Partial Classes in ASP.NET

Partial class is a new functionality that is included in Visual Studio .Net 2005 and is supported in ASP.Net 2.0. This new functionality helps you to split a single class into multiple partial classes. These partial classes can be in different individual files.


In the earlier versions of Visual Studio .Net 2005, while you create an ASP.Net application, you might have seen that a single class has to be in a single file. You will be beginning a class and ending that class in the same file. It was not possible to split a single class across multiple files. This new feature, partial class, allows you to allot different developers to develop the code for different functionalities that are available in a single class. These functionalities can be developed in partial classes and then compiled to form the required assembly.