Introduction to ASP.NET MVCBarry Gervin, Partnerbgervin@ObjectSharp.com@bgervinObjectSharp.com/blogs/Barry

Objectives

• Why do we need something else?– What’s wrong with Web Forms?

• “How To” build ASP.NET MVC– How does this compare? Help?

• What should I beware of?

Agenda

• WebForms• MVC• ASP.NET MVC– Tenets

• WebForms Vs. MVC• Walkthrough Real Application• Testing MVC• Extensibility

ASP.NET WEB FORMS

ASP.NET Then…

CachingCaching ModulesModules

HandlersHandlersIntrinsicsIntrinsics

PagesPages ControlsControls

GlobalizationGlobalization

ProfileProfile

Master PagesMaster Pages

MembershipMembershipRolesRoles

Etc.Etc.

ASP.NET

One web applicationframework to rule them all…

WebFormsASPX Page

User/Custom/ServerControls

Master Page

User/Custom/ServerControls

Model

QUICK DEMOPages, Events and Postbacks

Page Controller

ASPX Page

ASP.NET

Response

Request

Master Page

Control

Control

No real role responsibility…

UIPresentation LogicBusiness LogicData Access

Who does what?How and when?

Control

ControlPage

Control

Control

Control

Control

Control abstractions can be negative…

It isn't easy enough to test…It isn't easy enough to test…

Logic UI

WebForms are great, but options are

good…

ASP.NET MVC

ASP.NET Now…

ASP.NETDynamic Data

ASP.NETWebForms

ASP.NETMVC

Presentation

RuntimeASP.NET

Core

So how does ASP.NET MVC

differ?

MVC = Model-View-Controller

ControllerController(Input)(Input)

ModelModel(Logic)(Logic)

ViewView(Presentation)(Presentation)

Separation of concerns!

ASP.NET MVC

Model

ASPX Page

User/Custom/ServerControls

Master Page

User/Custom/ServerControls

Controller

How does MVC look?

Request

View

Controller

Response

ControllerHandles input(HTTP requests)

ViewVisually representsthe model

Framework Goals

• Alternative

• Frictionless Testability

• Tight control over <markup>

• Leverage the benefits of ASP.NET

• Routable Urls to Controllers to Views

• Conventions and guidance

• Modular and Extensible

Project Structure

Routes

Views/Master

Views/Master

Models

Controllers

ASP.NET MVC DEMORoutes, Controllers & Views

ASP.NET MVC doesn’t have…

• Postbacks• View state• Control state• Server-side form• Page/Control lifecycle

ASP.NET MVC still has…• Web designer• Master pages• User controls• Membership/Roles/Profile• Globalization• Caching• HTTP intrinsics:– HttpContext– HttpRequest– HttpResponse– Etc.

Routing

mysite.com/object/action/parameter

Clean URLs

Don’t settle for…

/Products.aspx?CategoryID=123

When you can easily have…

/Product/Puppies

Or whatever else makes sense…

protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) {

RouteTable.Routes.Add("SearchRoute", new Route("search/{searchterm}", new WebFormRouteHandler("~/search.aspx")));

RouteTable.Routes.Add("UserRoute", new Route("users/{username}", new WebFormRouteHandler("~/users.aspx")));

} .... protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e) {

string searchterm= Page.RouteData.Values["searchterm"] as string; Response.Write(searchterm); }... <asp:HyperLink ID="HyperLink1" runat="server" NavigateUrl="<%$RouteUrl:SearchTerm=Bob%>">Link to search</asp:HyperLink>

Routing

Controller Conventions• Controller– Must…

• Be suffixed with “Controller”• Implement IController (or inherit from Controller)

• Action– Must…

• Be Public• Return ActionResult or void

– Can’t…• Be generic• Have a NonActionAttribute• Have out/ref parameters

REAL WORLD WALKTHROUGHSayITFirst.ca

Extensibility Pipeline

ControllerBuilder

ControllerFactory

Controller

ViewEngine

ViewLocator

View

ControllerActionInvoker

ActionResult*

ActionFilters

* ViewResult

Action Results

• ActionResult– ContentResult– EmptyResult– JsonResult– RedirectResult– RedirectToRouteResult– ViewResult

ControllerController

ActionInvoker

ActionResult

Action Filters• IActionFilter– Controller– ActionFilterAttribute

1. OnActionExecuting2. [Action Method Executed]3. OnActionExecuted4. OnResultExecuting5. [Action Result Executed]6. OnResultExecuted

Controller Factory

• IControllerFactory– DefaultControllerFactory

ControllerBuilder

ControllerFactory

Controller

View Engine

• IViewEngine– WebFormViewEngine

• IViewLocator– ViewLocator

• WebFormViewLocator

ViewEngine

ViewLocator

ViewActionResult*

ASP.NET MVC 2

• A good number of new features including:– Client-side validation based on the model’s

validation metadata– Areas to better organize an application– Model validation providers to hook in alternative

validation logic when model binding– Metadata providers to allow for alternative

sources of metadata for model objects

Microsoft.com/web

Web Platform Installer

NerdDinner (nerddinner.com)

Professional ASP.NET MVC 1.0,

a.k.a. The “Gang of Foreheads” Book

ASP.NET MVC in Action

@ManningBooks

Pro ASP.NET MVC Framework

(Highest rating on Amazon.com)

The Official ASP.NET MVC SiteASP.NET/MVC

You’ve Been Haacked (Phil Haack) Haacked.com

Scott Hanselman’s BlogHanselman.com

ObjectSharp.com

ResourcesMicrosoft Starting Points•http://microsoft.com/web•http://asp.net/mvc•http://codeplex.com/MVCContrib•http://aspnet.codeplex.com

Community Starting Points•http://channel9.msdn.com/tags/asp.net+mvc•http://haacked.com/•http://stackoverflow.com

Summary

• Web Forms vs. MVC• 101 How-To• Real World ASP.NET MVC• Testability