web site vs web application

[JohnE]

In VS2008 you can select from either a project (webapp) or web site (web site).

Currently, I am given the dubious task of converting a few Access
applications (SQL2005 backend dbs) to asp.net. But, when I go to use VS2008
I have the 2 different items to select from. I see tutorials and they've
used both and do not elaborate on why they selected one over the other.
Several books make no comment about it either.

I would like to throw this out to the group to see what most developers in
asp.net use? What is the criteria to consider when selecting one over the
other?

Thanks.
John

 

[Alexey Smirnov]

In VS2008 you can select from either a project (webapp) or web site (web site).

Currently, I am given the dubious task of converting a few Access
applications (SQL2005 backend dbs) to asp.net.  But, when I go to use VS2008
I have the 2 different items to select from.  I see tutorials and they've
used both and do not elaborate on why they selected one over the other.  
Several books make no comment about it either.

I would like to throw this out to the group to see what most developers in
asp.net use?  What is the criteria to consider when selecting one over the
other?    

Thanks.
John

See "Comparing Web Site Projects and Web Application Projects" on MSDN
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa730880(VS.80).aspx#wapp_topic5

and Google
http://www.google.com/search?q=asp.net+website+vs+web+application

 

[Gregory A. Beamer]

I would like to throw this out to the group to see what most
developers in asp.net use? What is the criteria to consider when
selecting one over the other?

The web site template does a single compile per page. This makes it more
flexible if you have to update a single page, but this, in and of
itself, is a potential maintenance nightmare, as you are not deploying
full websites. There is a checkbox when compiling a web application that
allows a similar deployment strategy (keep same names option, when used
with the compile each page as a separate assembly option), although this
is not intuitive like the web site.

The web application model is used more and more, as it allows
precompilation (although not pre-jitting) of the site. As we move into
..NET 4.0, which also has better deployment options, the web application
will truly rule the day.

Alexy has some links you can look at for more information, although I
don't see all of the gotchas included. If you use Profile, for example,
you can end up with some pain if you use a web application, as the
system gets confused at times (this is not true if you use a custom
Profile provider, but the default, out of the box, often fails - NOTE:
If you are not using the default Profile bits, you are fine here).

Peace and Grace,

--
Gregory A. Beamer (MVP)

Twitter: @gbworld
Blog: http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com

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