or static field int PercentPrecision.
3. Use NumberExt.PercentPrecision somewhere in _Layout.cshtml and run the application.
4. Change NumberExt namespace from Web to Web.Common.
5. Append Web.Common namespace to ~/Views/Web.config file system.web.webPages.razor -> pages -> namespaces section as <add namespace="Web.Common" /> child.
6. Restart solution to allow Visual Studio update shared namespaces in views syntax, otherwise it will cause an error 'Missing Reference'.
7. Try to build the project.

Result: You will have an error "The name 'NumberExt' does not exist in the current context" for compiled _Layout.cshtml.cs because using namespaces were not updated inside the compiled file. Expected Result: Updated using namespaces in compiled views.

Thanks for attention and have a good day!

[itd3v]

Ok, I've fixed it by declearing RazorViewsCodeGenDirectory in web app .csproj file before importing RazorGenerator.MsBuild.targets:

<PropertyGroup Label="RazorGenerator">
  <RazorViewsCodeGenDirectory Condition=" '$(RazorViewsCodeGenDirectory)' == '' ">$(MsBuildProjectDirectory)\obj\CodeGen\</RazorViewsCodeGenDirectory>
</PropertyGroup>

Appended task RemoveDir to target BeforeBuild like these:

<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
  _YourBeforeBuildActionIfAny_
  <RemoveDir Directories="$(RazorViewsCodeGenDirectory)" Condition="Exists('$(RazorViewsCodeGenDirectory)')" ContinueOnError="true" />
</Target>