what is the app_data folder really for?

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Guest

hi folks
I'm working on reverse engineering TheBeerHouse by Marco Bellinaso which
appears to have 100% unanimous approval on Amazon.
I got the book and downloaded the code and I opened the solution.
in his readme.txt he recommends that you move the database files he gives
you in the App_data folder (called oddly aspnet.mdf and aspnet_log.mdf) and
then attach them using sp_attach and rename them

I renamed these TheBeerHouse (mdf and ldf) and put them on another drive on
my XP prof machine and attached them to my SQL server 2005 (developer
edition) and I changed the connection string in web.config to reflect my
local settings.

everything works when I press F5, but my question is, what is the point of
app_data folder, it now has the non-attached original database that Bellinaso
provided in the download and I can't figure out a way to view the real data
on the SQL server through visual studio 2005 (but I can through the SQL
server management console). When I tried to add the now attached
TheBeerHouse.mdf file, I was informed that the file was in use (i.e by the
SQL server 2005 service)

should I have kept the database files in App_data and attached them to SQL
server from there? if not why would anyone ever use App_data, since SQL
server has its own data directory! I ask all this as an old C# asp.net 1.1
hand and am slightly baffled by the need for this data folder...


Regards and thanks in advance,
Charles
 
App_Data allows you to use a file based SQL Server database (or Access, if
you like more pain ;->). If you are using an actual server, there is no
reason to have App_Data.

--
Gregory A. Beamer
MVP; MCP: +I, SE, SD, DBA
http://gregorybeamer.spaces.live.com

*************************************************
Think outside of the box!
*************************************************
 
re:
what is the point of app_data folder
Click to expand...

As Cowboy told you, App_Data allows you to use a file-based database.

That includes not only SQL Server 2005 and Access, but also XML files
and Excel worksheets, among others, i.e., *any* file-based data store.

The real advantage is that any file you place in APp_Data won't be downloadable
if a direct request for it is made over the wire, i.e., your data can't be hijacked.

The content in all the special ASP.NET folders other than
App_Themes is not be accessible via http requests to the server.

re:
should I have kept the database files in App_data and attached them to SQL server from there?
Click to expand...

For SQL Server *.mdf files, it's not critical.
For other types of file-based data, it is.

re:
When I tried to add the now attached TheBeerHouse.mdf file,
I was informed that the file was in use (i.e by the SQL server 2005 service)
Click to expand...

Just unattach them, move them to App_Data, and re-attach them.
You may need to stop the SQL Server 2005 dev edition service, though.

re:
why would anyone ever use App_data, since SQL server has its own data directory
Click to expand...

Maybe it's not so critical for SQL Server database files,
but you may need to use other file-based data, and be
sure that they won't be directly downloadable.



Juan T. Llibre, asp.net MVP
aspnetfaq.com : http://www.aspnetfaq.com/
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foros de asp.net, en español : http://asp.net.do/foros/
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