Is it possible to deploy an uncompiled ASP.NET Razor Pages website?

Question

I am wondering if it is possible to copy the source code of an ASP.NET Razor Pages website to a Windows web server and for it to run without it needing to be published/compi

Answer 1

Is this possible and any guidance or links on how to do it?

PS. I'm sure this is not good practice, but would still like an answer

There's a way to allow deploy "uncompiled" *.cshtml. Assuming you're using ASP.NET Core 3.1:

1. First of all, add a package reference to Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.RuntimeCompilation:

   <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Razor.RuntimeCompilation" Version="3.1.*" />
   

2. Change your services to allow Runtime Compilation:

    services.AddRazorPages().AddRazorRuntimeCompilation();
    

3. Configure a custom Task to copy the source code to publish dir in your *.csproj file:

   <ItemGroup>
       <ViewFiles Include="$(ProjectDir)\Pages\**\*.cshtml" />
   </ItemGroup>
   <Target Name="CopyViewFilesAfterPublish" AfterTargets="Publish">
       <Copy SourceFiles="@(ViewFiles)" 
         DestinationFolder="$(PublishDir)\Pages\%(RecursiveDir)" 
       />
   </Target>
   

Demo

I publish a RazorPage WebApp and host it on IIS. And then we can change the Pages/**/*.cshtml views dynamically: