Build Your Own ASP.NET 2.0 Web Site Using C# & VB, Second Edition

The Location Drop-down

Wondering what’s implied by setting Location to File System? Earlier, we

mentioned that Visual Web Developer contains a built-in web server. When

you’re working with a web site project that’s saved to the file system, Visual

Web Developer’s web server is used to execute the project.

You can create a new web project in IIS by changing the Location to HTTP.

In that case, you’d need to specify an HTTP location, such as http://loc-

alhost/Dorknozzle. If you did so, Visual Web Developer would create a

new folder named Dorknozzle in the web server’s root directory. We’ll take

a look at IIS (or Cassini) a bit later.

Meeting the Features

Once you click OK, your project will be created, along with a few default files,

and you’ll be presented with the first page of your project. It should look some-

thing like the one shown in Figure 5.4.

Figure 5.4. Your new Dorknozzle web application

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Chapter 5: Building Web Applications

Don’t be daunted by the many forms and windows around your screen—each

has something to offer! Visual Web Developer is very flexible, so you can resize,

relocate, or regroup the interface elements that appear. We’ll spend the next few

pages taking a brief tour of these windows, though we’ll discover even more as

we progress through the chapters of this book.

The Solution Explorer

The Solution Explorer, which by default is located in the upper right-hand part

of the Visual Web Developer window, provides the main view of your project,

and displays the files of which your project is composed. As Figure 5.5 shows,

the root node is the location of your project; beneath the root node you can see

that Visual Web Developer has already created other elements for you.

Figure 5.5. The Solution Explorer

The files that are created for you will differ depending on the type of project

you’re working on, and the language you’ve chosen. If you’re using C#,

Web.config won’t appear in your list. Don’t worry—we’ll create this file later.

Let’s review the functions of the three child nodes shown in Figure 5.5:

❑

App_Data is a special folder that ASP.NET uses to store database files. You’ll

learn more about this folder in Chapter 13.

❑

Default.aspx is the default web form that Visual Web Developer creates for

you. If you look closely, you’ll see that you can expand the Default.aspx

node by clicking the + sign to its left. If you expand the node, you’ll find a

code-behind file named Default.aspx.vb, or Default.aspx.cs, depending

on the language you selected when you started the project. Visual Web Deve-

loper can work with web forms that use a code-behind file, as well as with

those that don’t.

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Meeting the Features