App_Code folder in "Web Application Project"

member4953 · March 24th, 2009, 01:39 PM

Since I am using VS 2008 Professional I decided to follow Imar's book examples but using a Web Application Project.

In Chapter 5, p. 167, he speaks of adding the App_Code folder from a set of options offered when one right clicks on the name of the site. In my case the name is actually the project name and App_Code is not offered as one of the options. Nonetheless, I like the idea of having classes grouped in a separate directory, so I manually added an App_Code folder and created the Calculator.cs file therein. FWIW, the special icon appears as described by Imar.

The project would not compile. I found a several things.

First, Web Application Projects do not offer the App_Code option, since, as described by Mikhail Arkhipov of Microsoft says at here, "You don't need App_Code in Web Application since all code files are compiled during the build, as in client projects. You can place code files anywhere in [Web Application Project]. Well not anywhere, at least not with some fussing.

Second, the properties - Build Action of Calculator.cs had to be changed from "Content" to "Compile".

Finally, the namespace, which was automatically created within Calculator.cs when I added the new item Calculator.cs to the App_Code folder of "Site.App_Code" had to be changed to just "Site".

Everything worked after all that.

Seems like a lot to go through. I tried just adding Calculator.cs to the main Site directory directly and it worked immediately. I tried using a different folder name for the code and again the namespace was "Site.foldername".

Any thoughts?

Thomas

Imar · March 24th, 2009, 03:40 PM

1. Yes, correct; App_Code is not supported in a WAP. The App_Code folder is compiled at *run-time*; all code in a WAP is compiled at compile / development time. So, when you add an App_Code folder to a WAP. you end up with duplicate code; for example, a class defined in App_Code will also show up in the wap DLL. The fix is easy: just name the folder something else like Classes or CodeFiles.

2. It shouldn't be like that. When you add a new class file through the Add New Item dialog, Compile should be the default action.

3. Since all classes in a WAP are compiled into the same assembly they need unique namespaces. For a Web Site Project this isn't necessary as each folder ends up as a separate assembly. To ensure unique class names, each class is named like this:

[Folder].[SubFolder].ClassName

So, in the root they end up like this:

namespace RootNamespace

while in a sub subfolder they end up as:

namespace RootNamespace.FirstLevelFolder.SecondLevelFolder

and so on.

I am sure my recommendation in the book to follow along with a Web Site Project now makes a whole lot more sense, doesn't it? ;-)

Cheers,

Imar

member4953 · March 24th, 2009, 04:02 PM

Imar,

When I tried to add another class to the folder now named "Classes" it did have "Compile" as the default. Not sure now what I did earlier.

As to your recommendation - correct! However, you tempted me with the metion of "Web Application Project" and I took the bait! I am now in and will learn from it.

Thanks for your response.

Thomas

Quote:

Originally Posted by Imar

2. It shouldn't be like that. When you add a new class file through the Add New Item dialog, Compile should be the default action.

I am sure my recommendation in the book to follow along with a Web Site Project now makes a whole lot more sense, doesn't it? ;-)

Imar · March 24th, 2009, 05:03 PM

Quote:

However, you tempted me with the metion of "Web Application Project" and I took the bait! I am now in and will learn from it.

Absolutely. You'll find that the two types have a lot in common. Once you know how to work with one, it's easy to switch to the other.... Until you start using Profile in the Personalization chapter.... ;-)

Imar