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Things You Will Miss in ASP.NET MVC as an ASP.NET Webform Developer

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20 Aug 2014CPOL3 min read 57.4K   29   16
Things you will miss in MVC as a Webform developer

Table of Contents

Introduction

I have been a great fan of ASP.NET Webform development but for the past 2 years, ASP.NET MVC is the talk of the town. If you are new to MVC, start here and if you want to learn MVC super-fast, start here.

Note: If ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET WebForm vocabulary is confusing, please read this before moving ahead:

When I started ASP.NET MVC development, it took a lot of time as an ASP.NET webform developer to get adjusted to and acquainted with ASP.NET MVC development thought. This article walks you through some important mindset changes you need to make when working with ASP.NET MVC.

Image 1

No CodeBehind

The whole thought of MVC is to get rid of behind code. Because behind code is not reusable, not testable, so when you add a view / UI in MVC, you will find no behind code. You will find “.ASPX” but there is no “ASPX.CS”. You will find CSHTML but there is no CSHTML.CS.

Image 2

Now the time we say “No Behind code”, this has a cascading effect. The remaining points are the after effects of “No code behind” concept.

No Server Controls

ASP.NET webform Server controls was always a life savior. It was like magic where you drag and drop and you are done. Now because we do not have any behind code, server controls will not be seen in your tool box. You have to use HTML to create your MVC UI. The maximum support officially you have currently is HTML Helper classes. You can read about it from here.

Image 3

You can use server controls on an ASPX view but it’s not advisable as it will generate inline code behind again defeating the purpose of MVC.

No Page Life Cycle

Because we do not have behind code, there is no such thing as page life cycle in ASP.NET MVC. In ASP.NET Webform, the first hit comes to the Page and then rest of the things happen. ASP.NET Webform is UI first approach while MVC is class first approach.

In MVC, the first hit comes to the controller class and then to the UI. So all the logic of page life cycle goes in the controller. So no more discussion on page life cycle and which event what code needs to be written.

No ViewState

There are no automated generated hidden fields like viewstate. We have a more robust and finetuned way of session management viewdata, tempdata, viewbag and session variables. You can read more about them by clicking here.

Want to Learn MVC in 2 days, start from this video.

Image 4

For further reading do watch the below interview preparation videos and step by step video series.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Architect https://www.questpond.com
India India

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralLooks older days are back Pin
Gaurav Aroraa27-Oct-14 9:24
professionalGaurav Aroraa27-Oct-14 9:24 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Sibeesh KV23-Sep-14 18:12
professionalSibeesh KV23-Sep-14 18:12 
QuestionGood Article Pin
Member 429919824-Aug-14 7:38
Member 429919824-Aug-14 7:38 
GeneralExcellent article! Pin
onelopez20-Aug-14 3:46
onelopez20-Aug-14 3:46 
SuggestionMissing reference link aspnet-vs-mvc-vocabulary-confusion Pin
Anjum.Rizwi20-Aug-14 2:21
professionalAnjum.Rizwi20-Aug-14 2:21 
GeneralRe: Missing reference link aspnet-vs-mvc-vocabulary-confusion Pin
Shivprasad koirala20-Aug-14 2:30
Shivprasad koirala20-Aug-14 2:30 
QuestionFeatures Missing in MVC Pin
Nurudeen Alimi19-Aug-14 22:31
professionalNurudeen Alimi19-Aug-14 22:31 
Bugnot 'behind code' Pin
thewazz19-Aug-14 8:25
professionalthewazz19-Aug-14 8:25 
GeneralMy vote of 5 Pin
Carsten V2.017-Aug-14 21:28
Carsten V2.017-Aug-14 21:28 
GeneralRe: My vote of 5 Pin
Shivprasad koirala18-Aug-14 3:07
Shivprasad koirala18-Aug-14 3:07 
GeneralRe: My vote of 5 Pin
Carsten V2.018-Aug-14 4:00
Carsten V2.018-Aug-14 4:00 
GeneralRe: My vote of 5 Pin
Shivprasad koirala18-Aug-14 4:15
Shivprasad koirala18-Aug-14 4:15 
Had the same thought during VB6.
My book .NET interview questions with 500 mostly asked questions in .NET world .NET Interview questions and answers

GeneralRe: My vote of 5 Pin
Sinisa Hajnal21-Sep-14 21:36
professionalSinisa Hajnal21-Sep-14 21:36 
SuggestionMiss? I don't miss these web form features Pin
GuruBeBop17-Aug-14 10:51
GuruBeBop17-Aug-14 10:51 
GeneralRe: Miss? I don't miss these web form features Pin
Shivprasad koirala18-Aug-14 1:25
Shivprasad koirala18-Aug-14 1:25 
SuggestionRe: Miss? I don't miss these web form features Pin
Donny Redmond19-Aug-14 9:22
Donny Redmond19-Aug-14 9:22 

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