Exploring ASP.NET MVC 1.0
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Our Guests
Join Jeffrey Palermo and Eric Hexter as they discuss the release version of ASP.NET MVC and some practical examples real-world development.
Action Filters
Action filters are extensibility points into the lifecycle of a controller request. There are many great resources that show how to use action filters:
- MVC: Action Filter for Handling Errors
- Logging with ASP.NET MVC Action Filters
- Filters in ASP.NET MVC
... and the following is a list of the interfaces you can leverage to tap into the requests:
Action Selectors
Another way to gain control over a request is to pipe into action selectors. This gives you control to decide if an which HTTP verbs an action accepts. For more information on configuring action selectors, check out the following posts:
- The Life And Times of an ASP.NET MVC Controller
- 13 ASP.NET MVC extensibility points you have to know
Pain Points? We Don't Have no Stinkin' Pain Points!
When I asked Jeffery and Eric what the remaining pain points of ASP.NET MVC were, I got a surprising response – none. Since the framework is interface-based
top-to-bottom features are pluggable at every level. If the framework doesn't provide something needed - you may extend any portion of framework when necessary.
After being pushed, Eric did mention that he would like to see areas in MVC. Areas will allow you to group controllers and they are likely to appear in MVC v2. For now Eric has extended Steve Sanderson’s implementation of areas (link is a Google cache link since the site seems to be having issues lately).
ASP.NET MVC in Action
Jeffrey Palermo, Ben Scheirman and Jimmy Bogard bring you the upcoming ASP.NET MVC in Action from Manning:
Headspring Development Stack
The guys at Headspring Systems have a full stack of open source software that they use to help start and support applications:
- SolutionFactory: Visual Studio add-in that exports a solution into a multi-project template
- Watin: .NET automated web application testing
- AutoMapper: Object-to-object mapping strategy
- Gallio: Test automation platform
- MbUnit: Unit test framework
- qUnit: jQuery unit test framework
Also on the Show
Why isn’t Learning ASP.NET MVC Pragmatic Advice?
Rob Conery and Joe Brinkman recently engaged in a lively conversation on the merits (and reasons) for learning the ASP.NET MVC framework. If you are not careful the exchange may sound a bit like a shouting match, but these guys seem to be pretty comfortable with one another. but in the end if you pull anything out of it, I think it’s best summed by by Rob:
You Should Learn MVC – not that you have to use it (although I wish you would – it’s tons of fun!)
The often hailed wisdom from page ‘Pragmatic Programmer’ states:
Learn at least one new language every year. Different languages solve the same problems in different ways. By learning several different approaches, you can help broaden your thinking and avoid getting stuck in a rut. Additionally, learning many languages is far easier now, thanks to the wealth of freely available software on the Internet.
While MVC is not a new language per se, but every ASP.NET developer should spend time with the framework – if not to use, then at least it to sharpen your development arsenal.