Installing a modified version of ASP.NET MVC

Question

I have made a relatively simple change to the MVC 1.0 source code to correct a bug in the DropDownList HtmlHelper (discussed in another question).

I was able to rebuild the MVC solution, ran all the tests, including the one I hadd added to show the bug I was fixing, and built a new DLL.

But how do I use that?

I tried moving the new MVC dll into the project and changing all the project references to point to it, but when I try to run the MVC website, it's throwing an exception saying there's a conflict between my version of MVC and the MVC in the GAC.

I tried to use gacutil.exe to remove the one from the GAC, but it says it can't do that because it would make another program (the Microsoft Installer? fail.

What do I have to do to install my newly built version in place of the "official" version?

Answer 1

If you want to remove it from the GAC without uninstalling MVC (which includes the Visual Studio templates you probably need), you need to do this in the registry:

• Find registry key HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Assemblies\Global and look for key starting with System.Web.Mvc – delete it

Now you should be able to use gacutil.exe to remove System.Web.Mvc from the GAC, and you should be able to use your version from your /bin folder.