MVC vs Web Forms

MVC vs Web Forms

In this blog, we will look into benefits of ASP.NET MVC followed by MVC vs Web Forms features. ASP.NET MVC is supplemental technology for ASP.NET Web Forms. Just using MVC for the project development will not improve the team productivity. It depends on type of project being developed, team skills etc.



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ASP.NET MVC is based on Model-View-Controller architecture and having clear separation between presentation & control logic.

It provides better control over the HTML rendered to the browser. It is having built-in support for TDD [Test Driven Development]. We can create Test project with an option of choosing the Testing framework like Nunit, Visual Studio Unit Test.

We cannot use server-side controls, viewstate in it.

Coding in MVC is similar to doing in Classic ASP. So, it's easy for ASP or JSP developers to adapt to the coding standards of MVC.

MVC is having support for multiple view engines like Razor, Spark. View Engine is a component that executes Server side code like database operations, generating HTML.

URLs generated in MVC are user-friendly and Search Engine optimized.

MVC suits better for projects based on TDD and having frequently changing requirements.

So, choosing MVC for your project development depends on project type, developer's skill set and type of requirements.

Below is the comparsion of MVC, Web Forms features:

ASP.NET MVC

WebForms

Based on Model-View-Controller model Provides clear separation between presentation & control logic Built-in support for TDD Better control over rendered HTML & js SEO & User friendly URLs using routine engine Suits for Classic ASP, JSP developers Suits for applications having dynamic requirements Support for multiple view engines like Razor, Spark No ASP.NET Page lifecycle & page level events like page_init, page_load

Based on Postback model Uses server-side controls & ViewState Suits for RAD [Rapid Application Development] Built-in support for cross-browser rendering capabilities Less control over rendered HTML

We can mix Web Forms & MVC in a single project. By this way, we can make use of MVC for new development/ enhancements by maintaining existing code base on Web Forms.