Getting Started - ASP.NET Dynamic Data - page 5

Figure 1.1 shows how these templates appear in the New Web Site dialog of Visual Studio.
These project templates are nearly identical, and you should choose one based on the data
access technology you want to use. If your project, like the sample project accompanying
this topic, uses Entity Framework, choose the ASP.NET Dynamic Data Entities project flavor.

FIGURE 1.1 Dynamic Data website templates.

You can choose either Visual Basic or Visual C# flavors of the Dynamic Data project
templates depending on your language preference. Aside from Visual Basic being slightly
more verbose than C# when it comes to defining lambda expressions, both languages
work equally well.

In Visual Studio, you also have a choice of creating either a Web Application project or a
Web Site . A Web Site is simply a folder that contains page (.aspx), control (.ascx), and
code-behind files. This type of Visual Studio project is appropriate for web applications
where content is stored primarily in the page files, as it enables developers to change and
deploy one page at a time. A Web Application project, on the other hand, is more appro-
priate for applications where content is stored primarily in a database and the page files
contain only the logic required to retrieve and display it.

Although Dynamic Data offers both Web Site and Web Application project templates, its
intent fits closer with the Web Application project model. Figure 1.2 shows the Dynamic
Data project templates in the New Project dialog of Visual Studio. The sample project
accompanying this topic is based on the ASP.NET Dynamic Data Entities Web Application
project template.