sitefinity pluggable modules deployment without having to copy dll's

Question

Here's some background.

If we want custom modules and widgets for the Sitefinity CMS, we can

1. build the module directly into SitefinityWebApp project (using thunder extension)
2. Build pluggable dll's (for both modules and widgets) and make it self installable.(here's a link on how to do this http://www.sitefinity.com/blogs/peter-marinovs-blog/2013/03/20/creating-self-installing-widgets-and-modules-in-sitefinity)

pluggable modules can be basically copied to the bin folder on the sitefinityWebApp instance and everything will be installed automatically.

(this happens by hooking up to the PreApplication start event and installing the module and widget that we want)

Question:

What is we don't have access to the server? Can you bundle up these dll's, into a zip file and import it in the SiteFinity instance backend website? Does it unzip the file and copy all the dll's into bin directory? I guess not.

How to deploy third party modules and widgets in a sitefinity instance without having to manually copy over the dll's to bin folder?

please leave me a comment if you need more information.

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Answer 1

First of all, I would like to point out that Thunder can create an Empty Custom Module inside its own assembly, which contains the self-installing code as described in the blog post. You do not need to do it manually.

Now, about your question. Have you tried using Sitefinity Thunder's new Code Deploy functionality? You can use it to register them manually for you, or you can use it just to copy your assemblies over and let them register their own modules, which is the better option in my opinion. You can use the module's Install/Upgrade/Initialize methods to install or register everything which your custom module requires. Please note that Code Deploy requires you to have a Site Sync license.

If you do not have a Site Sync license, you will need to copy the assemblies manually.