ASP.

NET MVC Essentials

Routi ng, Controllers, Acti ons,
Views, Areas…

SoftUni Team
Technical Trainers
Software University
http://softuni.bg
Table of Contents
1. ASP.NET MVC Routing
 Route constraints

2. Controllers and Actions

 Action results and filters

3. Razor Views
 Layout and sections

 Helpers

 Partial views

4. Areas 2
ASP.NET MVC Routing
ASP.NET MVC Routing
 Mapping between patterns and a combination of
 controller + action + parameters

 Routes are defined as a global list of routes

 System.Web.Routing.RouteTable.Routes

 Something similar to Apache mod_rewrite

 Greedy algorithm
 the first match wins

4
Register routes
 In Global.asax in the Application_Start() there is:
 RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
 RoutesConfig class is located in /App_Start/ in internet
applications template by default
Routes to ignore
The [*] means all left

Route name

Route pattern

Default parameters

5
Routing Examples

http://localhost/Products/ById/3

 Controller: Products
 Action: ById
 Id: 3 6
Routing Examples (2)

http://localhost/Products/ById

 Controller: Products
 Action: ById
 Id: 0 (optional parameter) 7
Routing Examples (3)

http://localhost/Products

 Controller: Products
 Action: Index
 Id: 0 (optional parameter) 8
Routing Examples (4)

http://localhost/

 Controller: Home
 Action: Index
 Id: 0 (optional parameter) 9
Custom Route

http://localhost/Users/VGeorgiev

 Controller: Users
 Action: ByUsername
 Username: VGeorgiev 10
Custom Route (2)

http://localhost/Users

 Controller: Users
 Action: ByUsername
 Username: DefaultValue 11
Custom Route (3)

?
http://localhost/Users

 Result: 404 Not Found

12
Route Constraints
 Constraints are rules on the URL segments
 All the constraints are regular expression compatible with class
Regex
 Defined as one of the routes.MapRoute(…) parameters

13
Custom Route Constraint
public class LocalhostConstraint : IRouteConstraint
{
public bool Match(HttpContextBase httpContext,
Route route,
string parameterName,
RouteValueDictionary values,
RouteDirection routeDirection)
{
return httpContext.Request.IsLocal;
}
}

routes.MapRoute("Admin",
"Admin/{action}",
new { controller="Admin" },
new { isLocal = new LocalhostConstraint() }
);
14
Debugging Routes
 In actions we have access to a data structure called RouteData
 RouteData.Values["controller"]
 RouteData.Values["action"]
 RouteData.Values["id"]
 We can use NuGet package: RouteDebugger
 Install-Package RouteDebugger
 Web.config:
 <add key="RouteDebugger:Enabled" value="true" />
 We can also use Glimpse for debugging routes 15
 Demo: Routes
ASP.NET MVC Routing
Controllers and Actions
The brain of the applicati on
Controllers
 The core component of the MVC pattern
 All the controllers should be available in a folder by name
Controllers
 Controller naming standard should be "NameController"
 Routers instantiate controllers in every request
 All requests are mapped to a specific action
 Every controller should inherit Controller class
 Access to Request (context) and HttpContext
18
Actions
 Actions are the ultimate request destination
 Public controller methods

 Non-static

 No return value restrictions

 Actions typically return an ActionResult

19
ASP.NET MVC Request

20
Action Results
 Controller action response to a browser request
 Inherits from the base ActionResult class
 Different results types:

Name Framework Behavior Producing Method

ContentResult Returns a string literal Content
EmptyResult No response
FileContentResult Return the contents of a file File
FilePathResult
FileStreamResult

21
Action Results (2)

Name Framework Behavior Producing Method

HttpUnauthorizedResult Returns an HTTP 403 status
JavaScriptResult Returns a script to execute JavaScript
JsonResult Returns data in JSON format Json
RedirectResult Redirects the client to a new URL Redirect /
RedirectPermanent
RedirectToRouteResult Redirect to another action, or another RedirectToRoute /
controller’s action RedirectToAction
ViewResult Response is the responsibility of a View / PartialView
PartialViewResult view engine

22
Action Parameters
 ASP.NET MVC maps the data from the HTTP request to action
parameters in few ways:
 Routing engine can pass parameters to actions
 http://localhost/Users/VGeorgiev
 Routing pattern: Users/{username}
 URL query string can contains parameters
 /Users/ByUsername?username=VGeorgiev
 HTTP post data can also contain parameters
23
Action Selectors
 ActionName(string name)
 AcceptVerbs
 HttpPost
 HttpGet
 HttpDelete
 HttpOptions
…
 NonAction
 RequireHttps
 ChildActionOnly – Only for Html.Action() 24
Action Filters
 Apply pre- and post-processing logic
 Similar to HTTP Modules
 Can be applied to actions and to controllers
 Global filters can be registered in GlobalFilters.
 Filters (or in /App_Start/FilterConfig.cs)
Name Description
OutputCache Cache the output of a controller
ValidateInput(false) Turn off request validation and allow dangerous input (html tags)
Authorize Restrict an action to authorized users or roles
ValidateAntiForgeryToken Helps prevent cross site request forgeries
HandleError Can specify a view to render in the event of an unhandled exception
25
Custom Action Filter
 Create C# class file in /Filters/
 Inherit ActionFilterAttribute
 We can override:
 OnActionExecuting (ActionExecutingContext)

 OnActionExecuted (ActionExecutedContext)

 OnResultExecuting (ResultExecutingContext)

 OnResultExecuted (ResultExecutedContext)

 We can apply our new attribute to a controller, method or globally in

GlobalFilters.Filters 26
Custom Action Filter (2)
public class LogAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
{ … }

public override void OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext filterContext)

{ … }

public override void OnResultExecuting(ResultExecutingContext filterContext)

{ … }

public override void OnResultExecuted(ResultExecutedContext filterContext)

{ … }
}

[Log]
public class DepartmentController : Controller
{ … }
27
Razor Views
Views
 HTML templates of the application
 A lot of view engines available
 View engines execute code and provide HTML

 Provide a lot of helpers to easily generate HTML

 The most popular is Razor and WebForms

 We can pass data to views through:

 ViewBag, ViewData and Model (strongly-typed views)
 Views support master pages (layout views)
 Other views can be rendered (partial views) 29
Razor
 Template markup syntax
 Simple-syntax view engine
 Based on the C# programming language
 Enables the programmer to use an HTML construction workflow
 Code-focused templating approach, with minimal transition
between HTML and code
 Razor syntax starts code blocks with a @ character and does not
require explicit closing of the code-block
30
Design Goals
 Compact, Expressive, and Fluid
 Smart enough to differ HTML from code Template
 Easy to Learn
 Is not a new language
+
 Works with any Text Editor Data

 Has great Intellisense

 Built in Visual Studio
=
Generated Output
 Unit Testable
 Without requiring a controller or web-server 31
Pass Data to a View
 With ViewBag (dynamic type):
 Action: ViewBag.Message = "Hello World!";
 View: @ViewBag.Message

 With ViewData (dictionary)

 Action: ViewData["message"] = "Hello World!";
 View: @ViewData["message"]

 With Strongly-typed views:

 Action: return View(model);
 View: @model ModelDataType; 32
How it works?
ByUsername.cshtml HTML Output

Template + Data
= Generated
Output
UsersController.cs

UserModel.cs

33
Razor Syntax
 @ – For values (HTML encoded)
<p>
Current time is: @DateTime.Now!!!
Not HTML encoded value: @Html.Raw(someVar)
</p>

 @{ … } – For code blocks (keep the view simple!)

@{
var productName = "Energy drink";
if (Model != null)
{
productName = Model.ProductName;
}
else if (ViewBag.ProductName != null)
{
productName = ViewBag.ProductName;
}
}
<p>Product "@productName" has been added in your shopping cart</p>
34
Razor Syntax (2)
 If, else, for, foreach, etc. C# statements
 HTML markup lines can be included at any part

 @: – For plain text line to be rendered

<div class="products-list">
@if (Model.Products.Count() == 0)
{
<p>Sorry, no products found!</p>
}
else
{
@:List of the products found:
foreach(var product in Model.Products)
{
<b>@product.Name, </b>
}
}
</div>
35
Razor Syntax (3)
 Comments
@*
A Razor Comment
*@
@{
//A C# comment

/* A Multi
line C# comment
*/
}

 What about "@" and emails?

<p>
This is the sign that separates email names from domains: @@<br />
And this is how smart Razor is: spam_me@gmail.com
</p>
36
Razor Syntax (4)
 @(…) – Explicit code expression
<p>
Current rating(0-10): @Model.Rating / 10.0 @* 6 / 10.0 *@
Current rating(0-1): @(Model.Rating / 10.0) @* 0.6 *@
spam_me@Model.Rating @* spam_me@Model.Rating *@
spam_me@(Model.Rating) @* spam_me6 *@
</p>

 @using – for including namespace into view

 @model – for defining the model for the view
@using MyFirstMvcApplication.Models;
@model UserModel
<p>@Model.Username</p>
37
Layout
 Define a common site template
 Similar to ASP.NET master pages (but better!)
 Razor view engine renders content inside-out
 First view is redered, then layout

 @RenderBody() –
indicate where we want the views based
on this layout to “fill in” their core
content at that location in the HTML
38
Views and Layouts
 Views don't need to specify layout since their default layout is
set in their _ViewStart file:
 ~/Views/_ViewStart.cshtml (code for all views)
 Each view can specify custom layout pages
@{
Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_UncommonLayout.cshtml";
}

 Views without layout:

@{
Layout = null;
}
39
Sections
 You can have one or more "sections" (optional)
 They are defined in the views:

 And may be rendered anywhere in the layout page using the

method RenderSection()
 @RenderSection(string name, bool required)
 If the section is required and not defined, an exception will be thrown
(IsSectionDefined()) 40
View Helpers
 Each view inherits WebViewPage
 ViewPage has a property named Html

 Html property has methods that return string and can be used to
generate HTML
 Create inputs

 Create links

 Create forms

 Other helper properties are also available

 Ajax, Url, custom helpers
41
HTML Helpers

Method Type Description

BeginForm, Form Returns an internal object that represents an HTML form that the system
BeginRouteForm uses to render the <form> tag
EndForm Form A void method, closes the pending </form> tag
CheckBox, CheckBoxFor Input Returns the HTML string for a check box input element
Hidden, HiddenFor Input Returns the HTML string for a hidden input element
Password, PasswordFor Input Returns the HTML string for a password input element
RadioButton, Input Returns the HTML string for a radio button input element
RadioButtonFor
TextBox, TextBoxFor Input Returns the HTML string for a text input element
Label, LabelFor Label Returns the HTML string for an HTML label element

42
HTML Helpers (2)
Method Type Description
ActionLink, RouteLink Link Returns the HTML string for an HTML link
DropDownList, List Returns the HTML string for a drop-down list
DropDownListFor
ListBox, ListBoxFor List Returns the HTML string for a list box
TextArea, TextAreaFor TextArea Returns the HTML string for a text area
Partial Partial Returns the HTML string incorporated in the specified user control
RenderPartial Partial Writes the HTML string incorporated in the specified user control to the
output stream
ValidationMessage, Validation Returns the HTML string for a validation message
ValidationMessageFor
ValidationSummary Validation Returns the HTML string for a validation summary message

43
Custom Helpers
 Write extension methods for the HtmlHelper
 Return string or override ToString method

 TagBuilder manages closing tags and attributes

 Add namespace in web.config (if needed)

44
Custom Helpers (2)
 Another way to write helpers:
 Create folder /App_Code/

 Create a view in it (for example Helpers.cshtml)

 Write a helper in it using @helper

 You can use the helper in any view

 You have a lot of code in views? => write helpers 45

Partial Views
 Partial views render portions of a page
Sub-request
 Reuse pieces of a view

 Html helpers – Partial, RenderPartial and Action

 Razor partial views are still .cshtml files

Located in the same folder as

other views or in Shared folder 46
Areas
Areas
 Some applications can have a large number of controllers
 ASP.NET MVC lets us partition Web applications into smaller
units (areas)
 An area is effectively an MVC structure inside an application
 Example: large e-commerce application
 Main store, users
 Blog, forum
 Administration

48
 Demo: Areas
ASP.NET MVC structures (areas)
Summary
 Routes maps URLs to controllers and actions
 Controllers are the brain of our application
 Actions are the ultimate request destination
 Razor is a powerful engine for combining models and templates
into HTML code
 Layout, sections, partials views and helpers help us to divide our
views into pieces
 Our project can be divided into smaller parts containing
controllers (areas) 50
ASP.NET MVC

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sti on s ? ?

Qu e ?
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https://softuni.bg/courses/asp-net-mvc/
License
 This course (slides, examples, demos, videos, homework, etc.)
is licensed under the "Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International" license

 Attribution: this work may contain portions from

 "ASP.NET MVC" course by Telerik Academy under CC-BY-NC-SA license

52
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