ASP.NET 2.0 Folder Structure

asp:Feature

ASP.NET VERSIONS: 2.0

ASP.NET 2.0 Folder Structure

The ASP.NET Folder Structure Revisited

By Joydip Kanjilal

ASP.NET 2.0 provides a lot of awesome features that make Webapplication development in the .NET environment amazingly simple and flexible. Tothat end, ASP.NET 2.0 comes with a lot of pre-defined files and folders thatcan be used for specific types of content. This article briefly discusses thesefolders and their applicability in ASP.NET 2.0. The folders we ll cover are:

Let us now understand the purpose of each of thesefolders.

App_Code

This is a folder that contains the utility classes andbusiness objects. It houses the interfaces, classes, .wsdl files, typeddatasets, etc. You can place your reusable classes and interfaces here. Thecode in this folder is available to the entire application. Note that thisfolder contains all code files except the Web page s code-behind file. At run time,the ASP.NET runtime dynamically compiles the contents of this folder, createsan assembly, and places the same in the application s Bin folder.

App_Themes

This folder contains the application s themes to applyconsistent visual styles for the entire application.

App_Data

This folder contains the application s data. Actually, itcontains the application s local database. This can in turn be in XML, MDF,text, etc. formats.

App_GlobalResources

To facilitate localization, ASP.NET 2.0 introduced theApp_GlobalResources global folder that can be used to store any globalresources, i.e., .resx and .resources files. These resources can in turn be inthe form of a resource, image, text, etc. files. The resources placed here canbe accessed by your entire application.

App_LocalResources

This folder contains resources that are specific to aparticular Web page, i.e., local resources or resources that are local to aparticular Web page.

App_WebReferences

This folder is the same as the WebReferences folder thatwe used in the earlier versions of ASP.NET. You can place here your Webreferences, proxy classes, schemas, discovery document files, and other filesassociated with a Web service that your application connects to and makes useof.

App_Browsers

This folder holds browser files. The browser files have.browser extensions. These files can be used by the ASP.NET runtime environmentto identity a particular browser and determine its capabilities.

Bin

This folder contains the compiled assemblies or thedynamic linked library files for the application. In ASP.NET 2.0, you candeploy your assemblies in the application s bin directory, just like you didwith ASP.NET 1.x.

Conclusion

This article briefly covered the folder structure ofASP.NET 2.0 and discussed each folder s purpose. Please send me your comments.Happy reading!

Working extensively in Microsoft technologies for more than 10years, Joydip Kanjilal is an MVP and a Senior Technical Leader in the Design andArchitecture team for a reputed company in a Hyderabad,India. Hisprogramming skills include C, C++, Java, C#, VB, VC++, ASP.NET, XML, UML, andDesign patterns. He has worked with .NET and C# for more than five years. ReachJoydip at mailto:[email protected]or at his blog at: http://aspadvice.com/blogs/joydip/.