Web Site Projects Versus Web Application Projects

Visual Studio 2005 provides two project models :

■ Web Application project

■ Web Site project

How to create Web Site Project ?

To create New Web Site project :

Open Visual Studio
Click on File -> New -> Web Site

New Web Site Dialog box opens. Specify the location

Click on “OK” button . Web Site project is created and Solution Explorer is displayed

Right Click on Web Site Project and Click on Properties. Property Page is displayed

Differences between Web Site Projects and Web Application Projects

Few differences between the two project models are listed below :

■ Web Application projects have a project file where as Web Site projects do not.

■ Web Application projects compile into one DLL; to run and debug pages, the entire project must be compiled every time. Web Site projects compile dynamically at the page level; each page can be compiled and debugged independently.

■ Web Application projects are deployed “all at once,” as a single DLL, along with necessary static content files. Web Site projects are deployed as a set of files, each of which can be updated independently.

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