Creating and opening ASP.NET projects in Visual Studio .

NET
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Welcome to the ASP.NET Support Voice column! My name is Jerry Orman. I have been with Microsoft over 5 years, and have
spent most of my time focused on
Web-related technologies such as Microsoft FrontPage and the new Microsoft SharePoint technologies. I have spent the last
year working with Microsoft ASP.NET
as a support engineer. This month in the Support Voice column, I am going to describe creating and opening ASP.NET
projects in Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.
While troubleshooting an issue in which I am unable to open or create ASP.NET-based projects, I've found that it is very
important to understand what Visual
Studio .NET is doing in the background to help isolate the issue. As you'll see below, this process has multiple steps and is
very dependent on Microsoft Internet
Information Services (IIS) functioning correctly on the back end. I will include the error messages and dialog boxes you will
see along the way as well as
recommended steps to narrow down the problem.

File path versus FrontPage Server Extensions

In Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003, there are two methods for creating and opening Web sites. One method uses a file
path to copy files, and the other
method uses Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions. Each method has pros and cons. Below is a table outlining the
differences.
FrontPage Server Extensions
File path

Changing the method used to create projects

By default, Visual Studio .NET uses the file share method. If you want to always use the FrontPage Server Extensions
method by default, you can change this
setting by following the steps below:
1. Start Visual Studio .NET 2003.
2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
3. Expand Projects.
4. Click Web Settings.
5. Click FrontPage Extensions.
Note The option for Repair links when Web files are moved or renamed can be left unchecked. FrontPage Server Extensions
can update hyperlinks to
resources if you move a file to a subfolder.
6. Click OK.

Creating and opening ASP.NET projects in

Visual
Studio .NET
Introduction
Pro Con
Remotely administer and manipulate a Web site over HTTP. If you have multiple URLs that you work against, this method is
preferable.
Visual Studio .NET creates the folder and files, and sets the application settings in IIS by sending Web Extender Client
(WEC)
based RPC calls to the FrontPage Server Extensions over HTTP.
- Admin help for FrontPage Server Extensions:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/sharepoint/bb741069.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/enus/
windowsserver/sharepoint/bb741069.aspx)

Don't need to be an admin on the computer you are administering. You need to be an Administrator in FrontPage Server
Extensions permissions, which allows you to manage and manipulate the contents of that FrontPage Server Extensions
extended site, while preventing you from actually making operating system-level changes.
FrontPage Server Extensions sets
NTFS permissions when
configured.
Adds folders starting with _vti to
manage the content.
Troubleshooting FrontPage
Server Extensions and problems
related to them can be difficult.
Pro Con
Typically easier to configure.
Uses a file share to connect to the remote server. By default, this path is
\\server\wwwroot$. You can install Remote Components to set up the share or

manually create it.

Uses SMB to create the folder and copy the files.
Need to be able to connect to a UNC path for this to work. Will not work
over HTTP.
Account running Visual Studio .NET needs to be an admin on the remote
computer because this method uses ADSI to set the application root in
IIS.
If authoring against multiple URLs, you will need to keep up with all the
shares.

7/26/2014 Creating and opening ASP.NET projects in Visual Studio .NET

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/893665 2/9

Creating an ASP.NET project

When you create a project, the behavior is similar regardless of the method you use. In general, the following will occur:
1. A folder is created to hold the application and is marked as an application in IIS.
2. The version of the framework is verified.
3. Whether files can be copied and browsed from the URL provided is verified.
4. Template files are copied to the site.

A folder is created and marked