MVC stands for Model View Controller - this is a model used for software development purposes. It is popular among various major programming languages today such as Java, PHP, ASP.NET etc. It has a pattern followed by many of the developers for customizing World Wide Web applications at ease. Model holds the business rules, functions and logic. View represents data structure or a chart or a diagram. Controller controls the model and the view.
Today it is being used as the powerful framework for building web applications using MVC pattern. The Model represents the application core, whereas the View displays the data and the Controller handles the input. The MVC separation helps one to manage complex applications, because one can focus on one aspect at a time. For example, one can focus on the view without depending on the business logic and thus makes it simpler and easier to test a web application. Here both the view and the controller depend on the model; the model depends on neither the view nor the controller. This is one the main advantages of the separation. Hence this allows the model to be built and tested independently of the visual presentation. The separation between the view and the controller is secondary in many client applications and many user interface frameworks implement the roles as one object as one package, thus no interference in each of the module.
In web applications, on the other hand, the separation between view (the browser) and controller (the server-side components handling the HTTP request) is very well defined. The MVC separation also simplifies team development. Different programmers can work on the business logic, view and the controller logic parallel thus without interfering in each other’s work.
Introduction of MVC in ASP.Net
In ASP.Net, there was a need to change the ASP.NET development pattern because working with Webforms became a difficult task, When MVC did come, it is now instrumental in meeting different business demands and making developer work easier. Let us understand what were the main disadvantages of Webforms in ASP.NET.
- Web forms by nature hide all the nature of HTTP.
- The user has no more control on the HTML markup generated by Web forms.
- There is no separation of Concerns in web forms. Presentation and business logic are tightly coupled in web form. For example, ASPX and ASPX.VB (or) ASPX.CS files are tightly coupled or depend one another. The Design (Presentation Logic) and Code Logic cannot be separated.
With each new version, MVC is getting more and more productive and helping develop richer and far more effective solutions.
Top Advantages of building web applications using MVC framework
MVC Framework is built upon a proven MVC design-pattern. ASP.NET has one of the major defects where it uses HTML size of controls and view state. View state stores all the HTML rendered data and the final HTML gets too large. If there is a slow internet connection, the load time is delayed. This has been taken care in MVC framework. MVC framework does not deal with view state concept. With MVC and JQuery integration makes it even better to write code that runs in the browser and takes away load from the server. Thus loading application quickly saving lot of development time. It also supports multiple views and unit testing as a part of Visual Studio 2008 and 2010. The MVC architecture isolates the domain logic from the user interface, allowing for quicker, more controlled development. MVC is under continued enhancements and getting finer day by day, providing more benefits with each new version.
MVC manages complexity because of its separated nature of model-view-controller makes it easier to manage the complexity of large applications and keep it well organized. Programmers are able to focus on one aspect of execution at a time, such as concentrating on the view without depending on the business logic or vice-versa. Some functions and classes of MVC can even be auto-created to save time. With MVC, it is faster test-driven development. Testing applications get easier than it is to test form-based ASP.NET web applications. This is because the separation of application tasks are all defined differently so they add no more complexity. Programmers can test their development work by writing a failing automated test case to define a desired improvement then evaluating the new code.
Because of the flexible coupling of the MVC architecture, rapid and parallel development is possible. It is much easier for more than one developer can code at the same time on the application. If one programmer is working on the view, another can work on the controller logic and the other on the business logic in the model, the application is capable enough to be completed three times faster. With model-view-controller, development gets quicker and independent, thus saving development time. The MVC framework gives full control over the behavior of their application because MVC does not use a view state or server-based forms. Since the controller uses different pieces of the model and view to create a request, many of these parts can be reused in other MVC applications. These reusable building blocks are chosen by the controller to handle specific processing and display needs.
The model-view-controller architecture also integrates with the JavaScript Framework. This means, MVC applications can be made to work with applications outside web pages, such as PDF documents, site-specific browsers, and desktop widgets. It also supports asynchronous calls to such scripts which results to faster loading.
MVC gives the ability to control the application. Rather than using Viewstate or Postback events to store the state of server controls on the page and to manage invocation of server side events, MVC instead uses different view engines to generate the markup that streams back to the browser client. The advantage here is that one can easily produce more standard markup and have greater control over what will be rendered to the client.
As a way to solve developers issues on time, everyone have been turning to MVC frameworks which promise increased productivity and maintainable code. Thus gaining more momentum in business growth.
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With more and more businesses going online, website development has become complex and complement. Nowadays, developers frequently look for fresh and innovative ideas to optimize the look and feel of web application. At the same time, they also need to ensure that the website is high performing, scalable and secure. As a rapid web application development framework, Microsoft Dot Net is widely used by programmers across the world to build websites, web application and web services.
The framework also comes with several features and tools that enable programmers to optimize the performance of the website without writing longer lines of code. Also, Microsoft regularly update Dot Net framework with advanced authentication configuration and security features to keep the web application safe and inaccessible. However, each enterprise must consider a number of additional factors to optimize the security of its website. Some of these points can even be incorporated in the initial ASP.NET development plan.
Enhancing the Security of Your Dot Net Web Application
1. Set Least Privileges for the Website: Often the security of a website depends on the specific privileges it has on the local as well as remote computers. So you must configure the ASP.NET process identity properly to avoid potential security threats. It is also important to minimize the practical privileges for users while running the application. At the same time, you need to ensure that the users have no option to run the application as an administrator.
Based on the resources needed by the website, you have to set permissions by defining Access Control Lists (ACLs). In addition to setting all your files as read-only, you must not allow users to access a specific a path. The configuration will ensure that the root of your sever remains inaccessible when the application is running.
2. Identify Each User: Many enterprises allow users to access the web application without providing any credentials. The anonymous access to your application resources will have a huge impact on its security. So you must restrict unauthentic access to the application both on the intranet and web. If the Dot Net application will run on an intranet, you must configure it using Windows integrated security. The configuration will allow users to access the resources using their Windows login credentials. However, you also have option to use the ASP.NET authentication strategies to compel the user to provide login credentials.
3. Eliminate the Impact of Malicious User Input: The Dot Net framework allows programmers to validate the user input using a set of advanced authentication methods. But you must not assume that the user input is safe and harmless. As the malicious users can damage your website by submitting potentially dangerous information, you have to consider several ways to eliminate the impact of malicious user input. The HTML tags can also be used to submit scripts. So you must filter user input to keep the ASP.Net web pages secure.
Also, you can encode the HTML before displaying the unfiltered user input convert the potentially malicious script into display strings. At the same time, you need to ensure that the unfiltered user input is not stored in a database. Along with filtering the HTML accepted from users manually, you can clearly explain what information will be accepted by the application. However, you should not create a filter to identify and remove the malicious input, as it is difficult to identify the user input that is malicious and harmful.
4. Keep Your Databases Secure: The security of a web application is directly related to the way your store and access data. So you must consider optimizing the security of your databases to keep the Dot Net web application secure. Each database comes with inherent security features. You must avail the feature to restrict the access to database resources according to the requirements of the application. Further, you enable integrated security feature of your website to ensure that the users can access the database only by using Windows-authenticated users.
Many security experts consider the integrated security feature to be more effective than login credential based access. If you want to allow anonymous access to the application, it is a good idea to create a single user that has limited permission to run SQL queries. Instead of processing user input by concatenating strings to create SQL statements, you can consider creating a parameterized query. The customized SQL query will receive user input, and use the information as parameter values.
Microsoft has also recommended several best practices to fix the potential security flaws. At the same time, an enterprise must avail the security features provided by the web server to deploy the website in a secure environment.
We provide .net application development services. If you would like to talk to one of our certified asp.net developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.
A gradual increase is noted in the number of local and small businesses going online. With more and more businesses having a virtual presence, it has become essential for developers to explore fresh ideas to make their clients’ websites or web applications unique. Some developers explore innovative ways to boost the user experience, whereas others rely on the web application development frameworks make their websites powerful and popular. In comparison to conventional web application development frameworks, ASP.Net is popular among programmers across the world due to its powerful yet easy-to-use features and functionalities.
Microsoft further upgrades ASP.Net regularly with advanced features to meet the latest trends in web development. The version 4.5 of the web development framework comes with a set of features that make it easier for programmers to build dynamic and interactive application that run on the internet. At the same time, a developer can use Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 to create the application without writing longer lines of code. Along with simplifying the web application development process, the latest version of technology also prepares programmers for the upcoming technological revolution.
Key ASP.Net Features to Meet the Latest Web Development Trends
1. Support for HTML5 WebSockets: The user experience of a web application hugely depends on the smooth communication between the web server and the client. Often programmers have to explore options to facilitate duplex or two-way communication between the web server and the client browser. HTML5 WebSocket is used widely as a protocol to perform such duplex communication. The upgraded versions of ASP.Net and IIS support the WebSocket protocol. However, the WebSocket protocol must be enabled in IIS 8.0 before using the features in application. Once the protocol is enabled in IIS, the programmer can initiate the client-server communication using IsWebSocketRequest property and AcceptWebSocketRequest() method.
2. Option to Bundle and Minify Files: Often users turn away from web applications that are slow. So web application developers look for efficient ways to control the number of requests sent to the server from the web browser, and the time required by the server to respond to each user request. ASP.Net 4.5 comes with a fresh feature that makes it easier for programmers to bundle and minify files neatly. The bundling and minifcation of CSS and JavaScript files will further contribute towards making the website perform faster. But a developer has to specify the URLs to the CSS and JavaScript files to avail this feature. Also, he has to follow specific naming conventions to bundle all these files from a folder, and serve these as a single request. The Bundle class and IBundleTransform interface can be used to customize the process of bundling these files and scripts.
3. Revamped Web Forms: Before the release of the updated version of ASP.Net, many programmers were skeptical about using Web Forms on their applications. Microsoft has integrated the MVC design with Web Forms to make it easier for developers to separate business logic and design. With the model binding feature, a programmer can bind a specific value in the client application to a model on the web server. The binding will further make validation on the server more efficient. In ASP.Net 4.5, a developer also has options to add ModelType property to the data controls. The new property enables him to specify the type of object that will be bound to the control. At the same time, the query can also be manipulated through the IQueryable object to avail designing features like sorting and paging. Also, the upgraded version of ASP.Net supports HTML5.
4. Creating Asynchronous HTTP Handlers: In comparison to traditional HTTP handlers, asynchronous HTTP handlers are more effective in supporting asynchronous processing of user requests. The older versions of the asp.net application development framework allowed you to create HTTP handlers. But ASP.Net 4.5 makes it easier for you to create asynchronous HTTP handlers. You also have option to use async/await keywords and Tasks to boost the overall performance of your web application. You can use the IHttpAsyncHandler interface to create the handlers. But the interface requires you to write BeginProcessRequest() and EndProcessRequest() methods to avail the advantages of asynchronous HTTP handlers.
Microsoft has further enhanced the efficiency of ASP.Net by providing robust support to a variety of open source technologies. A developer now has option to build robust web applications using JavaScript and HTML5. The combination of Microsoft .Net framework and other widely used open source technologies will prepare ASP.Net for the forthcoming technological revolution.
We provide .Net development services. We are glad to share that all our .NET developers are Microsoft certified. If you would like to hire asp.net developers from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.
The Dot Net framework leads to the creation of an environment which enables programs to run in a language and platform independent manner. It incorporates a vast library and renders support to a number of programming languages that make adequate room for interoperability, since each language is capable of making use of code composed in some other language. The main languages running across this platform are J#.NET, VB.NET and C#.NET. ASP.NET application development constitutes of the technology for development of the web while ADO.NET comprises a group of classes leveraged for database connectivity.
In order to cater to the ever increasing demand in the domain of technologies and programming, Microsoft initiated development across the Dot Net framework during the late 90’s bearing the name NGWS or Next Generation Windows Services. By the end of the year 2000, the initial beta versions of .Net 1.0 were launched. The release of .NET Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010 took place almost simultaneously.
Instead of compelling developers to make use of any specific programming language, this platform enables developers to create application in any language. The aim is to pave way for globally distributed systems, leveraging XML as the common connector. This facilitates the running of functions across an array of computers within a company or around the globe while operating within a single operation.
This framework renders a common environment for developing, deploying as well as running web applications and services. This architecture can operate across manifold platforms, further rendering portability to the .Net programs. Again the software environment includes a new process for program development which has the capability of changing the manner in which programs are written and executed. This results in improved productivity. The most important constituent of this framework is web services, which indicates the applications which can be utilized across the internet.
Universal data access constitutes another vital concept regarding this technology. Users are capable of accessing the data irrespective of the place where they are located. In case there are two copies of a file, for instance a company computer as well as a personal computer, the version that is less recent is required to be regularly updated. Microsoft has come up with innovative technologies like DCOM, COM+ and COM that ensure reuse of the software. Although these technologies are quite powerful, there are certain issues that often crop up. Because of this, Microsoft felt the need to develop a new technology or framework that would allow easy accomplishment of all the programming tasks.
The technology is in great demand so far as the IT market of 2013 is concerned, because of the plethora of productive and unique applications and features. Let us discuss two of the major benefits in a nutshell:
1. Simultaneous Code Execution: Since this architecture supports side by side code execution, versioning problems can be resolved. Overwriting of any shared component can be avoided by facilitating the installation of multiple versions and running them concurrently across the same computer. In such a case, .Net developers do not need to maintain any kind of backward compatibility since diverse applications can make use of diverse editions of a shared component.
2. Decentralized Component Registration: Issues that crop up due to centralized registration are done away with Dot Net. For component registration, the Registry is not used, but this framework stores information regarding the components and the same is retrieved at runtime straight from the files. When a new component is instantiated by an application, scanning of predefined locations including the application directory takes place. To make available for future use, the information regarding the components is subjected to caching once the component is traced. Such decentralized registration almost does away with chances of application interference.
Thus, by leveraging the .Net platform, developers can make use of integrated tools in order to build web services cost-effectively and quickly. Scalable solutions can be created that are functional across a range of computing devices.
We provide .NET application development services. If you would like to hire our certified developers for your .NET development projects, please reach out to us at Mindfire Solutions.
Every developer frequently looks for innovative ideas to optimize the performance and scalability of his applications. Many developers also want to implement some of the best practices that have already been successfully tried and tested by others. If you are exploring best practices to make your .NET application more powerful, it is a good idea to start reading the performance best practices provided by Microsoft. At the same time, you also need to learn some of the tricks implemented by .NET developers based on different parameters. However, you must choose and use the best practices that complement the type and usage of your application.
Best Practices to Improve .NET Application’s Performance and Scalability
1. Validate Input using Client Side Scripts: The data validation technique used by the developers can boost the performance of the application by reducing the server overload. The .NET framework enables developers to validate all types of user input using a set of service side controls. However, they still have option to validate the input using client side controls in ASP.NET. It is always a good idea to maintain a proper balance between the client side and server side validation controls to process user requests quickly by reducing load on server.
2. Try Not to Throw Exceptions: Most developers use exceptions in both windows and web applications. But the exceptions often consume a huge amount of resources, and results in slowing down the application. They can alternately improve the performance of the application by incorporating try/catch blocks to monitor the control flow. As the try/catch blocks do not use high resources, they can use these again and again in your code. However, the programmer must use exceptions when the application’s performance is lost and the user needs to see some user-friendly error message.
3. Use .Transfer to Redirect to Another Page: The Response.Redirect() method is widely used by programmers to instruct the browser to redirect to another page. But the chatty nature of this function makes it usable only when the users are being transferred to another web server. You can always avoid using additional and unnecessary HTTP requests by using .transfer, while transferring the user within the same sever. Instead of transferring the requests, .transfer will simply shift the focus on your webs server. The reduced number of HTTP requests will put less pressure on the web server, while boosting the speed and efficiency of your application.
4. Disable the Debug Option in Web.Config File: When you create a new .NET application, the debug is by default set as true in web.config. The attribute will be useful for programmers during the asp.net web development phase, but the attribute must be changed to false before deploying the web application. If you forget set debug=false in web.config, it will require PDB information to be inserted into the file. The larger size of the file will further slow down your application.
5. Turn Tracing Off: Often developers are required to track the trace and sequence of the application. They use the tracing feature provided by .NET framework to easily monitor trace logging. But when you turn the tracing feature on, it will increase the performance overhead. Also, there are chances that the user might see some of your private information. So you have to turn the tracing feature on only when the application is being analyzed actively. Once the analysis is over, and you are not required to monitor tracing, the options must be turned off before deploying the .NET application.
6. Kill Resources using the Finally Method: You can further optimize the speed of your web application by killing resources like open files and database connections. The killing of these resources will reduce the server overhead, and make your application run faster. Regardless of the outcome of a Block, you can use the finally method independently. So the method can be invoked independently in the code included either in the Try or Catch block.
Each .NET developer can also decide best practices based on his personal experience in writing code. However, a programmer must share the tricks with other members of his team to reduce the normal time required to develop a robust web application.
We provide asp.net development services. We are glad to share that all our .NET developers are Microsoft certified. If you would like to hire asp.net programmers from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.
