Using the ASP.net MVC project as a “base” project for other MVC projects

Question

Im currently working on a “set” of internal intranet applications

These are all asp.net MVC applications that will (for various reasons) be deployed as separate applications

Im currently facing a huge amount of duplication -

Each application has essentially the same “outer” shell. This outer shell does not just consider views, it includes authentication logic, etc.

The "internal" view is the actual application.

So, in an ideal world, Id has something like:

MyCompany.Web
Holds _Layout, base controllers, auth, etc.

Then other mvc projects in my solution, such as:

• MyCompany.Web.App1
  inherits from MyCompany.Web

• MyCompany.Web.App2
  inherits from MyCompany.Web

etc...

Is there anything I could do to make this easier?

Everything I've tried so far includes xcopying views, etc. into subprojects at assemblies and feels very fragile.

Answer 1

Create nuget packages for generic assembly-based code.

Consider whether nuget packages make sense for sharing view or layout files.

Consider creating a project template that includes the use of appropriate nuget packages. This will allow you to follow the same pattern as MVC itself, which allows you to create a new project and update nuget packages as needed. This eliminates the need for frequent changes to the template itself, unless the changes are not easily accessible by nuget.