I stepped into the C#/.NET world a couple of years ago and right into VS2005, so I had no experience with anything before VS05.  Right away I started working with the new Visual Studio "Web Sites".  I was told they had to be compiled by my boss who was a VS03 man, but once I discovered that VS05 will dynamically compile a website, I haven't compiled one since, until now.

I've run into some problems where the "compile on demand" isn't working and there are conflicting dlls on the server. I've started migrating some of my projects over to "Web Applications" so I can compile them into one dll and be done with it - but here are my questions :

 1. The main question is...Looking into the future, what is the best project type to have - web site, or web application?  I don't want to convert all my stuff over to a Web Project only to find out that it's the "old way" to do it.  I don't want to get into VS08 and have to convert them all back to web sites.

2.  What are best practices for dealing with Web Application projects?  From what I've found they are somewhat bulky.  I like that I can pre-compile it.  But if I want to upload it to a remote site (say godaddy) without using VS's "publish" feature, then I have to compile to a seperate folder and then upload it, or else be careful not tp upload any .cs file.  How does everyone else handle this?

Using the publish tool, you CAN compile web sites (though usually not in just one DLL, it makes more, but still). Web sites are a bit easier to maintain in my opinion, while web applications work more like a normal .net project.

Best practice is...pick whatever works for you. Both are supported, both have their advantages and drawbacks. Personally I like web site (even for big project) because its easier to modify on the fly, and because sometimes, stuff supports it first (for example the Web Client Software factory supported web site before web application). At work though, we use Web Application project, because people are more familiar with that model...

So pick what you like, and don't worrie. I know normally its important to follow best practices and use the "standard" thing, but in this case, both are equaly valid.

Thanks for your opinion.  I definately agree that "Web sites" are easier to maintain than web applications and are much neater (cleaner) I think.  I wish I could comiple a web site into a single dll like the web application to appease my Monk-like OCD.

Have you run into any issues with dlls conflicting when you allow a web site to compile on the server?  For the past year I haven't experienced any problems, but recently I created an online employment application as an addition to our website and it seems to happen a lot with this.  When I reupload some of the files it will tell me that class XYZ already exists on another dll.  After a few page refreshes the error goes away.  It's as if it's compiling it dynamically without first deleting the old dlls.

No unfortunately, I have a lot of web sites in .NEt that are in production using the web site model, no issue whatsoever... Make sure the frameworks are fully patched and stuff. I know a recent windows update causes the machine to recompile (or something) every single assembly on the machine as a background process (over several days i think), so maybe your server got patched and thats conflicting?

Thats an idea out of nowhere really.  But you still have the option of precompiling the web site project. It doesn't make a single DLL, but it still compiles everything in DLLs.

Listen the best way to develope a web site is to have nice platform such as DOT NET NUKE. A web application is a simple document that is part of a webpage. To develop a website means this consists of multi documentations and developments, or you could have a one web page website.

But the most important is platform development this is the best and quickest way to confine a large based website to minimal work development.

GO to DOT NET NUKE and read on their platform you can use just about any asp.net internet user control and it works really great with web deployment management. I know, I done a fully live feed new cast in dot net nuke and it took only a few weeks to run what would seem as a huge amount of work. 

Its a great platform, but DNN may be overkill for what he's (or most people) are doing. 

I'm not one who really liks to build on other platforms (like DNN).  I like to build as much as possible from scratch that way I know the in's and out's of it all and it's easier for me to trouble shoot.  When I develop my own personal sites (side work) I have my own base framework I've developed that I work off of.

 Here at work, I kinda of have to go with the flow, but want to make suggestions to make things run tighter/better and be as streamlined as possible.

The error I'm referring to is this - I have a Wizard Control that has a lot of UserControls as it's steps.  Many times when I redeploy my web site (not compiled) I'll get an error referring to one of the User Controls.  A couple of page refreshes later it goes away.

Compiler Error Message: CS0433: The type 'ASP.AppTimeline' exists in both 'c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\d0bea4e1\132250c3\App_Web_7tqrr7gc.dll' and 'c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\d0bea4e1\132250c3\App_Web_ysj6upyh.dll'

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Ive had this problem crop up once or twice.  Basically it can be fixed by restarting iis, or deleting the Temporary Asp.Net Files folder.

I started using web sites, switched temporarly to web applications, and then quickly switched back to websites.   I can't stand web application projects.  Of course there are features about them that I like, but overall, they drive me nuts.  Web sites all the way.

 I believe scott gu has explictily stated that going forward, both models will continue to be fully supported and developed in future versions of visual studio.

 

I finally realized why I was getting that error.  The folder had a alot of Controls in it that were referenced in a wizard.  Since the whole folder is compiled the first time it is accessed I assume some parts where compiled while some were still trying to reference the old dll.  Not much can be done about it - but it sucks.

 I am completly torn on this.  Something inside of (the OCC freak) likes the fact that my website is compiled into one dll (Web Apps) and that Web Apps put everything into a namespace so it's A LOT easier to reference controls and such (in my opinion).  I've noticed though that Web Apps don't catch some errors on build that Web Sites do.

 I like the ease of use of websites - but I'm torn.  Oh the agony in my soul.