Any experiences using SharpDevelop to build an ASP.NET MVC app?

Question

I've always used VS for .NET development, but am just wondering about the alternatives around now. I'm especially interested in use for ASP.NET MVC development. I'm not bothered about any of the visual design aspects of vs, but of course love intellisense and the debugging features.

So, for anyone who has tried SharpDevelop when doing ASP.NET MVC:

• How did you get on?

• What are the main disadvantages and pain points?

Thanks

Answer 1

I had a positive experience using SharpDevelop for ASP.NET MVC development, especially when I wanted a lightweight solution for smaller projects or learning purposes. While Visual Studio is the standard choice for .NET development, exploring alternatives like SharpDevelop can provide valuable insights and flexibility.

In my case, I created an ASP.NET MVC and WebAPI project template using .NET Framework 4.5.2 in SharpDevelop. This template served as a solid starting point for developing ASP.NET MVC and Web API applications. It's particularly useful for scenarios where you want to fix an MVC app without the need for a bloated Visual Studio, and you can even carry the portable SharpDevelop on a USB drive for added convenience.

The features and libraries were carefully selected for the project template. There's Bootstrap 4.6 with bonus Bootswatch themes and Bootbox.js, EntityFramework.SharpDevelop for SQL Server support, Dapper for MS Access support, AutoMapper, and others. This ensures compatibility with SharpDevelop and provides essential functionality for building a feature-rich ASP.NET MVC application. As for Petite-vue, you can enhance the app interactivity without the need for heavier libraries like jQuery.

I also chose not to include OWIN and ASP.NET Identity, which might be a limitation for more complex authentication and authorization scenarios. However, for lightweight projects, this decision makes sense and aligns with the goal of keeping the development environment lean.

I believe SharpDevelop is a viable alternative for ASP.NET MVC development, particularly when you don't require the full suite of features offered by Visual Studio. The presence of essential tools like intellisense and debugging features enhances the development experience.

Before using SharpDevelop for your project, it's crucial to consider the trade-offs and ensure that it meets your specific requirements. If you don't need the advanced capabilities provided by Visual Studio, SharpDevelop's lightweight and portable nature can be a significant advantage.

Github repo here: https://github.com/aspdotnetgabs/sharpdevelopmvc

Answer 2

I have used SharpDevelop to create an ASP.Net WebForms project - didn't have too many issues with it. The lack of a visual designer is certainly annoying, but it forces you to think about the source directly, which is a good thing...

I haven't done anything with MVC yet - though from the sounds of things the only thing that's stopping SD at the moment is the tooling. The core developers might have no plans for that, but it's an open source project, so there's nothing stopping an independent effort.

I've gone a very limited amount of work (bug investigation) with the SD code - it seems to me that once you understand their classes it's not bad code... Their failing as a project has been (as it is with most open source efforts) that everyone wants to code, so the documentation gets ignored. No-one likes writing documentation, but clear documentation might have led to far greater participation...

It's a great project, but their decision to ignore the web is madness.

Answer 3

As Kieron said, you'll be able to compile and you'll lack tooling. Unfortunately, #Develop's forum says that they don't plan to directly support it:

ASP.NET support is not planned for SharpDevelop.

The lack of tooling and knowing that it's not coming anytime soon would be the major pain point for me.

Answer 4

By the looks of it, SharpDevelop won't have any problems compiling the project and editing the source...you just won't get any tooling support. From what I've read, that includes aspx files.

Having said that, there does seem to be some movement around an ASP.NET plug-in editor for SharpDevelop here.

Source: http://community.sharpdevelop.net/forums/t/7872.aspx

As an aside, it might to nice to update this question with your experiences if you go down that route... (: