Generic question about Template web sites....

[Christopher Stratmann]

I really dont know if this is the best place to ask this question but here it goes... Background Information: I am creating template C# 2008 web sites that contain different modules. I may have web sites A, B, C, D, etc that each contain different modules. A module could be a couple different things. It could be a GUI change such as a side panel on the main web page like in code project on the left where it says chapters, Announcements, etc. Another example could be new web pages like a shopping cart with paypal or google checkout. Another would be web site polling such as the one on www.PollPro.com while would be code changes and additional web pages. A module could mean C# server side code changes to files, HTML code changes, and or including of files that dont exist, and or changes to the SQL Server the web site is using. The Question: What is the best way to start accomplish this in a very maintainable way? Possible Answers: 1. Create a base web site that contains no modules at all. Then within the code place sections that could be between commented sections like // GOOGLECHECKOUTMODULE_BEGIN and // GOOGLECHECKOUTMODULE_END. Then build an application that will remove all the sections and a specified list of files if the module is not selected. The problem with this is that other modules could be using the same files. Another problem is that this project would become a maintaince nightmare with all the different commented sections. 2. Create a base web site that contains no modules at all. Then copy that project and add only one module. Then when a module is selected the two projects need to be merged together. This would include merging files and adding files that dont exist. Merging coded files may be a little work but is possible. If different modules contain the same file name that needs to be added then which one is used? Any other options?