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I am learning about creating web application with ASP MVC 5 for some time and i really like the MVC framework for making it easy. I personally consider my self as desktop developer, but i look with envy on rich user interface that web application provide.

I have an idea to create a desktop application using MVC framework. The idea is that my web application would be hosted by local iis epress. The server part would access all machine resources and present as rendered html. And i would like to rely heavily on MVC framework and Razor rendering engine for that matter.

I wander if anybody did it in the past and also think that this is not a bad idea. I know that i could run compiled mvc dll under iis express on my dev machine, but what should i do when i want to deploy my app to other machine that doesn't have either iis or iis express? Is there a way to run iis express without installation?

Andrey
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It is possible to self-host an ASP.NET 5/MVC 6 application by following the instructions. Perhaps you could have some sort of installation process add a shortcut so your application can be run by double-click.

Here is an answer about self-hosting MVC 5 with a hack of some sort.

Neither of the above solutions require IIS.

However, your best option for running a desktop application is to use WPF to build it. The stateless nature of the web makes it more difficult to deal with than a stateful desktop application.

Whichever UI option you choose, the important thing is to segregate the business logic from the UI so you can switch the UI later without too much effort.

Community
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NightOwl888
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  • Self-hosting is the better solution than deploying iis express. That would suit my need very well! Thank you! – Andrey Sep 08 '15 at 16:12