Main Application Templates

The three main WebSharper application types are:

1. Client-Server Application - a full client-server application implemented as a WebSharper sitelet.

   The sitelet uses a dynamic HTML template and placeholders that are instantiated by the sitelet. See the Reactive HTML documentation page for more information on dynamic templating.

   These applications exist in two kinds: a Client-Server Web Application runs as an ASP.NET module, while a Self-Hosted Client-Server Web Application runs as a self-contained executable using an OWIN self-host container.

2. HTML Site - a multi-page HTML/JavaScript application.

   Like the Client-Server Application, this application also uses sitelets and dynamic HTML to define web pages. However, it creates a set of static HTML and JavaScript files that can be deployed in any HTML container.

   WebSharper mobile web applications can also be created from this template.

3. Single-Page Application - a single-page HTML/JavaScript application with an HTML page and an F# source file that plugs content into it.

   The easiest way to get started with WebSharper: write a few lines of F#, add a placeholder for it in the HTML, and you are ready to go.

   See the "Your first app in 2 minutes" tab for an example.

The following helper projects are also available:

1. Library - a simple WebSharper library. Annotated code is compiled to JavaScript, and can then be used from any application project.

2. Extension - defines the interface to an existing JavaScript library using a convenient declarative F# syntax.

3. Mobile Application - a single-page application without web hosting and with a readme with instructions about how to wrap the code output in an Apache Cordova application.

4. Owin-hosted Site - a client-server application with Owin hosting.

5. Suave-hosted Site - a client-server application with Suave hosting.

.NET Core

Some templates are available for .NET Core/Standard, see Installing WebSharper Templates for .NET Core/Standard

Capabilities

This table summarizes the capabilities of the available application/helper project templates:

Template	dotnet new	C# available	Is Sitelet?	Client	Server	Remote
Applications
Client-Server App ASP.NET / Core	websharper-web
Client-Server App Hosted via OWIN or Suave
HTML App	websharper-html
Single-Page App ASP.NET / Core	websharper-spa
Single-Page App Packaging for mobile
Helpers
Library	websharper-lib
Extension

• Client - Contains code compiled to JavaScript, executing on the client-side.

• Server - Contains code you deploy for your application, executing on your server-side.

• Remote - Contains code you from someone else's server, typically through a web service.

MSBuild Project File Configuration

The WebSharper compiler is included in the NuGet packages WebSharper.CSharp and WebSharper.FSharp. The type of project is driven by the Project value in a wsconfig.json file, or the property WebSharperProject in the .csproj/.fsproj. Here are the possible values:

• Site: for Client-Server Applications.
  • Compiles JavaScript-annotated code;
  • Extracts resources in the folders Content/WebSharper and Scripts/WebSharper.
• Html: for HTML Applications.
  • Compiles JavaScript-annotated code;
  • Generates HTML files in $(WebSharperHtmlDirectory) and extracts resources in $(WebSharperHtmlDirectory)/Content/WebSharper and $(WebSharperHtmlDirectory)/Scripts/WebSharper.
• Bundle: for Single-Page Applications.
  • Compiles JavaScript-annotated code;
  • Extracts and concatenates resources (js+css) into the folder Content.
• BundleOnly: for Single-Page Applications without .NET compilation.
  • Same as Bundle but skips any other build steps not related to producing the js+css output for quick iterative development.
• Library: for Libraries.
  • Compiles JavaScript-annotated code.
• InterfaceGenerator: For Extensions.
  • Compiles the classes defined using WIG into an assembly.

The other compilation settings are fully documented here.