difference between Web-Site and Web-Application-Project

[Hafner Avi]

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 Fitzpatrick]

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" <ha****@technio n.ac.ilwrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP05.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

[Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\)]

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" <ha****@technio n.ac.ilwrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP05.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

[Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\)]

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" <ma******@fitzm e.comwrote in message
news:eo******** *****@TK2MSFTNG P06.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" <ha****@technio n.ac.ilwrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP05.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

[Mark Fitzpatrick]

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/d...displaylang=en
--

Hope this helps,
Mark Fitzpatrick
Former Microsoft FrontPage MVP 199?-2006
"Cowboy (Gregory A. Beamer)" <No************ @comcast.netNoS pamMwrote in
message news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP04.phx.gbl. ..

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" <ma******@fitzm e.comwrote in message
news:eo******** *****@TK2MSFTNG P06.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" <ha****@technio n.ac.ilwrote in message
news:%2******* *********@TK2MS FTNGP05.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