Acknowledgments

We’d like to thank Scott Guthrie for seeing the need in the .NET space for this framework. Without his prototype, vision, and leadership, this offering would still not exist in the .NET Framework. We would also like to recognize the core ASP.NET MVC team at Microsoft, headed by Phil Haack, the Program Manager for ASP.NET MVC. Other key members of the ASP.NET MVC 1 team were Eilon Lipton (Lead Dev), Levi Broderick (Dev), Jacques Eloff (Dev), Carl Dacosta (QA), and Federico Silva Armas (Lead QA). Now the entire ASP.NET team is involved. We would also like to extend our thanks to the large number of additional staff who worked on packaging, documenting, and delivering the ASP.NET MVC framework as a supported offering from Microsoft. Even though this framework is small compared to others, this move from Microsoft is shifting the mental inertia of the .NET portion of the software industry.

This is true with any large publication, but this book employed five working authors, all consultants with multiple ongoing projects. This second edition book effort took over 2.5 man-years, starting with the first preview of ASP.NET MVC 2. This work environment required tremendous support from the staff at Manning Publications. We would like to thank them for their patience and support throughout this book project. In particular, we would like to thank acquisitions editor Michael Stephens for seeing the potential for an advanced book on this particular technology and for approving the release of raw files as Creative Commons throughout the project. Michael originally saw the need for this book in 2007 and contacted me about writing the first edition.

Our sincere thanks go to Phil Haack and Rod Paddock for reviewing the manuscripts of both editions and writing the forewords. Our independent technical reviewer, Jeremy Skinner, was outstanding. He gave his advice and opinionated viewpoints on each chapter during the project, and without that input, the book would not be as good as we hope it is. Jeremy tested and retested every code listing and code sample in the book as well as those in the many Visual Studio projects that come with the book. Without his effort, many errors would have likely made it to publication. His attention to detail, backed up by his vast experience with ASP.NET MVC and MvcContrib, has contributed greatly to this book.

This book has also benefited from outside technical reviewers who volunteered time out of their busy schedules to read parts of the manuscript and provided feedback: Rod Paddock, Kevin Hurwitz, Blake Caraway, Nick Becker, Mahendra Mavani, Eric Anderson, Rafael Torres, Tom Jaeschke, Anne Epstein, Pedro Reys, and Dustin Wells.

Manning also conducted a number of peer reviews during the development phase of the manuscript. We’d like to thank them for their comments and insights: Joshua Heyer, Frank Wang, Marc Gravell, Timothy Binkley-Jones, Ben Day, Peter Johnson, Mark Monster, Jeremy Anderson, Alessandro Gallo, Derek Jackson, Alex Thissen, and Andrew Siemer.

Before this book went to print, a large number of people purchased the PDF edition of the book by participating in the MEAP: Manning Early Access Program. We would like to thank those readers who participated in the discussion group, especially Nathan Brown, Cymen Vig, Alan Huffman, Charlie Solomon, Eric Sowell, Dariusz Tarczynski, Thanh Dao, Devon Lazarus, Adwait Ullal, Joe Wilson, Mike Henry, Eric Kinateder, Ben Mills, Peter Kellner, Jeff P., Orlando Agostinho, Liam McLennan, Ronald Wildenberg, Max Fraser, Guðmundur Hreiðarsson, Kyle Szklenski, Philippe Vialatte, Lars Zeb, Marc Gravell, Cody Skidmore, Mark Fowler, Joey Beninghove, Shadi Mari, Simone Chiaretta, Jay Smith, Jeff Kwak, and Mohammad Azam.

Jeffrey Palermo

First, I must thank God for giving me the ability to think and write. Next, I would like to thank my beautiful wife, Liana, for her support and patience throughout this project. Since the beginning of the first edition, Liana has given birth to our first child, Gwyneth Rose, and second, Xander. Thanks also to my parents, Peter and Rosemary Palermo, for instilling in me a love of books and learning from an early age. I must mention my college professor at Texas A&M, Mike Hnatt, who, through his programming courses, business coaching, and ongoing friendship, has continued to mentor me. Finally, thanks to Dustin Wells and Kevin Hurwitz. With them, we have built Headspring Systems as a consulting company that has enabled the in-depth research and practice that has given birth to this advanced approach to using ASP.NET MVC.

Ben Scheirman

My thanks and utmost appreciation goes out to my amazing wife, Silvia. Her continual support and encouragement of my extra-curricular work was what led to writing this book in the first place. I would also like to recognize one of my university mentors, Venkat Subramaniam. With his guidance, I found my passion in software development and always strived to learn more and push the envelope. He was truly an inspiration in my career. Finally, I’d like to thank my wonderful children Andréa, Noah, and Ethan (and most recently Isaac and Isabella!), who showed immense patience and encouragement while their dad was banging away at the keyboard in the late hours of the night.

Jimmy Bogard

Thanks to my wife, Sara, without whose love, support, and continued patience my contribution to this project would not be possible. I also want to thank those who give back to the community through books, articles, blogs, code, presentations, and events. I would also like to thank all the masters who came before me and were kind enough to share their wisdom so that others might grow and learn. Finally, I want to thank my parents and my family, who have over the years supported and guided me in my endeavors.

Eric Hexter

First and foremost, I want to say thank you to my beautiful and brilliant wife Chriss, without whom I would not have the drive or inspiration to complete such a project. I also thank her for her support even while pregnant with our third child. She is a super mom and wife. I also want to thank my lovely daughters Emerson, Elliott, and baby number three (who should arrive shortly after this book hits the shelves) for making my life so special. I would like to thank God for giving me opportunities to help others learn and work in a profession that I enjoy. My family has helped me all along the way and I would like to thank them for providing my first computer way back when, and for funding my own PC way back in college. I guess it all paid off! Thanks Dad, Mom, and Gordon. I would also like to thank my college professor, Dr. Bob Williams, for encouraging me with my endeavors into software.

Matthew Hinze

I would like to thank my dad, Rick Hinze, for his unending support and friendship. He got me into this business. I’d also like to thank my wife, Sarah. She helps me get out of it.