Most of today's modern web applications are based on the Model View Controller pattern, also commonly called MVC. You may have noticed that we also used it in the previous chapters to build the foundations of the Tic-Tac-Toe demo application. So, you have already worked with the MVC architecture in multiple places, without even knowing what was happening in the background and why it was important to apply this specific pattern.
Since its first release in 2007, the ASP.NET MVC framework has proven itself over the years, until effectively becoming the market standard. Microsoft has successfully evolved it into an industrialized and efficient framework with high developer productivity. There are many examples of web applications that take full advantage of the multiple features MVC has to offer. One great example is Stack Overflow. It provides information to developers and has a very high user base, with the need to scale to thousands, or even millions, of users at the same time.
In this chapter, you will acquire the skills that will allow you to create an MVC application and ascertain what kind of device is accessing your application. You will also learn how to use Tag Helpers and create View Components and partial views, and will also be equipped with the skills you need to be able to create unit and integration tests.
First, we will start by dissecting what an MVC application consists of from a high-level view and then go a bit deeper into the finer details, such as view pages and components. Then, we will look at view engines, how to structure projects, and layering our project.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
- Understanding the Model View Controller pattern
- Creating dedicated layouts for multiple devices
- Understanding ASP.NET Core state management
- Using view pages, partial views, View Components, and Tag Helpers
- Dividing a web application into multiple areas
- Applying advanced concepts such as view engines, unit tests, and integration tests
- Layering ASP.NET Core 3 applications