How is the build for a msdeployment project different than a regular web application project?

Question

In our CI environment we build all the cs projects and then build the deployment projects. The deployment projects do an extra step of compiling the aspx & ascx files and often catch errors that would normally be caught at run time.

1) Is there a name for this step or process?
2) Can I get it in the regular project builds?
3) Where can I learn about the various steps of building specifically to msbuild?

Reading the logs in verbose I'd like to have a better understanding of what is actually happening.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Is there a name for this step or process?

This additional step is the ASP.NET Compilation Tool, which compiles your aspx/ascx pages, to speed up first load times.

Can I get it in the regular project builds?

Yes - the AspNetCompiler Task will do this for you.

Or you can invoke aspnet_compiler.exe directly.