GTU LIVE PROJECT TRAINING GUIDELINES.By TOPS Technologieshttp://www.tops-int.comhttp://www.tops-int.com/asp-net-training-course.html

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INTRODUCTION First of all I would like to thank TOPS Technologies for This

article, which gives me a great opportunity to write an article for beginners on ASP.NET web development here at Tops technologies. After creating PPT on caching and view state for beginners, I have decided to Create an PPT for beginners on the ASP.NET Application Folders. However, I will be back with another PPT on rest of state management. Like my other PPT, I believe this will also give you very good idea on the Application Folders. Please give your valuable suggestions and ideas for improvement that I can incorporate into this article, as well as my future PPT.

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OVERVIEW - ASP.NET APPLICATION FOLDERS• ASP.NET 2.0 uses a file-based approach. That means, all

class files, resource files, data files and folders are maintained in a hierarchical structure. If we are working with ASP.NET 2.0, we can add files and folders using the Add Itemsoption. If we look at a sample application hierarchy, it will look like the following figure.

• We can add as many as files and folders as we like (according to our requirements) within our solutions,and it won't be necessary to recompile them each and every time they are added. It is ASP.NET'stask to dynamically compile them when required. So, what ASP.NET 2.0 does is, it uses a predefined folder structure containing the files (classes, images, resources, etc.), to compile them dynamically and we can access those files throughout the application. ASP.NET also provides special folders to maintain files and resources. Let's see the advantages of using these folders.

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ADVANTAGES OF ASP.NET APPLICATION FOLDERS• Following are the main advantages of use of

ASP.NET's Application Folders• We can maintain resources (classes, images, code,

databases, themes) in an organized manner, which allows us to develop and maintain sites easily

• All files and folders are accessible through the application

• We can add as many files as required• Files are compiled dynamically when required

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DIFFERENT TYPES OF APPLICATION FOLDER• ASP.NET treats the following folders in a special

manner. They are:• App_Code• Bin• App_Data• App_Theme• App_Browser• App_WebReference• App_LocalResource• App_GlobalResource

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DETAILS OF THE APPLICATION FOLDERS• Now, to look at the use of these folders, I am going to start

from App_Code.• App_Code Folder• As its name suggests, the App_Code Folder stores classes,

typed data sets, etc. All the items that are stored inApp_Code are automatically accessible throughout the application. If we store any class files (like .cs or .vb) it compiles them automatically. It automatically creates type data sets from .xsd (XML schema) files, and creates XML web service proxy classes from WSDL.Let's have a look at how we can use the App_Code folder.

• We can add an App_Code folder, by Solution File → right click → Add ASP.NET Folder → App_Code. The App_Codefolder is now added to your application.

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Note: Try to add one more App_Code folder by using the same steps. Oops... the App_Code folder is no longer available there. So, ASP.NET allows you to add an App_Code folder only once.

Now we can add new items like classes, text and xml files into the App_Code folder and we can also add existing files there.

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• Let's have a look at one example that shows how it works. Into the App_Code folder, I have added a classMyCSharpClass.cs.

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In that class I have written a small spice of code for adding two numbers.

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• Now, Try to access this class, from any where in your application. You will see that MyCSharpClass is accessiblethroughout the application.

• If we want to store different classes like .cs or .vb, then what will happen? If we kept both .cs and .vb classes in the same folder, it will give following compilation error:

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We have a solution to overcome this problem. We have to create separate folders for C# and for VB or other classes.

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Store class files separately in those folders and an configure the folder hierarchy in the web.config file.

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BIN FOLDER• The Bin folder is used for keeping assemblies

inside it. We can access those as a reference from anywhere of our web application. Use of Bin folder comes into the picture if we use any class library within our web application. Suppose we are creating a class library called TestLib. After building the library, we will get TestLib.dll. Now, right click on solution file → Add References → Project, select the TestLib Project, click on OK. Check the Bin folder, it will containTestLib.dll and TestLib.pdb files.

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APP_LOCALRESOURCE FOLDER• Local resources are specific to a single web page, and should be

used for providing multilingual functionalityon a web page.• Local resources must be stored in the App_LocalResource subfolder

of the folder containing the web page. Because you might have local resources for every page in your web application, you might have App_LocalResource subfolders in every folder.

• Resource file names should be like <pageName>[.langauge].resx. Some examples of local resource files are,Mypage.aspx.ex.resx and Mypage.aspx.de.resx. Default.aspx.resx is the base resource file to use if no other resource file matches with the user's current culture.

• If you want to create local resources for a page, open the design view of the page and then from Tool Menu selectGenerate Local Resource. You will then see that a resource file is automatically created in the correspondingApp_LocalResource folder.

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APP_GLOBALRESOURCE FOLDER

• The App_GlobalResource folder can be read from any page or code that is anywhere in the web site. Global resources must be stored in the App_GlobalResource folder at the root of the application. We should use theApp_GlobalResource folder when we need a single resource for multiple web pages. We candefine ASP.NET control properties by manually associating them with resources in global resource files.You can add a global resource file by right clicking on the App_GlobalResource folder and clicking on Add Items. Add .resx files as resources.

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SUMMARY

We have explained in this PPt all about the use of application folders that are available in ASP.NET. We hope we have described them well enough for you to understand. There is lots more to learn, like how to design themes and skins, and working with resource files. We are giving some reference links at the end, that can help you in further study.

Please read these links, at least the one on resources, which are a very important part of ASP.NET 2.0. In future we plan to create an PPT for beginners on ASP.NET Resources. But not now.

Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to give your suggestions!

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BIO In detailed knowledge and guidelines kindly visit us

at your nearest center. You can visit us at • http://www.tops-int.com• http://www.tops-int.com/asp-net-training-

course.html• We also Do live project training, free workshop and

seminar hosted by our former students and faculties every Saturday to share their knowledge and experience with newbie's.

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