Publish application over network using Silverlight Viewer?

[BarryGuidry]

Is it possible to publish a web application with the Silverlight Viewer to a web server root directory remotely? In other words, I have access to ArcGIS Server Manager on a remote, and virtual, server from my desktop. I can easily publish map services / web applications through the Server Manager interface. I also have access to the "www-root" directory on the web server from my desktop / network. If I were to install the Silverlight Viewer on my desktop would it be possible to publish the Silverlight web application remotely over the network to the web server "root" directory given this setup?

[PietaSwanepoel2]

Barry,

You have to install the Silverlight Application Builder on the remote server
Can the then access it, eg. http://theRemoteServerName/Builder/

Assuming that you have access to it and that it is exposed in IIS on remote server. You can protect this application through settings in IIS if you don't want others to be able to access it (Not a good idea in any case).

The new application that is created will be on the remote machine and not on your local machine. Will be under the inetpub/wwwroot/apps/...
Once again it can be accessed via, eg. http://theRomoteServerName/Apps/MyNewApplication/

Alternatively you can configure the application on your local machine, deploy it and copy the application directory (using xcopy, ftp, etc) to the remote server.

[BarryGuidry]

Barry,

You have to install the Silverlight Application Builder on the remote server
Can the then access it, eg. http://theRemoteServerName/Builder/

Assuming that you have access to it and that it is exposed in IIS on remote server. You can protect this application through settings in IIS if you don't want others to be able to access it (Not a good idea in any case).

The new application that is created will be on the remote machine and not on your local machine. Will be under the inetpub/wwwroot/apps/...
Once again it can be accessed via, eg. http://theRomoteServerName/Apps/MyNewApplication/

Alternatively you can configure the application on your local machine, deploy it and copy the application directory (using xcopy, ftp, etc) to the remote server.

Thank you very much, Pieta. I assume if I were to configure the Silverlight Viewer on my own machine, as you stated in your last paragraph, I would likely need a web server on my own machine to build and test the web application, right?

Is this the correct application to which you are referring?

[PietaSwanepoel2]

Barry,

installing IIS is easy and free. Just enable it using the 'Turn Windows features on/off' in Control Panel
Make sure that all the features are enabled that ArcGIS installation for Application Builder requires.( The link you referred to)

[BarryGuidry]

Barry,

installing IIS is easy and free. Just enable it using the 'Turn Windows features on/off' in Control Panel
Make sure that all the features are enabled that ArcGIS installation for Application Builder requires.( The link you referred to)

Thanks again. The problem I have is that we have an IT policy that we cannot have IIS (or any web server) on any machines but designated servers. But, if I access the Silverlight Builder remotely, as in your first suggestion, I shouldn't need a local web server right?

[RichZwaap]

The problem I have is that we have an IT policy that we cannot have IIS (or any web server) on any machines but designated servers.

Well that's unfortunate.  Since the Application Builder is a web application, it can only be installed on a machine with a web server (specifically IIS).

But, if I access the Silverlight Builder remotely...I shouldn't need a local web server right?

Correct.  If the Viewer is installed on another server, you'll be able to access and use the Application Builder in your browser - provided that you have access to the Application Builder site from your machine.

I should also add that, while this doesn't help in your particular case, it is possible to configure the Application Builder to deploy applications to another server.  This can be done as follows:

1. On the machine that apps are going to be deployed to, create a network share that maps to the folder that will contain the apps.


2. On the shared folder, grant write access to the account that will be used to deploy the applications.  Note that this is the account that the Application Builder's IIS application pool will be run under.


3. On the machine where Application Builder is installed, open IIS Manager and modify the identity of the SilverlightViewerAppPool application pool to match the user account that was granted write access in the previous step.


4. On disk, navigate to and open the Application Builder's web.config file.  With a default intallation of Windows, IIS, and the Viewer, the path to the web.config would be C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Builder\web.config.


5. In the web.config, find the AppsBaseUrl and AppsPhysicalDir keys.  Update the value of the AppsPhysicalDir key to specify the path to the network share (e.g. \\machine_name\apps).  Update the AppsBaseUrl value to specify the URL that maps to the network share (e.g. http://machine_name/apps/).

Also, any Viewer applications created with the Application Builder can be moved to another server just by copying the folder containing the app.  The folder name will match the name given to the app at the time it was deployed.

Hope this helps.