I was getting errors like “Could not load file or assembly ‘System.Web.Helpers, Version=1.0.0.0″ after publishing my MVC3/Razor application to the IIS Server.

The Solution:

In Visual Studio 2010, go to “Project” then “Add Deployable Dependencies”

You will get this window, and you should make sure that both options are checked:

It will add all the necessary references to your project, and set the copy flag for you.  So all you need to do now is republish the project!

Ultimately I work on iOS, because it’s what I love.  It’s something that doesn’t seem like work to me.  It’s fun and exciting.

Humble Beginnings

A few years ago was a different story.  Objective-C and Cocoa were new and foreign languages to me.  iOS was not iOS.  It was secret.  You couldn’t share.  There was no documentation.  We all attempted to make fart apps.  We couldn’t figure out how to do anything else!  I ended up making two apps: A game, and a simple twitter app.  One did okay, the other was a misstep and flopped, but I learned a lot.

That was 2008.  Two years floated by as I explored other technology, made some career adjustments, and made a number of life and family adjustments for the better.  As I settled down once again, the Apple devices started beckoning me again.  So I picked up a book, and got back into the latest and greatest.  I was so happy to see so many of the frustrations in Xcode and iPhone development addressed and more characteristic of the “It just works” mentality that many of us have grown to love, and expect, from Apple.

Finding Answers

My mind still wandered in exploration of other methods of mobile development.  I asked myself smart questions like, “What maximizes my install base for this app?” and “Does this technology offer better income potential with less work?”  I even thought about what was most popular (thus better for my career options in the future). I even experimented with some of these methods of development…and it started feeling…corporate.

I was no longer in love with the idea, and the dream.  I was in love with the growth potential and marketability.  Luckily I snapped out of it as I sat one afternoon and asked myself, “What would I love to do?”  Love to do.  Love.  My eyes drifted over to my iOS Programming book…and there they stayed as I pondered…and remained consciously blank.  Then it occurred to me what I was doing, and I had already answered in a completely non-verbal, but powerful way.  It came from the heart.

Making it Happen

So now I take an hour here, and an hour there, and I’m working through an app that I wanted to make.  Something that seems fun.  In a topic that interests me.  It’s an app I’ll enjoy using.  It’s very different from the typical projects where money and success are at the forefront.  I will build it and nurture it…then I will share it, and we will see where it goes.

Check back later and we’ll see if the mantra of, “Do What You Love,” holds true for ultimately succeeding.

If not, I’ve enjoyed the time…

I learned BASIC on a Commodore 64 around 1982 while my parents were in the university computer lab completing their lessons for their degrees, and I used it on an Apple II in Second Grade to freak out the guy telling everyone in the room what a computer was.  I remember it like yesterday. I wrote a quick script to make  as much noise as possible, causing the whole room to look at me thinking my computer was having issues.  The presenter, standing in a business suit, stopped his presentation, looked a me, and asked me if I knew how to program computers.  I said yes, and received the oddest look from him. Unfortunately I had no clue how this scene must have appeared in his eyes, or how much money I could have made back then!

So I continued my learning on the Apple II, and later in middle school as a journalism student, we produced our newspaper with the Apple II (c+, I think) around 1988.  Then Apple disappeared on me, never to be seen again.  They always seemed to be incompatible with everything else known to man, and PCs were cheap.  That’s what my father bought for home use.

Where did it go?

In 2003, while developing some information security software, I decided that I would make a Mac compatible version, and bought an iBook.  I had seen OS X Panther in CompUSA, and remembered the really cool dock, so it was also an excuse to explore my curiosity for what the Mac had become. I allowed my wife to use it while I wasn’t developing, and she took it over, never to be seen on a PC again.

Peer pressure.

Around 2005 I was a full time senior web developer, and all of my co-workers had Macs, while I was the Windows junkie.  I can’t tell you how old it got to listen to the ways my setup was inferior to anything on the Mac. When I received an unexpected bonus, I decided I would get an Apple laptop of my own, since my wife would never share, and I wanted to create pictures and videos for the family.  It was supposed to be a toy.  I bought a MacBook…and little did I know that they had just been launched, and were the first to sport Intel processors.  My new toy….

Every day after I finished working, I would play with my new toy…and I began to understand my wife’s affinity for the Mac.

Then about a week later, it sat on my desk, and I figured I’d try some web development.  So I asked my co-workers about software.  Immediately I was treated like I had become a part of a family…or a mafia.  They shared links, advice, and software recommendations.  I set up these little programs from independent developers all over the world…they were elegant…simplified…creative…well thought out…and useful.

I was hooked!

Three months later, I was coding full time — on my TOY, so I bought a MacMini to work on during the day…only it got worse.  Now I used BOTH to work all day, and it was a pleasure.  It was powerful. They were powerful. I was powerful. We were powerful, and I never looked back.

Then came the iPhone…

Then the iPad…

Apple has continually changed my life, and renewed my interest in computing, and creating software.  In fact, before the iPhone, I had planned to start developing software, and had been learning Objective-C and Cocoa.  The community of indie developers was very alluring to me.  The iPhone shifted my focus, and I developed my first iPhone app in 2008.

Not quite prepared.

It’s been a wonderful experience, and I’m so very sad to see Steve Jobs go.  I know he was exceptionally smart, and it would be out of character to have left Apple to flounder and die after his work to rebuild it.  I look forward to the future, and I know a lot of developers out there, like me, get enjoyment out of our profession because of his work.

Thank you, Steve.  You will be missed.  I hope your heart, mind and spirit lives on through all of us, and especially within Apple.

CSSEdit changed that.  I quickly loved stylesheets, and embraced them fully.  At some point, MacRabbit started a new project called Espresso.  I bought into it early since I was a fan of CSSEdit, and I found myself scratching my head, and wondering how I would ever become a fan of this application.  Eventually it withered and died deep in my hard drive somewhere.

In the meantime, CSSEdit got old…and behind.  It was upsetting.  I was not happy.

Not long ago I found out about these Kaboom releases from MacRabbit of the latest and greatest version 2 of Espresso.  I figured I’d try it out, and along the way I found out that they were updating and incorporating the functionality of CSSEdit into Espresso!  I’m happy to report that the little coffee cup has made it permanently into my dock, and I use it regularly.  It starts fast, and operates very similar to Coda. I will not compare and contrast other than to tell you that the live preview, and CSS inspection capabilities of Espresso, thanks to CSSEdit, are PHENOMENAL!  You can create projects and connect directly to your remote code.  It has a fairly decent editor, and the Code Navigator rivals one of my favorite features from ActiveState’s Komodo IDE (Though I still love the live debugging that Komodo provides).

If you have not tried Espresso lately, you should give it a try!  It’s a quick and handy editor, and will be on my dock for the foreseeable future.  Keep up the great work, MacRabbit!

Then came the iPhone…and all I could think of was the development opportunity there.  I published two apps not long after the opening of the App Store to developers.  It was hard, but full of rewards, like sucking a frozen milkshake through a straw: when you finally get that taste of ice cold chocolate, you are in heaven.  A lot happened the next few years that pulled me away, my apps were neglected, and I pulled them to protect the innocent (and to prevent my embarrassment).

Recently I’ve settled back into a regular life, and the apps started calling again.  I started browsing through the latest books, and noticed that Aaron Hillegass had a brand new iOS Programming book set to hit the market any day, so I pre-ordered, and decided I’d take a look at it.  It was perfect!  So I committed to completing the entire book to get me up to speed with the latest techniques and workings of all things Xcode.  So far it has been a blast, and I am a little over halfway finished.

If you have some programming skill, I’d highly recommend the book.

By the way, that old iBook from 2003?  It still runs happily on Leopard.