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Umbraco root site and ASP.NET MVC application in subdirectory

I'm trying to setup a ASP.NET MVC application in a subdirectory of an Umbraco site. This new ASP.NET MVC application will run as a virtual application. For example, the Umbraco site is located at www.domain.com, and the other MVC application is located at www.domain.com/app.

I'v tried thise approach: Umbraco Child MVC Application (Virtual Directory) - Could not load file or assembly Umbraco.ModelsBuilder

It works but there are some issues.

  1. All images placed in the /media section will no longer render.
  2. The /umbraco route fails, so we cannot access the CMS.

There is not any error message, just 'The page cannot be displayed because an internal server error has occurred' when I try to go to the '/umbraco' route.

Can you, please, tell me what is wrong or how to create application in a subdirectory of Umbraco as a virtual application?

The Umbraco version is 7.7.1.

And one note - the Umbraco is hosted on the Azure.

Thanks!

Solution

  • The problem is that web.config settings are inherited. Therefore, if your Umbraco installation is in the directory /wwwroot and your virtual application is in /wwwroot/app, the web.config settings for your Umbraco installation will be inherited. And it can cause major problems.

    You'll see some recommendations to wrap your Umbraco's <system.web> and <system.webServer> sections in a <location> tag. The problem, as you've mentioned, is that doing so prevents inheritance from some Umbraco subfolders, which breaks things such as /media and the /umbraco CMS portal.

    Therefore, you'll need to override problematic web.config settings in your /app's web.config file. Here's what worked for me:

    1. Between the <appSettings> tags, add <remove key="owin:appStartup" />.
    2. In your <system.web><membership><providers> section, be sure to add <clear /> as your first child. Doing so removes the inherited Umbraco.Web.Security.Providers.MembersMembershipProvider. Because if ASP.NET can't find that class, it'll present you with an exception.
    3. Similarly, in your <system.web><roleManager><providers> section, add a <clear /> as your first element for the same reason.
    4. In your <system.web><compilation><assemblies>, add a <remove assembly="Umbraco.ModelsBuilder"/>. Otherwise, your app will barf when it cannot locate that assembly.
    5. In , add <remove name="UmbracoModule" /><remove name="ClientDependencyModule" /><remove name="ImageProcessorModule" />

    That should do it. But the gist is to find Umbraco assemblies that are loaded in your Umbraco's web.config file that are Umbraco-specific, then remove them in your virtual application's web.config to prevent inheritance and the resulting "assembly not found" errors.