Structure of a Web Application

When you create a new web application project, you can organize your folder in any way you want. Visual Studio creates some folders that have special purposes. All of them can be added to the web application by right-clicking the project in Solution Explorer, pointing to Add, pointing to Add ASP.NET Folder, and then clicking the desired ASP.NET folder type.

Folder Description App_Browsers Contains browser definitions (.browser files) that ASP.NET uses to identify individual browsers and determine their capabilities. App_Code Contains source code for utility classes and business objects (for example, .cs and .vb files) that you want to compile as part of your application. In a dynamically compiled application, ASP.NET compiles the code in the App_Code folder on the initial request to your application. Items in this folder are then recompiled when any changes are detected. App_Data Contains application data files including MDF files, XML files, as well as other data store files. The App_Data folder is used by ASP.NET to store an application’s local database, which can be used for maintaining membership and role information. App_GlobalResources Contains resources (.resx and .resources files) that are compiled into assemblies with global scope. Resources in the App_GlobalResources folder are strongly typed, and can be accessed programmatically. App_LocalResources Contains resources (.resx and .resources files) that are associated with a specific page, user control, or master page in an application. App_Themes Contains a collection of files (.skin and .css files, as well as image files and generic resources) that define the appearance of ASP.NET web pages and controls. App_WebReferences Contains reference contract files (.wsdl files), schemas (.xsd files), and discovery document files (.disco and .discomap files) defining a web reference for use in an application. Bin Contains compiled assemblies (.dll files) for controls, components, or other code that you want to reference in your application. Any classes represented by code in the Bin folder are automatically referenced in your application.