Question: I created an ASP.NET web application.
Now it originally was meant for deployment on a webserver.
That is working, so, so far so good.
My question now is: Is it possible to deploy it as a desktop-application, too?
That is to say the installer installs some kind of server, plus the web application, configures the server to run this application on a localhost URL, and then creates a link in the start menu/desktop, where it opens that url (website, the application) on localhost in a web browser?
I think it should be possible, though the server wouldn't be IIS, because this is a windows component which can't be separately installed.
Is there anything like this already out there ? The nonplusultra would be that it only starts the server when you click on the shortcut.
For .NET non-Core in 2010:
I almost went for Cassini.
But in the meantime, I found something better:
http://code.google.com/p/aspnetserve/
My mistake was searching for 'asp.net deployment server component' instead of 'asp.net embedded webserver'.
A really cool project.
Seems to work, at least for my needs.
Edit:
A much better choice is xsp4 from package xsp-2.10.2, courtesy of the mono-project.
http://download.mono-project.com/sources/xsp/
Works on both Linux and Windows, as well as Mac, with both mono and .NET framework, and that without GAC installation (in fact, without any installation).
The latest source is here:
https://github.com/mono/xsp/tree/master/src