Craig Shoemaker takes you on a tour of the best ASP.NET MVC resources available today.
jQuery
How have I missed jQuery all this time? I am really loving the support
jQuery can provide for all kinds of things like AJAX and controls, but my favorite feature is the
support for CSS3-like behavior that is available today in a cross-browser fashion.
Here is a script I used recently to "stripe" a table (provide alternating row colors).
$(document).ready(function() {
$('table.striped tr:odd').css('background', '#eee');
});
Community Events
Here are some community events that have come across my radar lately.
ASP.NET MVC Resources
By now surely you have had at least some exposure to the new ASP.NET MVC
framework. As with any new technology often times trying to find the quality resources to rely on may be a trying task.
Get the Latest
To help make your development experience more comortable the following is a list of 47 of the most interesting and helpful
ASP.NET MVC resources available to-date. Now while we can all agree that this post becomes a legacy artifact as soon
as I press the "Publish" button, make sure to frequently visit the links below for the latest ASP.NET MVC goodness:
Introductions & Architectural Overview
Let's start with a good foundation, shall we? The following links are a good read for the
uninitiated as well as those who have had the bits since before preview 2.
Routing
One of the first mindset shifts you have to make is to think up-front about the URLs on your site. The Routes Table is a
new concept introduced along with MVC. These links will help you get started:
Building the UI
Once you've got the basics down you are going to want to know how to execute some of the common tasks that you are
used to doing under any development platform. These links will get you up-and-running.
Integration with the Familiar
Learn to use MVC with AJAX, the Membership framework as well as older versions of IIS.
Implementing Security
Forms authentication is alive and well with MVC, but you need to interface with the system in a different way:
- Securing Controller Actions: While you will still use forms authentication, MVC is all about defining
resources via the URL so folder-based lock-downs don't make as much sense. The best way to add a secure layer to
your application is to secure controller actions.
- Using XML: Check this out! Azam Sharp shows you how to secure controller actions with an XML file.
REST
As they say, REST has been around for a long time, but there are those of us who are just being introduced:
Validation
Without the page/control paradigm of WebForms some have wondered if MVC developers are going to be left to reimplement
validation JavaScript all over again. Lay your worries to rest!
Testing
One of the main reasons of using MVC is to have the ability to fully test your applications.
Other Interesting Links
There is so much great content out there that all if it doesn't always fit into a tidy little category heading. Here
are a few more gems I've found that are worth reading.
Books
Blog posts and podcasts are great, but to really sink into the technology check out these books: