ASP.

NET MVC Best Practices

Simone Chiaretta
Solution Developer, Avanade
http://codeclimber.net.nz
Twitter: @simonech
21 Ottobre 2009
Thanks to the Sponsors
Who the hell am I?
Simone Chiaretta
Work for Avanade Italy
Microsoft MVP ASP.NET
Blogger http://codeclimber.net.nz
Founder of UGIALT.NET
OpenSource developer
Climber
All Around Nice Guy
Agenda
Would you like someone to tell you the final a
movie before you watch it?
3
ASP.NET MVC Best Practices
What ASP.NET MVC is?
Its an advanced session... You should
already know
Just in case
5
Model
View
Controller
1
5
2
4
3
B
r
o
w
s
e
r

The request hits
the controller
The Controller
asks the Model
for data
The Model gives the
data back to the
Controller
The controller formats
the data and passes
them to the View
The view renders the
HTML that needs to be
sent to the client
Controller
Delete AccountController
Best Practice n 1
1 Delete AccountController
You will probably never use these account
management pages
Keeping demo code in a production application
is EVIL
Delete it
Isolate controllers from the external World
Best Practice n 2
2 - Isolate controllers from the outside
World
HttpContext
Data Access classes
Configuration management
Logging
Clock
Etc
2 - Isolate controllers from the outside
World
Not testable application
Not flexible application
Use a IoC Container
Best Practice n 3
Whats Dependency Injection
13
Whats Dependency Injection
BAD
Whats Dependency Injection
BETTER
Whats Dependency Injection
BUT
Inversion of Control
With IoC
IoC inside ASP.NET MVC
Extend ControllerFactory
Many ControllerFactory ready available
StructureMap
Spring
Unity
Windsor
Ninject
...
IoC inside ASP.NET MVC using Ninject v2
Global.asax inherits from
NinjectHttpApplication
Helper to configure all controllers:
RegisterAllControllersIn(assemblyName);
Dont use Magic strings
Best Practice n 4
Say NO to Magic Strings
Never use ViewData[key]
Always create a ViewModel for each View
View must inherit from
System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage<ListViewModel>
Build your own personal conventions
Best Practice n 5
Build your own personal conventions
ASP.NET MVC is the base on which to build
your own reference architecture
Controllers (and views) inherint from your
own base class
Pay attention to Verbs
Best Practice n 6
Pay attention to Verbs
What happens when you refresh (or go back)
after you submit a form?

25
PRG Pattern
View sends data in POST
Controller validates
Renders the View with errors (POST)
Redirect in GET
View renders the results in GET
Pay attention to Verbs
Show data in GET
Modify data in POST
Model
DomainModel != ViewModel
Best Practice n 7
DomainModel != ViewModel
DomainModel
Data + Behaviours
hierarchical, complex types
ViewModel
Only Data
Flat, only strings
DomainModel != ViewModel
How to avoid getting bored writing tedious
mapping code?


AutoMapper
Mapper.Map<Post, ShowPostModel>(post)
Use ActionFilter for shared data
Best Practice n 8
Components in ASP.NET MVC
RenderPartial
The Controller must create all data needed by all
the partials
RenderAction (futures)
Smells (view calls a controller)
More difficult to test
Custom HtmlHelpers
Ok for some HTML, but must not have logic
Action Filtes
Defined as Attributi
Allow you to execute code
During the Autenthorization phase
If an exception occurs
Before an Action
After an Action
Before the rendering of a view
After the rendering of a view
Core filters
Authorize
OutputCache
Action Filter + Render Partial
Controller:
Has code for his main concern and create the
main data
View:
Renders the main output
Calls the various PartialViews
Action Filters:
Load data for the partial views
Partial views
Render data loaded via Action Filters
View
Do NOT use code-behind
Best Practice n 9
Do NOT use code-behind
NEVER
Write HTML when you can
Best Practice n 10
Write HTML when you can
You MUST learn HTML
Do never use HtmlHelpers that ONLY abstract
HTML awat
<%= Html.Submit(Salva) %>
vs
<input type=submit value=Salva />
If there is an if, write an HtmlHelper
Best Practice n 11
If there is an if, write an HtmlHelper
View must not have logic
Allowed: if - foreach
When possible, hides them in HtmlHelpers
Choose your View Engine carefully
Best Practice n 12
Choose your View Engine carefully
The default is WebFormViewEngine
Not the best available
Choose the one that most suits you
Choose your View Engine carefully
Spark View Engine
The flow is managed by HTML
Its a templating engine
Other Features
Renders PDF
Evaluates templates also with Javascript
Beginning ASP.NET MVC
Simone Chiaretta & Keyvan
Nayyeri
TOC:
MVC
Testing
And more...
http://bit.ly/BeginningASPNETMVC
Contacts Simone Chiaretta
MSN: [email protected]
Blog:
English: http://codeclimber.net.nz/
Italian: http://blogs.ugidotnet.org/piyo/
Twitter: @simonech


47
Credits
These talk has been inspired by Sebastien
Lambla (founder of Caffeine IT) and his
ASP.NET MVC Best Practices
Watch his talk (which is way better than
mine):
http://serialseb.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-mvc-
best-practices-talk.html
Read his blog: http://serialseb.blogspot.com/


48
Q&A
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