Best practices to organize code in mvc3 application - asp.net-mvc-3

I want to make one mvc3 application which is student management.
I've seen some open source projects.
They have used solution structure like core,data serve rice.
is there any reason to use structure like this?

Usually it is a good a good idea to keep things separated.
By that I mean not mixing up business logic with database management code and having non-UI code in the view files.
This makes it a lot easier for others to understand the code you have written. I also helps you, when you get back to some project after some time to make improvements or correct errors.
I hope this answered your question, if not shot again.
Edit: I found this link explaining how it is done in the MVC framework.

Use layered architecture where you isolate each layer by using the Separated Interface pattern. For the database, use Repository pattern (easiest way to archive that is to use a ORM like nhibernate).
Use an inversion of control container to reduce coupling (with the help of interfaces) and make it easier to handle dependencies between classes.

As stated in the previous answers, you should separate your logical tiers into a minimum of BusinessLogic (Entities,validation,etc..), Data(your favorite ORM), and presentation (MVC).
However, if you are just starting out it may be a little daunting to incorporate all of the more advanced concepts of a SOLID architecture.
Separating logical tiers doesn't always have to mean separate projects. The standard MVC3 template demonstrates this with the "Models" folder. Any entity added to this will be under the namespace Myproject.Models. Later you could re-factor the code in the Models folder into a separate dll,add a reference, and as long as the namespace was still Myproject.Models the MVC app will continue to work.
The same thing could be done for your Data Access layer!
If you're just starting out I would recommend developing your app in the MVC project and separating your DAL and Business Layers with a Folder (Namespace). Once your application is working you can re-factor as needed.

Related

wordpress plugin MVC page structure

I'm working on a wordpress plugin that takes the whole page and is about planing a trip.
The plugin spread out and contains several modules and more than 10 "views" (Booking, Billing, Register, My Profile, My Bookings, My comments, etc.).
I have a strong OOP and MVC background but this plugin was originally created on a single template with everything loaded with ajax and not in a organized way :)
What is good practice for organizing big plugins (semi small sites) in wordpress?
Is there a way to create direct links for the modules view files? something like:
domain.com/blog/wp/plugins/my_plugin/profile.php
Bounty:
I'm looking for guidelines here from people with experience.
Firstly, it's not easy to do, and it's harder to stick to as development progresses.
I'll try to answer your bullet points first, then try to talk about some architecture stuff I try to adhere to.
I organize them as close to normal as possible. So I usually end up with folders for Models, Controllers, Views. Try to write your application as much as possible in the same manner you would for anything else.
Use plugin_url().
If you're working on a project that won't be distributed (i.e. not a publicly released plugin), you've got some advantages because you can load in outside packages from Composer without worrying about conflicts from other places. So wherever possible, I'd advise offloading stuff to Composer.
I'm not a fan of how PHP implemented Namespaces, but I'm a huge fan of using them in conjunction with autoloading. You'll definitely make things easier on yourself if you use some form of Autoloading, even if it's not used with Namespaces.
Since WordPress works off of functional hooks, unless you (over?)engineer a lot of stuff, you're always going to end up with a bunch of hooks all over the place. Generally, my advice there is to try and keep those together in a file, and to never put hooks inside classes, especially constructors. Keep stuff in logical groups.
The trick really is to minimize the number of points where you're actually interacting with WordPress, and everywhere else to essentially write your code as you normally would, with decent design patterns and the like. You'll have to have certain points of contact (like the hooks and such) where you'll probably find yourself making some concessions to WordPress, but even there you can mitigate it by loading object methods as hook callbacks, and using those as jumping-off points to a "normal" application.
I've been interested in this problem for a while. I've got a couple ongoing projects in this area. One thing I threw together was for interfacing with GravityForms, and it's on github. It's really not complicated, but it might help explain some of how I've got about solving the problem.
I'm running out of specifics to add, but please feel free to drop me a line if you like. As I said, I'm really interested in solving this problem, and I think that if WordPress lasts and continues to be as popular as it is today, we'll have better solutions coming around.
I hope this is helpful!
EDIT: A more concrete example
I'll point some stuff out in the code I shared originally. It's sort of specialized, but you can use the principles for any hook-based functionality. As you can see here, I'm invoking a method of class GravityFormsHooks\Loader to handle hooking into objects. In GravityFormsHooks\Loader, I'm calling another static method on that class to actually execute the hook. This example will take either an action or filter, but it's tailored to Gravityforms specifically, so YMMV.
Essentially what this GravityFormsHooks\Loader::hook() method does is instantiate the class we're hooking into, and generate the hook as normal.
The class I'm calling from the main plugin file is GravityFormsHooks\Forms\Form. Note that any method you hook onto MUST be declared as public. If we're going to shoehorn ourselves into an MVC paradigm, this method here would be your controller. From there, you can jump off to injecting models, a template engine, all manner of cool stuff.
As I mentioned in my original post, I try to keep my points of contact with WordPress to an absolute minimum. I don't mean that you should write APIs doing stuff WordPress already has APIs for, just that your hooks should be centralized and minimized. It really is a useful separation of concerns, and as your application grows it'll help you to manage the complexity a lot more easily.
The examples I provided should work pretty well as a Hook Controller, with minimum modifications to remove some of the more specialized GravityForms stuff.
Let me know if you've got any other questions.

MVC 3, Entity Framework 4.x, Database First, Desperation

VS2010 Pro + SqlServer Express.
Having been dropped into ASP.NET MVC 3 with no guidance but the web (2 books on order), I can't even get off the ground.
The MVC itself I get. Not a problem.
PHP, Ruby, and even ghastly WebForms firmly tucked into my toolbelt, with a long history of C++ QT client-server development before that.
Tying ASP.NET MVC 3 to a database using EF4 ORM is killing me.
The goals:
Use database modeled by DBA. I can specify all naming conventions, but code first is not an option!
Import to EDMX. This will be regularly updated using VS tools from the DBA's DB, never edited directly.
Generate partial classes from EDMX, for use as model. This will regularly be updated using VS tools, never edited directly.
Use 'buddy' to extend above model class with code as the Controllers/Views need.
Intuitively use the resulting model, pass it to the view, retrieve posts into it for insert/save, etc...
I've seen and read so many blogs, forum posts, walkthroughs, and stack overflow posts regarding this very use case.
I even tried riding the magic unicorn, followed by the latest 4.2beta1 with DbContext generators.
But can't get off the ground.
I follow instructions, but just not understanding how to do anything with it.
What conventions does the 'buddy' require (if any)? How do I use it? How do I get data with it? How do I write data?
Every example looks different. MVC guides are always focused on the UI side. EF guides don't cover usage in the MVC.
These are basic questions, and I'm feeling like the most incompetent idiot in the WWW right now.
Is anyone out there currently using MVC3 & EF4.x in the way I describe above?
This video is a good starting resource. Its a video of a guy creating an app from scratch that uses entity and a sql database (though he makes the db in the video, its still good for seeing some basics in action). You can see how he pulls data from the database, displays it on the page, and saves changes back to the database.
The first question I would ask is why are you stuck on using EF as an ORM or even insisting an ORM at all? I'd choose tools to suit the job here, especially given the constraints of the data layer.
Buddy classes were a concept invented in a day when the main .NET ORMs had no code-first option as ORM-encumbered class instances really don't behave well under things like model binding. Nevermind you could not decorate them with the DataAnnotations one used to indicate fields were required. Typically, the technical requirement is to use [MetadataType] attributes to tie your buddies to your models and perhaps something like AutoMapper to map data to and fro.
All that said, as a guy who has a few apps with lots of buddies and lots of automapping going on, you might want to think otherwise -- it is a bit of a maintenance nightmare. I'm living it.
There are some really good getting-started videos and tutorials right on ASP.NET MVC's site. The "Model (Data)" section is Entity Framework focused and touches on hot/trending topics like Repositories and Units Of Work.

MVC Source Files

I'm researching a basic, stand-alone UI app that I want to be 'MVC compliant'.
My question is, what is the typical correlation of the three layers to source code files?
In other words: should I expect to see separate fooView, fooModel and fooController files, or are some functions (eg. Controller) typically specified declaratively and/or handled by a framework?
I realize there are a million MVC frameworks and that the answer probably varies, just looking for a general concept. Cheers and thanks.
Start with the server-side language that you have available and narrow down your MVC framework from there. I would stick with a framework that fits your programming style and needs. Yes, you should have three unique layers (models, views, and controllers) and they should not mix. I.e., in ASP.NET MVC projects you would find a controller, model, and view folder.

Is WordPress MVC compliant? [closed]

Closed. This question is opinion-based. It is not currently accepting answers.
Closed 7 years ago.
Locked. This question and its answers are locked because the question is off-topic but has historical significance. It is not currently accepting new answers or interactions.
Some people consider WordPress a blogging platform, some think of it as a CMS, some refer to WordPress as a development framework. Whichever it is, the question still remains. Is WordPress MVC compliant?
I've read the forums and somebody asked about MVC about three years ago. There were some positive answers, and some negative ones. While nobody knows exactly what MVC is and everybody thinks of it in their own way, there's still a general concept that's present in all the discussions.
I have little experience with MVC frameworks and there doesn't seem to be anything about the framework itself. Most of the MVC is done by the programmer, am I right? Now, going back to WordPress, could we consider the core rewrite engine (WP_Rewrite) the controller? Queries & plugin logic as the model? And themes as the view? Or am I getting it all wrong?
Thanks ;)
Wordpress itself is not architected in MVC, but one can build very MVC oriented themes and plugins within the framework. There are several tools which can help:
WordPress MVC solutions:
Churro: # wordpress.org/extend/plugins/churro
Tina-MVC: # wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tina-mvc
Plugin Factory: # wordpress.org/extend/plugins/plugin-factory
MVCPress: http://mozey.wordpress.com/2007/01/22/mvcpress-screenshots/#comment-3634 (abandoned, but interesting ideas)
MVC threads on WordPress.org Ideas and Trac:
http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic/mvc-plugin-framework
http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic/complete-reestructuring
http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic/rewrite-wordpress-using-mvc
http://wordpress.org/extend/ideas/topic/wordpress-theme-revamp (more on XSL than MVC)
http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/12354 (on MVC in widgets)
Wordpress is kinda-sorta MVC. If anything it is a pull-type MVC layout, where the View 'pulls' data from the model. It does this in a very proceedural way, instead of using lots of different objects, but this actually makes the front end templates easier to write in a lot of ways.
This also gives the views some degree of controller logic (thus the kinda-sorta MVC).
Lets run this down:
Wordpress gets a URL. The wordpress core acts as a controller and determines what initial queries to run of the database, and by extension, what view should be loaded (category view, single post or page view, etc). It then packages that INTIAL query response and sends it to the view file.
That view file CAN be a strict display only file OR it can request additional information/queries beyond the built in one. This is the pull-type of the MVC, where the view pulls data from the model instead of the controller 'pushing' data from the model into the view.
Thus, when the view sees code to load a sidebar or widget area, it asks for that information. However, what widgets should be there is determined by the controller, which looks at the model for what widgets are in the sidebar, and then selects those that are set to show on the current page, and returns those to the view.
That each part of that isn't an object doesn't make this any less MVC. You can alter WP core without (necessarily) altering anything about a theme. Similarly, as long as you use built in functions like 'get_pages()' then the model and the database tables could change as long as those functions still returned the right data. So, the model is independent of the view, and the controller is independent as well (except when the view adds controller logic to do more than the core normally does).
While you COULD have a model object holding a number of methods and stuff like WPModel::get_pages('blah blah'), and contain everything that way, there is still fundamental separation of concerns.
View: template files
Controller: WP core
Model: the various functions that handle specific data handling.
As long as the names, arguments, etc, stay the same (or just have new ones added) then separation of concerns is maintained and one can be altered without disturbing the others.
It isn't a super-clean version of MVC, (especially when hooks get involved), but at a basic level it starts there.
And being proceedural about it isn't a bad thing IMO. A request from a website is pretty inherently proceedural: it is a process with a clear beginning and end, and just needs a procedure to process the request, get data, package it, then die. You can set up those steps with objects and object methods and OOP layouts (which would make some things easier) or you can just write alot of function calls and separate them out that way. Class members like private variables are lost that way but depending on the needs of the application... you might not care.
There is no one-grand-way to do development, and WP sits at like 20% of websites so it is doing something right. Probably something to do with not making people have to learn/memorize complex class hierarchies to get the database to answer the question 'what pages are child of page x?' and deal with that data. Could you make it that easy with OOP? yes, but if Joomla is any example of how hard it is to implement a complex custom website with OOP, then WP is FAR easier and quicker, and time is money.
As already mentioned in the comments, MVC is an architectural design pattern, not a specific framework, and no, Wordpress doesn't follow the MVC pattern.
There is a separation of views (templates) from the programming logic, but only in the frontend, not in the admin panel and a general separation of views and application logic is not inevitably MVC. An implementation of the MVC pattern usually assumes some kind of object oriented programming paradigm behind it and Wordpress is mainly implemented in a procedural way, with plain SQL queries in the PHP functions, therefore not having an actual model either.
One of the topics that periodically crops up in discussions as it relates to WordPress is the idea of WordPress and MVC.
But the thing is that MVC is not the silver bullet of web development that we try to make it out to be. Yes, it’s an awesome design pattern, and I personally think that it fits the web application model like a glove, but not every framework or platform implements that design pattern.
Case in point: WordPress is not MVC.
And that’s okay. I think we need to leave the desire of trying to shoehorn it into our projects aside especially when the pattern WordPress provides is not only sufficient, but works well when leveraged correctly.
“But I Love MVC!”
So do I! In fact, I spent the last year working on a project that more-or-less mimicked the MVC architecture.
A high-level example of MVC.
A high-level example of MVC.
For example:
Views were implemented using templates
Controllers were implemented by a combination of using function names like create, read, update, destroy, delete, and so on (even though these functions were hooked into the WordPress API
Models were functions also were called to validate and verify data prior to serializing the data. Again, this required that certain functions be hooked into WordPress to achieve the desired result.
Finally, a set of rewrite rules gave the application a clean set of predictable URLs in the format of /people/update/1 or /people/all.
What Pattern Does WordPress Implement?
WordPress implements the event-driven architecture (of which there are several variations such as the Observer Pattern).
In short, you can conceptually think of this as the following:
Things happen when WordPress is processing information.
You can register your own function to fire when these things happen.
Not too complicated, is it?
A high-level example of event-driven patterns
A high-level example of event-driven patterns
When you begin to think in terms of the paradigm in which it works rather than trying to make it work the way that you want it to work, it’s liberating. It helps to solve problems much more easily.
The bottom line is this: WordPress implements the event-driven design pattern, so even if you end up trying to implement MVC, you’re still going to have to utilize the hook system.
If you’re not careful, you can end up trying to craft the perfect architecture without actually getting your work done, and thus end up finding yourself so high up in the atmosphere of software that you’ve effectively become an architecture astronaut.
So You’re Saying Avoid Design Patterns?
Not at all! Design Patterns serve a purpose because, above all else, they basically give us solutions to previously and commonly solved problems. Use them!
But the point I’m trying to make is that we don’t need to try to force things to fit pattern just because we like the pattern. That’s not their purpose. Instead, leverage the primary pattern that your platform of choice implements – in our case, it’s an event-driven pattern – and then implement patterns where they fit (such as dependency injection or something like that).
Otherwise, it’s like trying to put your foot in a glove.
Courtesy (and totally copied :P) from : http://tommcfarlin.com/wordpress-and-mvc/
Just to update this with more recent information for people hitting this from search engines - the wp-mvc plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-mvc/ goes a long way to creating a mvc framework for plugin development. You can find out more here: http://wpmvc.org/documentation/70/tutorial/
Just to add to the list of options, (I'm admittedly biased as the author,) swpMVC is a fully featured, lightweight MVC framework, inspired by Rails, Sinatra, Express, and FuelPHP. It's thoroughly documented, and while I have used and enjoyed wp-mvc, I wanted something where the models were able to populate views themselves, including form controls for interacting with said models.
I put this together largely to reduce the amount of controller code required to put together an app on top of WordPress, and the result is a very fast and effective framework that runs inside WordPress. The models are based on PHP Activerecord and 8 models are included for existing WordPress data types, including Post, PostMeta, User, UserMeta, Term, and a few more. Modeling data is very easy thanks to the activerecord library, and I've enjoyed working with this framework immensely thus far.
Also ships with underscore PHP and PHP Quick Profiler (as seen in FuelPHP.)
RokkoMVC is a micro MVC framework built especially for WordPress. The project is meant to simplify AJAX functionality in WordPress applications, as well as bringing in all the other benefits of using models, views, and controllers to your theme.
I had a bash recently at creating a plugin that makes use of a simple view-controller system, and quite liked the results, so I separated the template stuff out to its own repo. It offers object-based controllers, passing variables locally to PHP templates, template fragments (templates within templates) and components (template fragments with their own sub-controller). All in two tiny classes!
Of course, I wrote this code thinking that no other WP developer had considered the problem before ;-).
It's far from mvc, there is no kinda-sorta thing like some people say, it's either MVC or not... The fact that you write logic on the view level doesn't qualify it as a mvc framework. The reason people use it - it's easy to learn, you don't need to be hardcore php programmer, they're lazy.

What's an alternative to MVC?

Seems like every project I'm on uses a Model View Controller architecture, and that's how I roll my own projects. Is there an alternative? How else would one create an application that has persistent storage and a user interface?
MVC has been around for a while. It's a time tested and proven pattern. Many frameworks leverage the MVC Pattern. Martin Fowler has deconstructed the MVC into: Supervising Presenter and Passive View.
Architect Christopher Alexander said it best:
Each pattern describes a problem which
occurs over and over again in our
environment and then describes the
core of the solution to that problem,
in such a way that you can use this
solution a million times over, without
ever doing it the same way twice.
I'm not sure why you would want to move from MVC. Is there a problem you are encountering that MVC does not eloquently solve? To give you a better answer we need to know more about your problem domain.
Things to take into account when considering patterns/architecture: If you are building something with a Myspace type architecture you'll need a robust architecture (MVC). If you are creating a simple crud interface via the web - almost anything will do.
For .Net Web forms (I am assuming web, since you didn't say thick or web client) which is not MVC, it was a nightmare maintaining them. Web Forms applications that lived more that a couple years tended to become big balls of mud. Even then developers discovered ways to use MVC with web forms.
Ironically, the lack of MVC architecture in ASP.NET web forms was one of the driving complaints that lead to the development of ASP.Net MVC framework.
From experience if you don't use some MVCesk approach, your solutions become hard to maintain and bloated. These applications will die a slow painful death.
If your solutions are small one-off projects, the by all means throw something together. Heck there are tools that will generate everything from the screens to the data access layer. Whatever works to get the job done.
Classic CRUD apps built using tools like VB6 and Delphi have user interfaces, persistent storage and don't use MVC. Most of them used data aware controls linked directly to database fields
Couple of links comparing various MV* patterns which might be useful:WPF patterns : MVC, MVP or MVVM or…? & MVC, MVP and MVVM
Look into MVP model view presenter.
User interface is View and an application will always have a model and the bridge between the two is Controller. The whole MVC is nothing special as this is how the things will be always.
At the most you can get rid of Controller and have your view talk to your model but you loose the flexibility.
I've developed an alternative to ASP.NET MVC. You get the same loose coupling and separation of concerns but the difference is in how you go about building your projects.
I have a couple of videos on my blog, source code for the framework, a sample project and a few VS.NET add-ins (New Project item, New Builder and New View).
Builder for ASP.NET
Some key differentiating Features are
1. Templates are just html - no code mixed with templates
2. Templates are thus reusable across views and Web site designers can design templates in their design tool of choice
3. Strongly typed code (no ViewData and stuff) so you get intillisense, compile time checking, F12 navigation etc.
4. You build pages as compositions of views rather than an inside-out approach
5. View can be treated as "real" classes.
6. Everything is complied so no run-time compilation
Quite a few other differentiating factors as well.
In theory :
MVC is a proved technology and yada-yada-yada, and it is ideal for websites.
But in a real case:
A serious project that use MVC required a framework, hence you are following a framework with all their limiting and restrictions. So, at this point, the specific implementation of MVC is rule and not a simple "guideline".
Also MVC fail miserably for websites when it is about to connect to the model other than simple POST/GET, it fail with xml asynchronism and it fail with ajax. (*)
(*) exist some patch but a design must be clear and functional and if you need to "patch it" then it is neither clear nor functional.
Personally i think that the main problem with MVC is that it put so much effort in the Controller, where most project use not more that 5 lines for the controller part.
ps: Most "well done" MVC projects are 3-tier project.
ps2: MVC excluding some framework, is just a buzzterm, IS NOT A SERIOUS TERMINOLOGY and it is reflexed in the group of "interpretation of mvc".

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