ASP.NET version 3.5 website: what does the file "vwd.webinfo" do, exactly? And what is with the bloated web.config file?

Question

I am running Visual Studio Team Edition 2008.


When I create a new website, I get a new file I've never seen before: vwd.webinfo.

The contents of this file is as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<VisualWebDeveloper>
    <!-- Visual Studio global web project settings. -->
    <StartupServices>
        <Service ID="{3259AA49-8AA1-44D3-9025-A0B520596A8C}"/>
    </StartupServices>
</VisualWebDeveloper>

What do I need a "global web project settings" file for? What does it do, exactly?


Also; what is with the bloated web.config file? In standard ASP.NET version 2.0 website projects, the web.config file contains about 10 lines of code. But in a ASP.NET version 3.5 website project, it is filled with all sorts of weird settings.

Answer 1

It is created because you are using a file system web site. Read more about it here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/e5x4xz73.aspx

What do you mean with "bloat" ? Can you please paste the bloat?

Answer 2

Looks like that file is part of the File System Web Projects based on this MSDN page. It seems they moved some features out of the project file and into that file (makes sense because the project file isn't in file system projects now).

The "bloated" web.config file is due to all the new features in ASP.Net 3.5 such as AJAX. You can remove a lot of these items if you aren't using the features.

Answer 3

@Bryant:

Will all these new features be removed when I publish my website?


@Mannu:

Bloated--much bigger than desired: a bloated bureaucracy; a bloated budget.