Question

Web.Config Global.asax Difference

Asked by: sunnydsouza

Since Application and session level Variables can be declared in Web.config file then why has Microsoft provided the Global.asax files in Visual Studio.NET. Why is there a need for Global.asax file as Web.Config serves the purpose.Whats the Reason beind this????

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Asked On
2003-10-12 at 19:06:42ID20764632
Tags

difference

,

application_dispose

Topic

Miscellaneous Web Development

Participating Experts
2
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250
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: sunnydsouzaPosted on 2003-10-12 at 19:20:38ID: 9537558

if a application is deployed on a web server. In my case its a .NET Application hosted on IIS. This application is currently being accesed by multiple users. I have to make some changes to the code of the existing application. For example Some updates, Deletes, Code modification etc. IS there an such feature in .NET wherin i can make changes to the existing application without shutting down the site?????

 

by: 1makPosted on 2003-10-13 at 03:21:38ID: 9539086

Firstly,
Global.asax can be used for a lot of things, not just variable declarations (although, i'm not sure you can declare variables in web.config either? you can put initialisation values in there, but you can't, for example, create database connection objects?). One thing i've used global.asax for before is to trap page requests for pages that don't exist. This allows you to have a 100% database driven website that doesn't rely on any actual page/file structure being in place.

Secondly,
You can update any of the pages within your website whilst people are using it. All of the .aspx files that contain your static HTML are updateale on the fly. As for the "code behind" parts, these (i believe) will force a restart if you put a new version of their DLL into the sites BIN directory. The only way i know of having updateable code behind is to put it all in the aspx/ascx files and have no "code behind". This is awkward though as the Visual Studio.Net IDE is not geared up for developing server side code in the same file as the HTML code.

 

by: rolftollerudPosted on 2003-10-13 at 05:04:58ID: 9539491

In global.asax you can not only declare Objects (as opposed to simple variable declarations), but catch application and session events.

For instance,

Application_AuthenticateRequest
Occurs whever a client accesses a resource that needs authentication.

Application_AuthorizeRequest
Occurs  whever a client accesses a resource that needs authorization.

Application_BeginRequest
Occurs  whenever a client makes a request any page in the application. One can make use of this event to redirect or check the validity of the requested page.

Application_End
Occurs  when the application is stopped. This event is used to "clean" up variables and generally memory. This works exactly as in classic asp.

Application_EndRequest
Occurs  when a client has completed request for a page.

Application_Error
This event is used to handle all unhandled errors in the application.

Application_PreSendRequestContent
Occurs just before ASP.Net sends the content to the client. One can use this event to push in content to the client.

Application_PreSendRequestHeaders
Occurs  just before ASP.Net send the HTTP headers to the client. The header information can be modified using this event.

Application_PreRequestHandlerExecute:
Occurs  just before ASP.Net begins executing a handler such as a page or a web service. At this point, the session state is available.

Application_PostRequestHandlerExecute:
Occurs  when the ASP.Net handler finishes execution.

Application_AcquireRequestState:
Occurs when ASP.Net acquires the current state (eg. Session state) associated with the current request.

Application_ReleaseRequestState:
Occurs  after ASP.NET finishes executing all request handlers and causes state modules to save the current state data.

Application_Start
This event is exactly the same as the start event in classic asp. One can use this event to initialize variables and generally set up the environment. This occurs exactly once during the lifetime of the application, during the start of the application.

Application_Dispose
Occurs when the application has completed all requests.

Application_Init
Occurs before the start event and can be used to initialize the application

Session_Start:
Occurs when any new user accesses the web site

Session_End:
Occurs when a user's session times out or ends.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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