[.NET/IIS] Tired of opening up a web service just to run it? Use Virtual Directories!

Alright, so lately I've been working a lot with web services and one the major gripes is actually running the darn things. At first, I always had to open VS2010, open my project, and then right click the solution that contains the svc, and click view in model browser. Being that I'm currently on windows XP, this whole procedure was not pleasant. Then I found out how to activate it through a batch script. The batch script looked like this:


@echo off

::WEBSERVER PATH
set webserverpath="C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DevServer\10.0\WebDev.WebServer40.EXE"

::WEBSERVICE PATHS
set webservice="C:\Workspace\MyWebService"

::COMMANDS
start "" %webserverpath% /port:3934 /path:%webservice%

To add more web service solutions, I just had to new variables and commands under WEBSERVICE PATHS and COMMANDS. Although, this saved me A LOT of time compared to the first method, it was still a hassle just click the little bugger. Also, when a web project gets deployed on a server, there may be instances (maybe all instances) where the web services are needed to be running at all times. So if you configure your localhost to be the same way, then there shouldn't be any hassles when deploying code on the server (for example, the need to change the web.config).

So here's how to do it:

Go to your IIS. So under where you have Web Sites, and maybe Default Web Site, add a new virtual directory. Assign the path to where your .SVC file or web service project is located. Now go back to your web app in VS2010, and open up the web.config. You may need to add or edit the necessary endpoints. Right now, my endpoint address looks like, "http://localhost/MyWebService/WebService.svc". After that, you should be good to go and should never have to run or edit your webservice....hopefully...yea

Edit: If you're running .NET 4, make sure your application pool for your web service is also version 4 in the IIS and ASP.Net tab of your service.