Free ASP.Net Project Deployment Tool

Hi Guys!

I wrote a cool little tool I would like to share with you! It allows you to deploy an ASP.Net project to any FTP server. It's like the "Project/Copy Project..." command in visual studio, but it uses pure FTP so it doesn't require FrontPage extensions and you can pick and choose which files go up (so you can only put up the bin files if that is all you changed).

You can download it for free on my website at:

http://www.herculessolutions.com/

Just click on "ASP.Net Project FTP" at the bottom of the page.

 

Thank you! Thanks for the great hosting service! Let me know if you have any feature requests/bug reports. I just developed this over the weekend, so itmight still be a little rough.

 

Hi


I hope it is ok for me to ask some questions about this tool (which is a great one ) Your text is in italics.


ASP.Net Project FTP is a utility that allows you to easily upload an ASP.Net project to any arbitrary FTP site. It works similar to the "Project/Copy project..." command in Visual Studio, but does not require FrontPage extensions and it allows you to upload only the selected files you want. ASP.Net Project FTP also tracks all projects, FTP sites, user names and passwords so after the first time you upload a project, you can upload an updated version with the click of a button!


What do you mean by "only the selected files you want"? Is it possible for me to just click a button after I have updated some of my files and the program recognizes the updated files and uploads only those. Or do you mean that I can upload selected files by checking the checkboxes for the files I want to upload, in the tree view?


Today I remember the files I have updated and then upload just theese files by drag and drop in IE. I never copy the whole project in Visual Studio since this would be timeconsuming if only a few files have changed since the last upload.


The problem with my approach is that it is easy to forget some of the updated files.. my memory is short So the bottom line is that what I need is some program to help me remember which files are updated and therefore needs to be uploaded. Is this someting your application can handle? Dont missunderstand me, your program is great.. I just wonder because if it can handle this it would help me a lot.


Note that it saves this information in an XML resource file in the same directory as your executable and it saves the passwords in clear text.


One more question. Well, I have read a course on computer and information security...but still I wouldnt say that I know this area much at all so I wonder.. This XML-file. What passwords will it store? SQL-server password? The account top password? (I mean the password you use to get into the ftp for example). How dangerous is this XML-file? Is it possible to just browse to it? Is it possible to password-protect it ..umm..that would mean that this password has to be stored..in the xml..or? Well, I guess you understand my question What risks are there and what damage could these risks cause?








Malin

~Postingat the DASP-forum since thebeginning ~

Post Edited (Malin) : 12/2/2004 12:49:32 AM GMT

 

My replies are in red.


What do you mean by "only the selected files you want"? Is it possible for me to just click a button after I have updated some of my files and the program recognizes the updated files and uploads only those. Or do you mean that I can upload selected files by checking the checkboxes for the files I want to upload, in the tree view?


Right now you can just select the files you wantvia checkboxesthe TreeView. When I get some time, I'll implement the "modified since my last upload". Although that will not be able to take into account uploads with other programs (Like IE, or Copy Project) because it can only remember the last time you uploaded with THIS program.


Note that it saves this information in an XML resource file in the same directory as your executable and it saves the passwords in clear text.


One more question. Well, I have read a course on computer and information security...but still I wouldnt say that I know this area much at all so I wonder.. This XML-file. What passwords will it store? SQL-server password? The account top password? (I mean the password you use to get into the ftp for example). How dangerous is this XML-file? Is it possible to just browse to it? Is it possible to password-protect it ..umm..that would mean that this password has to be stored..in the xml..or? Well, I guess you understand my question What risks are there and what damage could these risks cause?


The XML file just saves the information you type into the app(That is the username and password for your FTP account). This information is only stored on your local computer. It is possible for someone to open this up and look at your FTP information, but only if they have access to your computer (If they did have access, they could probably do many more dangerous things than taking your FTP information). Also, note that the FTP protocol sends both the username and password in clear text over the internet, meaning it is inherently insecure, which is why I decided to not split hairs over storing the login information in clear text. The moral of the story is to backup anything you are uploading to an FTP server so that in the event that it is destroyed, you can easily replace it.

Post Edited (JerSchneid) : 12/2/2004 1:21:14 AM GMT

 

JerSchneid said...
Right now you can just select the files you wantvia checkboxesthe TreeView. When I get some time, I'll implement the "modified since my last upload". Although that will not be able to take into account uploads with other programs (Like IE, or Copy Project) because it can only remember the last time you uploaded with THIS program.</BLOCKQUOTE>
Ok, I understand this. Still, it is a great tool but I will really watch out for the new features
But what does the "modified since my last upload" mean? Does it mean that all files since the last time you uploaded the entire site will be uploaded to the web? Or (this is the feature I really would enjoy) does it mean synchronizing the both projects where the files not matching are uploaded to the web? I understand that it will be required to use your program all the time if I want to benefit fromthese functions.



JerSchneid said...

The XML file just saves the information you type into the app(That is the username and password for your FTP account). This information is only stored on your local computer. It is possible for someone to open this up and look at your FTP information, but only if they have access to your computer (If they did have access, they could probably do many more dangerous things than taking your FTP information). Also, note that the FTP protocol sends both the username and password in clear text over the internet, meaning it is inherently insecure, which is why I decided to not split hairs over storing the login information in clear text. The moral of the story is to backup anything you are uploading to an FTP server so that in the event that it is destroyed, you can easily replace it.</BLOCKQUOTE>
Ok, I did not understand that the XML will be stored locally
Of course the access to this XML would not be the most critical threat if someone got access to my computer so the XML does not feel like a problem for me.

Thanks for your quick answers


Malin

~Postingat the DASP-forum since thebeginning ~

 

Hi Guys,


I finally got around to updating the upload tool to track when the last upload occurred.Now you can now select only the files that have changed since the last upload or only the required changed files.


You can download the updated app here:


http://www.herculessolutions.com/AspDotNetProjectFtp.zip

 

Thanks for such a handy tool. I had a bunch of problems using FrontPage Extensions, but now I've unistalled thembecause this little tool does such a better job! One suggestion though: when I open my project, can you have it automatically do the first option in the dropdownlist? I have to manually select the second, then the first for it to work correctly. Thanks again!

 

Hey JerSchneid - excellent initiative...

Got a question though - would you be prepared to share the source of it? with copyright etc etc etc...

i'm a cautious person by nature and would love to have a look at the tool, but are a little bit concerned about the code and what's behind it, security and what it would do to my registry. Of course this could sound like a "heist" to steal your idea but i'm not really interested in it in that aspect.

Anyways, let me know what you think.

----
Brian H. Madsen
Microsoft SQL Server IG Perth - Organiser
http://www.sqlserver.org.au

 

Hi Guys,

Sorry about my delay. I wasn't getting e-mails on these replies for some reason. Brian, send me an e-mail at [email protected] and I'll send you the source. I wrote the app over a weekend and never plan on selling it so I'm not too worried about the IP.

Pimpnosis, there is a bug in the current version that requires you to select two options before the nodes are checked correctly. I'll upload a fix to that when i get a chance.

 

By the way Brian, the tool is very light weight and doesn't require an install or uninstall. The only "side effect" the tool has is an XML resource file that is created in the same directory as the executable. The app doesn't touch the registry or any other files on the system. (You can check the source code to be sure )