ASP.NET Web Pages - Folders

Logical Folder Structure

Below is a typical folder structure for an ASP.NET web pages web site:

• The "Account" folder contains logon and security files
• The "App_Data" folder contains databases and data files
• The "Images" folder contains images
• The "Scripts" folder contains browser scripts
• The "Shared" folder contains common files (like layout and style files)

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Physical Folder Structure

The physical structure for the "Images" folder at the website above might look like this on a computer:

C:\Johnny\Documents\MyWebSites\Demo\Images

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Virtual And Physical Names

From the example above:

The virtual name of a web picture might be "Images/pic31.jpg".

But the physical name is "C:\Johnny\Documents\MyWebSites\Demo\Images\pic31.jpg"

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The ~ Operator

To specify the virtual root in programming code, use the ~ operator.

If you use the ~ operator, instead of a path, you can move your website to a different folder or location without changing any code:

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The Server.MapPath Method

The Server.MapPath method converts a virtual path (/default.cshtml) to a physical path that the server can understand (C:\Johnny\MyWebSited\Demo\default.cshtml).

You will use this method when you need to open data files located on the server (data files can only be accessed with a full physical path):

You will learn more about reading from (and writing to) data files on the server in the next chapter of this tutorial.

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The Href Method

The Href method converts a path used in the code to a path that the browser can understand (the browser cannot understand the ~ operator).

You use the Href method to create paths to resources like image files, and CSS files.

You will often use this method in HTML <a>, <img>, and <link> elements:

 

The Href method is a method of the WebPage Object.

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