Professional C# 4 and .NET 4

Chapter 42. ASP.NET Dynamic Data and MVC

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Using routing to implement URLs

• Building web sites with dynamic data

• Building web applications with ASP.NET MVC

In the previous two chapters, you have learned about how to use ASP.NET to create web sites, and how to add advanced functionality to streamline those web sites. In this chapter, you will look at frameworks that you can use to both accelerate the creation of web sites and include best-practice techniques to make the best sites possible.

There are currently two of these frameworks that ship with ASP.NET as part of .NET 4, both of which have grown from years of research by Microsoft and the ASP.NET development community. These are:

• Dynamic data

• ASP.NET MVC (Model-View-Controller)

The first of these, dynamic data, enables you to build a web site from preexisting data that you have in a database. The wizards that VS supplies make it possible to generate dynamic data web sites very quickly, which you can then go on to customize to get the look and feel you want. Advanced template capabilities are included in dynamic data web sites so that you can get up and running quickly. Dynamic data isn't suitable for all types of web sites, but for many types — including e-commerce sites and data manipulation sites — it provides a perfect starting point for development.

MVC is a framework for creating all sorts of sites that has emerged from a desire for both a cleaner separation of user interface and business logic and the ability ...