ASP.NET MVC - Internet Application

To learn ASP.NET MVC, we will Build an Internet Application

Part I: Creating the Application

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What We Will Build

We will build an Internet application that supports adding, editing, deleting, and listing of information stored in a database.

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What We Will Do

Visual Web Developer offers different templates for building web applications.

We will use Visual Web Developer to create an empty MVC Internet application with HTML5 markup.

When the empty Internet application is created, we will gradually add code to the application until it is fully finished. We will use C# as the programming language, and the newest Razor server code markup.

Along the way we will explain the content, the code, and all the components of the application.

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Creating the Web Application

If you have Visual Web Developer installed, start Visual Web Developer and select New Project. Otherwise just read and learn.

In the New Project dialog box:

• Open the Visual C# templates
• Select the template ASP.NET MVC 3 Web Application
• Set the project name to MvcDemo
• Set the disk location to something like c:\w3schools_demo
• Click OK

When the New Project Dialog Box opens:

• Select the Internet Application template
• Select the Razor Engine
• Select HTML5 Markup
• Click OK

Visual Studio Express will create a project much like this:

 

We will explore the content of the files and folders in the next chapter of this tutorial.

ASP.NET MVC Introduction

The MVC Programming Model

MVC is one of three ASP.NET programming models.

MVC is a framework for building web applications using a MVC (Model View Controller) design:

• The Model represents the application core (for instance a list of database records).
• The View displays the data (the database records).
• The Controller handles the input (to the database records).

The MVC model also provides full control over HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

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The MVC model defines web applications with 3 logic layers: The business layer (Model logic) The display layer (View logic) The input control (Controller logic)

The Model is the part of the application that handles the logic for the application data.
Often model objects retrieve data (and store data) from a database.

The View is the parts of the application that handles the display of the data.
Most often the views are created from the model data.

The Controller is the part of the application that handles user interaction.
Typically controllers read data from a view, control user input, and send input data to the model.

The MVC separation helps you manage complex applications, because you can focus on one aspect a time. For example, you can focus on the view without depending on the business logic. It also makes it easier to test an application.

The MVC separation also simplifies group development. Different developers can work on the view, the controller logic, and the business logic in parallel.

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Web Forms vs MVC

The MVC programming model is a lighter alternative to traditional ASP.NET (Web Forms). It is a lightweight, highly testable framework, integrated with all existing ASP.NET features, such as Master Pages, Security, and Authentication.

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Visual Studio Express 2012/2010

Visual Studio Express is a free version of Microsoft Visual Studio.

Visual Studio Express is a development tool tailor made for MVC (and Web Forms).

Visual Studio Express contains:

• MVC and Web Forms
• Drag-and-drop web controls and web components
• A web server language (Razor using VB or C#)
• A web server (IIS Express)
• A database server (SQL Server Compact)
• A full web development framework (ASP.NET)

If you install Visual Studio Express, you will get more benefits from this tutorial.

If you want to install Visual Studio Express, click on one of these links:

Visual Web Developer 2012 (If you have Windows 7 or Windows 8)

Visual Web Developer 2010 (If you have Windows Vista or XP)

	After you have installed Visual Studio Express the first time, it pays to run the installation one more time, to install fixes and service packs. Just click on the link once more.

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ASP.NET MVC References

At the end of this tutorial you will find a complete ASP.NET MVC reference.