Precompiling the website for deployment

Note: this article no longer applies for version 3.9 or later.

 
If you'd like to precompile the forum for deployment, here is a trick you need to follow as you will run into a bug in Visual Studio's publish website feature.

The compilation error only occurs some of the time and it is not a bug in the software.

The error will be something like the following:
H:\forum\App_Templates\Classic\Regular.master(1): Build (web): Circular file references are not allowed.

Solution

First, please disable any AntiVirus software that is running on the machine. Kaspersky for one is known to block compilation and it is best to disable it during the compilation process.
 
Second, simply try compiling again, and the error will usually disappear.

If not, please follow the instruction:
 
Open ~/App_Templates/Theme_Name/Regular.master

In the Master Directive, delete the MasterPageFile attribute so that it reads:

<%@ Master Language="VB" CodeFile="Regular.master.vb" Inherits="App_Masters_Classic_Regular" %>

Then, when you publish the website, make sure you have "Allow this precompiled site to be updatable" checked, as we will need to put the MasterPageFile attribute back in later.



Publish the site, and when it finishes,

Open ~/App_Templates/Theme_Name/Regular.master in the Target Location (where you published the compiled site to)

You should see something like this in the first line:

<%@ master language="VB" inherits="App_Masters_Classic_Regular, App_Web__lnfy072" %>

Put the MasterPageFile attribute back in, so that it reads:

<%@ master language="VB" inherits="App_Masters_Classic_Regular, App_Web__lnfy072" MasterPageFile="~/MasterPage.master" %>

Do the above every time you compile the software, and it should work without any problem.

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