Does ASP.Net still recognize the Global.asa file?

The ASP.NET Global.asax file can co-exist with the ASP Global.asa file. You can create a Global.asax file. This can be done in a WYSIWYG designer, in Notepad, or as a compiled class that you deploy in your application's \bin directory as an assembly. However, in the latter case, you still need a Global.asax file that refers to the assembly.

The Global.asax file is optional. If you do not define the file, the ASP.NET page framework assumes that you have not defined any application or session event handlers. When you save changes to an active Global.asax file, the ASP.NET page framework detects that the file has been changed. It completes all current requests for the application, sends the Application_OnEnd event to any listeners, and restarts the application domain. In effect, this reboots the application, closing all browser sessions and flushing all state information. When the next incoming request from a browser arrives, the ASP.NET page framework re-parses and recompiles the Global.asax file and raises the Application_OnStart event.

The Global.asa file is also an optional file in which you can specify event scripts and declare objects that have session or application scope. It is not a content file displayed to the users. Instead it stores event information and objects used globally by the application. This file must be named Global.asa and must be stored in the root directory of the application. An application can only have one Global.asa file.