Professional ASP.NET MVC 1.0 (Paperback)

From there, the bulk of the rest of the book begins with the basic concepts around the model view controller pattern, including the little history and the state of the MVC on the web today. We'll then go into the ways that MVC is different from ASP.NET Web Forms. We'll explore the structure of a standard MVC application and see what you get out of the box. Next we dig deep into routing and see the role URLs play in your application. We'll deep dive into controllers and views and see what role the Ajax plays in your applications. The last third of the book focuses entirely on advanced techniques and extending the framework.

In some places, we assume that you're somewhat familiar with ASP.NET WebForms, at least peripherally. There are a lot of ASP.NET WebForms developers out there who are interested in ASP.NET MVC so there are a number of places in this book where we contrast the two technologies. Even if you're not already an ASP.NET developer, you might still find these sections interesting for context, as well as for your own edification as ASP.NET MVC may not be the web technology that you're looking for.

It’s worth noting, that ASP.NET MVC is not a replacement for ASP.NET Web Forms (aka just "ASP.NET"). Many web developers have been giving a lot of attention to other web frameworks out there (Ruby on Rails, Django) which have embraced the MVC (Model-View-Controller) application pattern, and if you’re one of those developers, or even if you’re just curious, this book is for you.

MVC allows for (buzzword alert!) a "greater separation of concerns" between components in your application. The book goes into the ramifications of this, but if it had to be said it in a quick sentence: ASP.NET MVC is ASP.NET Unplugged. ASP.NET MVC is a tinkerer’s framework that gives you very fine-grained control over your HTML and Javascript, as well as complete control over the programmatic flow of your application.

For developers who like to peel away layers of abstraction and get their hands closer to the metal, the ASP.NET MVC framework might be for you. For developers who are extremely particular about how their frameworks should be put together, ASP.NET MVC is also extremely extensible, allowing nearly any part of it to be customized or even swapped out entirely in favor of something that fits the developer's own tastes.

Written by members of the ASP.NET team, expert Scott Guthrie starts you out with an end-to-end walk-through, showing you how to build an application. You can even share Scott Guthrie's NerdDinner.com chapter with your friends at http://tinyurl.com/aspnetmvc. You'll then delve into basic concepts and the history of the Model-View-Controller (MVC), and quickly transition to learning how the ASP.NET MVC pattern implements those concepts.

You'll explore controllers and views and examine the roles that AJAX and URLs play in your applications while the book demonstrates the myriad ways in which you can extend ASP.NET MVC. As you go through the book, you'll come to understand the mind-shift that is required when making the change from traditional ASP.NET Web Forms development to ASP.NET MVC and the many benefits that exist once that change is made.

What you will learn from this book

• The various toolsets and technologies that complement MVC, such as SubSonic, LINQ, jQuery, and REST
• The structure of a standard ASP.NET MVC application
• Advanced routing strategies as well as advanced techniques for extending the framework
• The difference between ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET Web Forms and how to share data between the two
• How to secure your ASP.NET MVC application

Who this book is for:
This book is for ASP.NET developers who want to employ separation of concerns, extensibility, and control over markup whenbuilding web applications. A firm understanding of ASP.NET development using C# is necessary.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

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