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URL Creation Fundamentals In MVC

Introduction

In this article, we are going to explore different ways of URL creation in MVC and different fundamental concepts of MVC.

So let's get started with MVC fundamentals.

We have two different approaches available while creating an URL in MVC framework.

  1. ActionLink
  2. Raw HTML

Question - Which approach is best for URL creation?

Answer

Action LInk in the background queries the routing engine whenever the URL associated with the given controllers ACTION. Sometimes we do have Custom URLs associated with an action, and we require to change that URL in future. For this scenario actionLink will pick up the latest URL, you don't need to make any changes.

On the other hand, if you are using raw HTML, you need to update your links when URLs changed.

As a good programmer, we should always avoid changing URLs as URLs are the public contract of your app and can be referenced by other apps, and many times users bookmark the URLs. If you change them, all these bookmarks and references will be broken.

In the end, the decision is up to the programmer's choice, no hard and fast rule here.

Again, the simplest way is using raw HTML

1: Raw HTML

Example,

<a href = "Courses/Index"> View Course</a>

2: ActionLink

Below is the example of using ActionLink for URL creation.

@HTML.ActionLink("View Courses","Index","Courses")

If the targeted action needs a parameter we can make use of an anonymous object to pass the parameter values.

@HTML.ActionLink("View Courses","Index","Courses", new {id = 1})

This will generate a link as - courses/index/1

This method doesn't generate the link for a reason, we need to pass another argument to ActionLink. This argument can be null or an anonymous object to render any additional HTML attribute.

@HTML.ActionLink("View Courses","Index","Courses", new {id = 1}, null)

We have different HTML helpers available in MVC 

Type Helper Method
ViewResult View()
PartialViewResult PartialView()
RedirectResult Redirect()
ContentResult Content()
JsonResult Json()
RedirectToRouteResult RedirectToAction()
FileResult File()
HttpNotFoundResult HttpNotFound()
EmptyResult  


Passing Data to views in MVC

We should avoid passing data using ViewData and ViewBag as these methods are fragile and need a lot of casting which makes code ugly. Instead, we can pass model or viewModel directly to view.

return View(Course);

Razor Views

@if(condition)
{
    // c# or HTML code
}

@foreach(...)
{
}

We can render a class or any attribute conditionally as follows,

@{
    var className=Model.Movies.Count >3 ? "Popular" : null;
}
<h2 class = "@className">...</h2>

Partial View

@Html.Partial("_NavBar")

Types of Routing in MVC

1: Convention based Routing

Here we can specify the routing in RouteConfig.cs file and mention the Controller, action which needs to be invoked using mapRoute method of routes collection.

2: Attribute based Routing

Here we can apply route by decorating the action method with the Route keyword followed by the path.

Authentication in MVC

Use [authorize] keyword. Apply it to action, controller or globally (in FilterConfig.cs)

Enabling Social Login in MVC

Step 1

Enable SSL: Select project, press F4, set SSL enabled to true.

Step 2

Copy SSL URL, select the project, go to properties, in the Web tab, set startup URL.

Step 3

Apply RequireSSL filter globally in FilterConfig.cs file.

Step 4

Register your app with external authentication providers to get secret key/secret. In AppStart.cs/Startup.Auth.cs, add corresponding providers and your key/secret.

Summary

In this article, we explored different ways of URL creation in MVC and different fundamental concepts of MVC. I hope you liked the article. Until Next Time - Happy Learning Cheers


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