Restructuring Default MVC3 Project Directories And NuGet

Question

I once watched a TekPub video on MVC2 that suggested renaming Content folder as Public, Adding Scripts to this folder etc.

A couple of developers I am showing MVC preferred this structure and tried it. However with the inclusion of NuGet it seems to expect the folders to be in the standard locations. E.g. JQuery I think just puts itself in \Scripts folder. Guess that is convention over configuration.

Is there anyway to restructure the default folders but explain to NuGet where to put things? Is it just a bad idea to change the default layout?

I'm not sure it's nuget that's the issue here, I *think* it's the packages themselves? — Andras Zoltan, Sep 22 '11 at 23:47
Yeah, that may be the case. Just I assumed that something was targeting the default locations and there would be a way to override it. I thought convention over configuration but I could configure it differently — GraemeMiller, Sep 22 '11 at 23:54

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 23 '11 at 13:21

The issue is that currently, when you create a package, you specify in the .nuspec file the path that the file will ultimately end up at. So right now, things are pretty much hard-coded to go to /Content.

We've actually discussed adding the ability to specify virtual folders or placeholders in your .nuspec file. Then the end-user can define a mapping to say all $scripts files go to /public/js, etc.

You can see the discussion here http://nuget.codeplex.com/discussions/256542

We can create an issue for this and get people to vote it up.

Sounds like a good idea. Not sure how many people would find it useful. Just seems a nice feature to have though. — GraemeMiller, Sep 26 '11 at 08:18

Erik Funkenbusch · Answer 2 · 2011-09-23T03:24:25.850

3

There is no way for Nuget to know where you randomly decided to put stuff. It can't read your mind, and without some kind of configuration, which Nuget doesn't really have for this sort of thing, it simply isn't possible.

This is why you should stick to conventions, because doing so saves you a lot of work if you are ever going to need to utilize third party tools.

edited Sep 23 '11 at 03:24

answered Sep 23 '11 at 02:28

Erik Funkenbusch

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Didn't think it would randomly know. I wondered if it could do some sort of transform. e.g. a package wants to write to /Scripts I could configure to re-direct write to /Public/Scripts – GraemeMiller Sep 23 '11 at 08:40
@GraemeMiller - not that i'm aware of, but it could be a good suggestion. http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio – Erik Funkenbusch Sep 23 '11 at 13:51

Restructuring Default MVC3 Project Directories And NuGet

2 Answers2