How to add Dynamic Data to an Existing Web Application

Yesterday I posted about how to add Dynamic Data to an existing website and I got some feedback about how to add Dynamic Data to an existing web application. Web application projects work a little different the website projects, you can check out the differences here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa730880(VS.80).aspx.

1) Create a dummy Dynamic Data web application project. Copy the DynamicData directory from it into your existing web application. You should also copy the Site.css and Site.master files. The Default.aspx file is optional, it display a menu of tables in your data model, this file is only needed if you plan on having such a menu in your application. IMPORTANT: Web application projects have namespaces in their code behind files, you may want to change the namespaces of the copied in files to match the namespace of your existing project.  

2) You can copy the Global.asax file or if you already have such a file you can just add the model registration and url routes as below to the

<%@ Import Namespace="System.Web.Routing" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="System.Web.DynamicData" %>

void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) {

MetaModel model = new MetaModel();

model.RegisterContext(typeof(YourDataContextType), new ContextConfiguration() { ScaffoldAllTables = false });

routes.Add(new DynamicDataRoute("{table}/{action}.aspx") {
    Constraints = new RouteValueDictionary(new { action = "List|Details|Edit|Insert" }),
    Model = model
});

}

3) Right click on the References node in the solution explorer and select "Add Reference". In the dialog that opens up you need to select System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations, System.Web.Abstractions, System.Web.DynamicData and System.Web.Routing.

4) In the <compilation> section in web.config add the following assemblies:

<add assembly="System.Web.Abstractions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
<add assembly="System.Web.Routing, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
<add assembly="System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
<add assembly="System.Web.DynamicData, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>

5) In the <pages>/<controls> section add the following new tag prefix:

<add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.DynamicData" assembly="System.Web.DynamicData, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>

6) Enable the new ASP.NET Routing feature:

IIS 5/6/Casini

In the <httpModules> section add the following new module:

<add name="UrlRoutingModule" type="System.Web.Routing.UrlRoutingModule, System.Web.Routing, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />

IIS 7

In the <system.webServer>/<modules> section add the following:

<remove name="UrlRoutingModule" />

<add name="UrlRoutingModule" type="System.Web.Routing.UrlRoutingModule, System.Web.Routing, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />

In the <system.webServer>/<handlers> section add the following:

<add name="UrlRoutingHandler" preCondition="integratedMode" verb="*" path="UrlRouting.axd" type="System.Web.HttpForbiddenHandler, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" />

 

At this point Dynamic Data should be functional. To enable it see the steps at the bottom of yesterdays post.