Experimental Support for ASP.NET

by Gael Fraiteur on 27 Feb 2008

I have just checked in a library (actually, only two classes) allowing to use PostSharp in ASP.NET projects. The stuff is hosted at https://code.google.com/p/postsharp-user-plugins/. The reason why it did not work previously is that ASP.NET compilation does not go through MSBuild, so PostSharp was simply not invoked.

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Indeed, MSBuild has its own compilation mechanism. Fortunately, it has an extension point that seems just done for PostSharp: the IAssemblyPostProcessor interface. As you may imagine, it allows to post-process the compiled assembly.

So I simply developed an implementation of this interface (one class). The second class is a configuration handler.

Here is how to use this preliminary version of the library (from the documentation):

In order to use PostSharp in a web project, specify this class as an assembly post-processor in web.config:

<configuration>

     <system.web>

       <compilation debug="true"

         assemblyPostProcessorType="PostSharp.AspNet.AssemblyPostProcessor, PostSharp.AspNet"/>

     </system.web>

</configuration>

Additionally, you have to add the <postsharp ... /> section in the configuration file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<configuration>

 <!-- Add a configuration handler for PostSharp. -->

 <configSections>

  <section name="postsharp"

                         type="PostSharp.AspNet.Configuration.PostSharpConfiguration, PostSharp.AspNet"/>

 </configSections>

 <!-- PostSharp configuration -->

 <postsharp directory="P:\open\branches\1.0\Core\PostSharp.MSBuild\bin\Debug" trace="true">

  <parameters>

   <!--<add name="parameter-name" value="parameter-value"/>-->

  </parameters>

  <searchPath>

   <!-- Always add the binary folder to the search path. -->

   <add name="bin" value="~\bin"/>

   <!-- Then add the location of plug-ins that are not installed in standard locations. -->

   <add name="laos-weaver" value="P:\open\branches\1.0\Laos\PostSharp.Laos.Weaver\bin\Debug"/>

  </searchPath>

 </postsharp>

 <appSettings/>

 <connectionStrings/>

 <system.web>

  <!-- Note the 'assemblyPostProcessorType' attribute. -->

  <compilation debug="true"

                             assemblyPostProcessorType="PostSharp.AspNet.AssemblyPostProcessor, PostSharp.AspNet">

  <authentication mode="None"/>

  <trace enabled="true" pageOutput="true"/>

 </system.web>

</configuration>

In all configuration parameters and in search path elements, the tilde character (~) is replaced by the physical path of the application.

Be prepared that the compilation will be much much longer, especially if it is fine-grained...

This is a preliminary version, feedback is welcome!

Happy postsharping!

Gael