Asp.Net Programming :: difference between Web-Site and Web-Application-Project


	difference between Web-Site and Web-Application-Project Hi, I am trying to find out what is the difference between Web-Site and Web-Application-Project in Visual Studio 2005 ? People what do you recommend ? Thanks Avi The Web Site project is compiled on the fly. You end up with a lot more DLL files, which can be a pain. It also gives problems when you have pages or controls in one directory that need to reference pages and controls in another directory since the other directory may not be compiled into code yet. Another problem can be in publishing. If VS isn't told to re-use the same names constantly, it will come up with new names for the dll files generated by pages all the time. That can lead to having several close copies of dlls containing the same class name, which will generate plenty of errors. The Web Site project was introduced with VS 2005, but has turned out not to be extremely popular. The Web Application Project was created as an add-in and now exists as part of SP 1 for VS 2005. The main differences are the Web Application Project was designed to work similar to the Web projects that shipped with VS.net and VS 2003. It will compile the application into a single dll at build time. In order to update the project it must be recompiled and the dll published for changes to occur. Another nice feature of the Web Application project is it's much easer to exclude files from the project view. In the Web Site project, each file that you exclude is renamed with an exclude keyword in the filename. In the Web Application Project, the project just keeps track of which files to include/exclude from the project view without renaming them, making things much tider. -- Hope this helps, Mark Fitzpatrick Former Microsoft FrontPage MVP 199?-2006 "Hafner Avi" <haf@technion.ac.il> wrote in message news:%231vqQ1LYHHA.1388@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... - Hide quoted text - > Hi, > I am trying to find out what is the difference between Web-Site and > Web-Application-Project in Visual Studio 2005 ? > People - what do you recommend ? > Thanks > Avi I will add, and adjust, some of what Mark has stated. The web site template is included with VS 2005. There are two compilation methods, depending on how you do things: 1. Compile on the fly - default if you simply copy the bits to a server. Each page is compiled into its own assembly 2. Compile ahead - You still have quite a few DLLs, but directories can be compiled together The web applications template is downloaded from www.asp.net. It compiles into a single DLL like ASP.NET 1.x. If you want to be able to change a single page, the web site template is better if you use compile on the fly. The precompile option does not help much. I am less concerned than Mark about the multiple DLLs, as the publish option will package everything necessary in a folder of your choosing. I do find the .exclude to be a royal pain, however. For me, I would use the web applications template, as it is cleaner and has nice options not available in the web site template. The exception is if you are going to update single files (and keep full source on the site), which I would not recommend in most situations. -- Gregory A. Beamer MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA ******************************************* Think outside the box! ***************************************** "Hafner Avi" <haf@technion.ac.il> wrote in message news:%231vqQ1LYHHA.1388@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... - Hide quoted text - > Hi, > I am trying to find out what is the difference between Web-Site and > Web-Application-Project in Visual Studio 2005 ? > People - what do you recommend ? > Thanks > Avi Mark: I just reinstalled and do not see the web applications template in the mix. I was going to download it for my work. If someone does a fresh install, is there a trick? :-) -- Gregory A. Beamer MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA ***************************************** Think outside the box! ***************************************** "Mark Fitzpatrick" <markf@fitzme.com> wrote in message news:eoIabDMYHHA.944@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... - Hide quoted text - > The Web Site project is compiled on the fly. You end up with a lot more > DLL files, which can be a pain. It also gives problems when you have pages > or controls in one directory that need to reference pages and controls in > another directory since the other directory may not be compiled into code > yet. Another problem can be in publishing. If VS isn't told to re-use the > same names constantly, it will come up with new names for the dll files > generated by pages all the time. That can lead to having several close > copies of dlls containing the same class name, which will generate plenty > of errors. The Web Site project was introduced with VS 2005, but has > turned out not to be extremely popular. > The Web Application Project was created as an add-in and now exists as > part of SP 1 for VS 2005. The main differences are the Web Application > Project was designed to work similar to the Web projects that shipped with > VS.net and VS 2003. It will compile the application into a single dll at > build time. In order to update the project it must be recompiled and the > dll published for changes to occur. Another nice feature of the Web > Application project is it's much easer to exclude files from the project > view. In the Web Site project, each file that you exclude is renamed with > an exclude keyword in the filename. In the Web Application Project, the > project just keeps track of which files to include/exclude from the > project view without renaming them, making things much tider. > -- > Hope this helps, > Mark Fitzpatrick > Former Microsoft FrontPage MVP 199?-2006 > "Hafner Avi" <haf@technion.ac.il> wrote in message > news:%231vqQ1LYHHA.1388@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... >> Hi, >> I am trying to find out what is the difference between Web-Site and >> Web-Application-Project in Visual Studio 2005 ? >> People - what do you recommend ? >> Thanks >> Avi Gregory, Did you install SP1 yet? The pre-sp1 add-in is still available at: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/asp.net/aa336618.aspx Note: before you install it you'll need this update for VS http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8B05EE00-955... -- Hope this helps, Mark Fitzpatrick Former Microsoft FrontPage MVP 199?-2006 "Cowboy (Gregory A. Beamer)" <NoSpamMgbwo@comcast.netNoSpamM> wrote in message news:%23eAhqZMYHHA.2316@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl... - Hide quoted text - > Mark: > I just reinstalled and do not see the web applications template in the > mix. I was going to download it for my work. If someone does a fresh > install, is there a trick? :-) > -- > Gregory A. Beamer > MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA > ***************************************** > Think outside the box! > ******************************************* > "Mark Fitzpatrick" <markf@fitzme.com> wrote in message > news:eoIabDMYHHA.944@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... >> The Web Site project is compiled on the fly. You end up with a lot more >> DLL files, which can be a pain. It also gives problems when you have >> pages or controls in one directory that need to reference pages and >> controls in another directory since the other directory may not be >> compiled into code yet. Another problem can be in publishing. If VS isn't >> told to re-use the same names constantly, it will come up with new names >> for the dll files generated by pages all the time. That can lead to >> having several close copies of dlls containing the same class name, which >> will generate plenty of errors. The Web Site project was introduced with >> VS 2005, but has turned out not to be extremely popular. >> The Web Application Project was created as an add-in and now exists as >> part of SP 1 for VS 2005. The main differences are the Web Application >> Project was designed to work similar to the Web projects that shipped >> with VS.net and VS 2003. It will compile the application into a single >> dll at build time. In order to update the project it must be recompiled >> and the dll published for changes to occur. Another nice feature of the >> Web Application project is it's much easer to exclude files from the >> project view. In the Web Site project, each file that you exclude is >> renamed with an exclude keyword in the filename. In the Web Application >> Project, the project just keeps track of which files to include/exclude >> from the project view without renaming them, making things much tider. >> -- >> Hope this helps, >> Mark Fitzpatrick >> Former Microsoft FrontPage MVP 199?-2006 >> "Hafner Avi" <haf@technion.ac.il> wrote in message >> news:%231vqQ1LYHHA.1388@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl... >>> Hi, >>> I am trying to find out what is the difference between Web-Site and >>> Web-Application-Project in Visual Studio 2005 ? >>> People - what do you recommend ? >>> Thanks >>> Avi