Sueetie has been converted from a Website Project to a WebApplication. I wanted to do it right so I went file-by-file and it’s super clean. Love it! I hope you will, too.
I converted Sueetie to a WebApplication because I’m laying the groundwork for Gummy Bear v1.4 which will be focused on custom development, and for custom development we needed a WebApplication. The project type hasn’t been an issue to date because I do all Sueetie development on Windows 2008 Server. I actually like Website projects. It’s good enough for both BlogEngine.NET and YetAnotherForum.NET so it’s good enough for Gummy Bear! But to fire-up a Sueetie .SLN with multiple WebApplication and Website projects for development in, say, Windows 7 Premium, we need a WebApplication at the top leading the way. More on that when we get there.
Some guys will love this news, others will hate it, and still others couldn’t care less, but it's clear the upgrade from Gummy Bear 1.2 to 1.3 will be a bit more interesting now. Sorry about that. I converted Sueetie.com with the new project files and it wasn’t painful at all. DBVT.com conversion is up next. I promise to provide good upgrade instructions in the Gummy Bear 1.2 to 1.3 Upgrade Guide.
If converting to a WebApplication wasn’t enough, it also seemed a good tim
Oh, and while I was at it, I completely revamped the Administration area, with folders by area and each administrative area having its own default page (screenshot below.) The new WebApplication Overview Wiki Document follows with additional info and screenshots.
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A Quick History, or...Why a WebApplication Project
First a definition of the Sueetie Web. Sueetie Web is the top-level area of a Sueetie site which is not a part of one of the Sueetie applications: BlogEngine.NET blog, Gallery Server Pro media gallery, YetAnotherForum.NET forum, or ScrewTurn wiki library.
Also by way of definition, Sueetie started out as a Website Project but was converted to a WebApplication Project to better support custom development. A Website project processes and stores files differently than a WebApplication Project. In the most simple terms, Website projects require all code files to exist on the website server and are compiled when needed. Code files in a WebApplication project, on the other hand, are compiled as a single binary DLL file once when the site is loaded into server memory.
Website format verses WebApplication format
Below left was the website view of Gummy Bear, at right the webapplication view containing far fewer files and folders.
Admin Area Restructured
Sueetie Administration has been restructured in breaking out the administration files by function. Below left is an excerpt of the website administration area format, at right the new webapplication format by category.
The Administrative area's default page now displays links to the various administrative areas, whereas previously the default Administration page was the registered members report page.
Consolidated Theme Contents
In the Website version a theme's contents were distributed with its images in /images/THEME, Master files in /masters/THEME and stylesheets in /style/THEME. Now a single /themes directory has been added with all theme content consolidated in /themes/THEME.
The Rise of the Util Directory Area
A /util directory was added to the WebApplication layout to hold various utility and support materials. Examples of content in /util include the Sueetie Search index, Language Resource files, Editors, Email Templates, and so on.
