I saw a lot of requests for a program like this, so I wrote it. Yeah,
my site has "PSP software by Auri" but in this case it means "Pretty
Sweet Programming" :) There's both a VS2005 add-in and a standalone app
(separate downloads, you don't need both). This is my second developer
utility this year - my first being the Lorem Ipsum generator from a few
weeks back.
Download and get more info on WebPrecompiler at
http://hackingpsp.com/webprecompiler.aspx
Enjoy!
-Auri Rahimzadeh
Author, Hacking the PSP
What Is WebPrecompiler?
When you release an ASP, ASP.NET, JSP (and yes, other dynamic CGI)
site, the first time loading a page takes a moment while the server
executes and caches the page or application. This can translate to a
perception of slow performance. In addition, there's a tangible
benefit to hitting HTML files in IIS and many other web servers - the
HTML files are loaded into memory and served from there instead of the
hard drive or other storage medium. It's much, much faster to
retrieve data from RAM than the hard drive, so it pays to have every
application and every HTML file cached when you deploy a site. The
problem is, there are many, many files on a standard web site, and
it's quite laborious to hit all of them.
Enter WebPrecompiler. Give it the path to your web site, and give it
the URL, then tell it what files to hit (ASPX, ASP, JSP, and HTML), and
it will scan the folder for all the files and then hit every page on
that site, triggering your web server to compile and/or cache all the
files users hit on your site. WebPrecompiler also lets you save sites
you commonly need to deploy, so you don't have to enter their data
all the time. To make things even more convenient, WebPrecompiler comes
in two versions: one that runs directly inside of Visual Studio 2005,
and a standalone application that can be run on any PC running Windows
98SE or higher.
Is WebPrecompiler free?
Yeah, sort of. It's free to download and use. I wrote this tool
because I needed it, and I saw a lot of posts where others needed it,
too. But I'm also an author, and I try to make a living in software
development and books. So if you like WebPrecompiler, and you want to
help me out, buy my books, and recommend them to friends. As of the
writing of this Read Me, my current books are Hacking the PSP
(www.hackingpsp.com) and Geek My Ride (www.geekmyride.net).
Scanning a Site
To scan a site, simply enter the full path to the parent directory of
the web site and enter the URL to the web site. So, if your files are
on a server at \\web-server\www\site.com and your URL is
http://www.site.com, you would enter those values into the appropriate
boxes. You would then check the boxes for the file types you want to
scan for, and click Do It to begin the scan. The Site Name field is not
required - it is used for naming the site you're pre-compiling when
saving it for later use.
NOTE: When you scan a site, there may be a slight delay while the
system scans the files. The add-in has not crashed - it's just
scanning. :)
Saving Sites
If you need to scan the same site often, you can save your settings for
later use. Simply add the file path, file URL, and a Site Name that
will make it easy for you to remember the site, and click the Save
button. To use the site again, simply double-click it.
Removing Sites
To remove a saved site, select it in the list and press the minus
symbol on the bottom right of the Favorites list.
Support and Suggestions
I will do my best to help you with WebPrecompiler. There are many
different environments out there, and I'm sure there are features you
want (say, ASMX files, and the ability to pre-compile secured sites). I
plan on adding new features, but I'm putting this 1.0 version out so
you can give me suggestions.
For support and suggestions, please visit my web site and drop me a
note there: www.hackingpsp.com/contact.aspx.
