Basics of IISExpress

Introduction

• We have the following two types of development servers for building, deploying and testing ASP.NET web applications:
  • The ASP.NET Development Server that comes with Visual Studio
  • The IIS Web Server that comes with Windows

   

• IIS Express has features of both of the servers mentioned above so now it is easier to build and run ASP.NET sites and applications.
• IIS Express is the default web server for web application projects in Visual Studio 2012 and Visual Studio 2013.
• IIS Express works on Windows XP and higher operating systems
• IISExpress provides the IIS 7.x developer feature-set.
• IISExpress works on all operating sytems.
• IISExpress does not require an admin account to debug/run applications using the developement IDE.
• IISExpress can be installed along with the IIS webserver and ASP.NET development server without any issues.
• IIS Express is derived from IIS 7 and above and supports the core features of IIS.

Path of IISExpress

IISExpress can be found in systems at the following path:

USERS\devesho\My Documents\IISExpress

Content of IISExpress folder

An important folder is Config with the following:

USERS\devesho\My Documents\IISExpressAn important folder is Config with the following:

• Applicationhost.config
• Aspnet.config
• Redirection.config

Applicationhost.config file

The Applicationhost.config file is the heart of IISExpress. It can be found at the location specified above.
To understand the applicationhost.config file let’s create a sample web application.

Sample Application

• A sample application has the name TestIISEXPRESS

  
   

• After creating a sample application in the step above, the path of the virtual directory will be created on applicationhost.config.

  The corresponding Virtual directory at applicationhost.config:

   

• Setting IISExpress from Project properties.

  We can set IISExpress as a default server using project properties.
  We can choose a Radio Button as shown in the screen below.
  For VS2012 this is the default setting.

  
   

• IISExpress on right tray

  After setting IISExpress as a default server and running the application using F5, we would find the following in the right tray of the system.

  
   

• After clicking on “Show All Applications”:
  
   
• Project setting using F4:

   

• Let’s change the settings for Managed Pipeline Mode from “ Integrated “ to “classic” as in the following:

  
   

• Corresponding changes automatically occur in the applicationhost.config. file as in the following:

More details of applicationhost.config file

• Default document setting:

  
   

• Managing Application pool

  
   

• Setting MIME types

  
   

• Security Settings

Conclusion

I have explained the basics of IISExpress and it is very easy to work with it.