Using MVC with Kentico 8

MVC with Kentico 8
Thomas Robbins
Radek Pribyl

Introduction to MVC
Thomas Robbins
thomasr@Kentico.com

A history lesson..
ASP.NET Web Form
• A set of UI components
(pages, buttons etc.)
plus a stateful object
oriented GUI
programming model
ASP.NET
• A way to host .NET
application in IIS that let’s
you interact with HTTP
requests and responses
.NET
• A multi-language managed
code platform
The Strength of ASP.NET Web Forms
• Making web development feel the
same as Windows Form development
• No need to work with individual HTTP
requests and easier to think in terms
of a stateful UI

Some problems with ASP.NET Web Forms
View state weight – Mechanism for maintaining state (view state) results in large
blocks of data between client and server
Page life cycle – Connecting client side events with server side event handler code
is complicated and delicate
False sense of separation – ASP.NET web Forms code behind model provides a
means to take application code out of HTML markup. Unfortunately, this allows for
mix presentation models (manipulating a server side tree)
Limited control over HTML – Server side controls render themselves as HTML but
not always the HTML you want
Low testability – Nobody could have anticipated that automated testing would
become essential
Not all bad – ASP.NET Web Forms provide a quick
results and allows reasonably complex web
applications to be built quickly!

What matters most…
Code reusability
• Shortens development
• Code libraries
• Design patterns
• Frameworks
Separation of concerns
• Improves code clarity and organization
• Helps troubleshoot by isolating issues
• Allows for multiple teams to develop
simultaneously

What is MVC?
Model represents the data model
• “Manages behavior and data of the
application domain”
View represents the screen shown to
the user
• “Manages the graphical and/or textual
output to the portion of the bitmapped
display that is allocated to the application”
Controller represents interaction
from the user that changes the data
and the view
• “Interprets the mouse and keyboard
inputs from the user, commanding the
model and/or the view to changes as
appropriate”

MVC isn’t new!
Presented by Trygve Reenskaug
in 1979
First used in the Smalltalk-80
framework
• Used in making Apple interfaces
(Lisa and Macintosh)

The project structure
• App_Data is the physical store for data. This folder
has the same role as it does in ASP.NET web sites that
use Web Form pages
• Content is the recommended location to add static
content files like CSS and images
• Controllers is the recommended location for
controllers. All controllers must end with “Controller”
• Models is provided for classes that represent the
application model. This folder usually contains code
that defines objects and logic for application with the
data store
• Scripts is the recommended location for script files
that support the application. By default this folder
contains ASP.NET Ajax Foundation files and Jquery
• Views is the recommended location for views. These
are ViewPage (.aspx), ViewUserControl (.ascx) and
ViewMaster (.master) in additional to any other files
needed for renderings. The view folder also contains a
folder for each controller.

MVC
• Easier to Manage Complexity
• Does not use view state or server
based forms
• Rich Routing Structure
• Support for Test-Driven
Development
• Supports Large Teams Well
WebForms
• Preservers State over HTTP
• Page Controller Pattern
• View state or server based forms
• Works well for small teams
• Development is less complex
Everything has it’s advantages

MVC Routes
• A route is an object that parses a requested URL and it
determines the controller and action to which the request is
forwarded
• Routing operates on the directories and the file name of tin the
relative URL
Uses the format
/[Controller]/[ActionName]/[Parameters]

What’s the route
Matching a URL request to a route depends on all of the following conditions:
• The route patterns that you have defined or the default route patterns, if any, that are included
in your project type.
• The order in which you added them to the Routes collection.
• Any default values that you have provided for a route.
• Any constraints that you have provided for a route.
• Whether you have defined routing to handle requests that match a physical file.

MVC in Kentico 8
Radek Pribyl
(Technical leader - Portal engine, MVC)

Installation
Requirements
• .NET Framework 4.5/4.5.1
• Project type – Web application
Configuration
• None
MVC version
• MVC4 included in the Kentico 8 installation

Architecture
Kentico as a content platform
• Data stored in documents and custom tables
MVC renders live site
• Controller, Views – custom implementation
• Manual routing management recommended
MVC handler
Request
Live site
(MVC)
ASPX handler
CMS Core
Kentico Admin
(Web forms)
HTML…

Web application sructure
CMSApp
• Standard Kentico web application project (Web forms)
CMSApp_AppCode
• Contains all the files which you would place into the ASP.NET folder
Old_App_Code (or App_Code in Web site project)
CMSApp_MVC
• MVC4 web application project
• Standard Kentico module – registered in the Kentico application =>
uses API handlers
• Simplifies development
• All the MVC related files belong here
• NewsController + Views examples – used in the Corporate sample site

CMSApp_MVC project
App_Start
• Standard MVC project folder
• RouteConfig.cs
• FilterConfig.cs
CMS_MvcModule
• Connects the project (module) to the Kentico
application
Controllers
• Custom controllers
• Sample controller
Models
• Custom model classes
Views
• Custom views
• Sample views

Development tips #1
Architecture
• Kentico as a content platform
• Live site generated by MVC
Controllers
• Try out new DocumentQuery API
• Implement caching
o MVC caching
o Kentico caching
• When using view location that support Kentico export, return full path of views
Models
• Use Kentico API classes (info objects)
• Is using data containers (TreeNode), create a simplified model class => strongly typed views

Development tips #2
Views
• View engines – no restrictions
• Razor recommended
Routes
• Route registration
o App_Start/RouteConfig.cs – manual export
o Attribute routing
• Avoid using route placeholders at the start of the route: {controller}/{action}/{id}
• Especially when using together with extension-less
• Otherwise use the following route restrictions (solves most of the future possible conflicts with system URLs)
routes.IgnoreRoute("{*allaspx}", new {allaspx=@".*.aspx(/.*)?"});
routes.IgnoreRoute("{*allashx}", new { allashx = @".*.ashx(/.*)?" });
• To improve performance, exclude the URLs defined by your routes from the Kentico rewriting engine

Example
Controller
• Data - DocumentQuery
• No caching
• Location
o Controllers/MvcSampleSite/NewsController.cs
Model
• News document model
• Location
o MvcSampleSite/Model/NewsModel.cs
View
• Strongly typed view
• Using a layout page
• Location
o Views/MvcSampleSite/*
Routes
• Registered news list + news detail routes
o / - news list
o /news/<newsalias> - news detail
• Location
o App_Start/RouteConfig.cs

MVC limitations
MVC Views
• No web parts
• No CMS controls
• Document permissions need to be checked manually
Web parts
• No MVC views
Web forms
(web parts)
MVC

Export/Import
Export
Site objects
• Controllers/<siteName>/*
• Views/<siteName>/*
• <siteName>/*
Global objects
• Controllers/Global/*
• Views/Global/*
Import
• Manually include files into CMSApp_MVC
• Build CMSApp_MVC

MVC upgrade
MVC Upgrade
Remove MVC4 libraries (Lib/MVC/)
NuGet package
• Recommended
• Easier option
• Only latest MVC version
Manual MVC upgrade
• More complicated
• Specific MVC version
Update Kentico MVC library
Update Views/web.config
Rebuild CMSApp_MVC

Resources
Kentico MVC
https://docs.kentico.com/x/qYFG
Upgrade MVC
https://docs.kentico.com/x/UgBcAw
API examples
https://docs.kentico.com/x/VABcAw
Document API
https://docs.kentico.com/x/5oAbAg

Using MVC with Kentico 8

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