vs2008 web app vs web site

[CMoya]

Can anyone point to an article or blog that describes the *functional*
differences between a "Web Application" and a "Web Site" in VS2008....
caveats, gotchas? I'm aware of the compile differences as it was in VS2005
(one dll, vs multiple), but is there anything else to keep in mind? Like
some things that might work in one but not the other?

 

[Manish]

You can refer to the following links for more information on the new features
added in VS2008.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb386063.aspx

http://www.asp.net/downloads/vs2008/

Regards,
Manish
www.componentone.com

 

[Cowboy \(Gregory A. Beamer\)]

I know of nothing that works in one that does not in another. It is more of
a methodology change than a functionality change.

About the only thing that "won't work" with the web app is updating code on
the fly (updating single pages, for example). But then, you have to have
the web site set up correctly to do that anyway.

I find, overall, that piecemeal deployment is generally an accident waiting
to happen, so I would not personally choose the website for that reason.

I will have to check, but one other possible gotcha, with the web apps, is
mixing langauges. It may not be allowed, that is. But, I think even that
works, as we have a solution that was originally VB and we switched over to
C# one page at a time. There are still a couple of VB pages hanging on and I
believe that particular solution has been retooled as a web app. As multiple
languages in a single web app is more an exception, I do not think this is a
big issue either. And, I believe it works fine in both, but cannot confirm
right this second.

 

[CMoya]

I would really really like to understand the 'multiple languages' thing. As
this is something we might run into in the future. The MSDN documentation
states (very vaguely) that one of the benefits of "Web Apps" is multiple
projects.... I have no idea how that is different than what the Web Site
model allows.

One thing I did notice is that Web Apps have a much nicer configuration
editor (for "Web.Config, Resources.resx, etc) than "Web Sites." It's
essentially the same My Project editor you see in WinForms apps. Other than
that, I don't really see a functional difference.

One thing I noticed is that