Question : ASP.NET XCOPY, VS.Net

We use Visual Studio.NET for development (using File Share Web Access Method).  ASP.NET applications are developed on a (Non-SSL) test server, but deployed to a "live" server running SSL.  VS.Net does not allow us to copy the project to our live server (I'm guessing because of the SSL).  So, we just XCOPY the files from the project folder on the test server to the application's folder (that we create manually) on the live server.

My question is, when I make a change to the code behind and recompile the project, which files do I need to copy to apply the change to the application?  I tried just copying the bin folder and the pages that were changed (i.e. .aspx, .aspx.vb, and .aspx.resx for each changed webform), but the application didn't run correctly with the changes until I copied the whole folder.  This is a pain because some of our applications are quite large and it takes forever to copy the whole folder.  I noticed that VS.NET creates sub-folders in the project folder called _vti_cnf, _vti_pvt, _vti_script, _vti_txt.  Do I need to copy stuff from these folders in addition to the bin folder and the changed pages?

Thanks for the help.  Also, I will increase the points by 200 for anyone who can explain how I can copy the files necessary to run the application directly from VS.Net to our live server running SSL.

Answer : ASP.NET XCOPY, VS.Net

I have had a similar problem as I develop for a client. "Little" changes mean a big deployment. I cut down on this by moving lots of code int dotnet classes. These are specific to the application and so not in the GAC but can be compiles separate from you app and then you can ust put the compiled "dll" in the bin folder, replacing any older version. If you have to change the vb.net aspx pages though you need to republish all these bits as dotnet compiles them all into one class for you behind the scenes.

Something else I do is have a web app on my local dev server called - well its a swear-word - that i publish the compiled (release code) to using frontpage choosing "only files required to run". I just copy the contents of this web folder over.