Joe On ASP.NET

Will ASP.NET MVC will be the main web platform for ASP.NET?

pow_by_aspnet

Microsoft folks are very enthusiastic ! We love to dig in to new technology and show off the cool work that we do and this has been VERY true of ASP.NET MVC.

Unfortunately, sometimes our zeal get's misinterpreted.

I'm getting lots of questions about the future of ASP.NET development as it pertains to MVC and WebForms - and folks are concerned and worried.

Today I got an email from a former Microsoftie asking these common questions so I thought I would answer them here.

1.) Will ASP.NET MVC will be the main web platform for ASP.NET?

NO !

MVC is an option. It will NOT replace WebForms. WebForms will continue to evolve and be the PRIMARY UI developers mechanism for ASP.NET. MVC will be great for a subset of ASP.NET applications and developers.The p[oint is, ASP.NET developers will have a great available CHOICE.

Personally - I will continue to use WebForms and will likely not use MVC much if at all. 

2.) Will WebForms continue to be expanded/supported ?

YES! YES! YES !

In fact, this fall I'll be focusing on publishing videos and such on NEW WebForms Features and usage scenarios.

3.) Which JavaScript framework is recommended to be used with ASP.NET MVC (ASP.NET AJAX, jQuery, etc.)?

Microsoft supports our own AJAX Client Libraries, but I regularly use jQuery and other independent libraries. The Microsoft libraries are integration friendly with any JavaScript library that uses some king of Name-Spacing mechanism to avoid naming collisions.

4.) How well ASP.NET AJAX will be supported with ASP.NET MVC?

Who knows? ASP.NET AJAX is built around the page postback model so the server side stuff is decidedly WebForms but the client stuff is happy anywhere.

Check outthis post by Nikhil where he adds some basic AJAX stuff to an MVC application.

http://www.nikhilk.net/Ajax-MVC.aspx

5.) Will ASP.NET AJAX and Ajax Control Toolkit will be expanded/supported?

YES !

Simply - YES !

LONG LIVE WEB FORMS !

Posted: Jul 18 2008, 11:08 AM by JoeStagner | with 6 comment(s)
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Comments

Edwin said:

Hooray!  LONG LIVE WEB FORMS ! Man, I've spent the past 7 years developing and honing my skills in Web Forms; and honestly, I am glad that the MVC stuff is simply a choice. Thank you for this post!

# July 18, 2008 12:26 PM

Dmytro Shteflyuk said:

Thank you for your reply (I was the one, who prepared these questions). It was hard to find any information about Web Forms future, so your post resolved our hesitations.

# July 18, 2008 1:06 PM

Michael Washington said:

Thank you for this post. Personally I love post backs :)

# July 18, 2008 4:21 PM

Dave said:

Is it the realm of possiblilty that web forms can just start from anew and not maintain any backward capability?

We've learned a lot over the years, sure AJAX has been slapped in, but the core architecture is pretty stale.

# July 18, 2008 4:33 PM

softmind said:

Hi,

I think... Dynamic Languages like IronRuby and IronPython and Asp.Net MVC will have a great hold on web 3.0.

After the final versions of SilverLight, and Dynamic Languages and Asp.Net MVC the entire scenario will change.

Asp>net web forms, shall be used only for developers, who have sticked to web forms from the very beginning and have not yet tested the real advantage of MVC world .

Thanks

# July 19, 2008 12:54 AM

LarryB said:

The consulting firm that I work for is already gearing up to make the move to MVC.  Webforms are great and all, but with MVC we have the option to truly segment our work and run tasks in parallel, meeting at the end together.  Meaning I can give my Creative team tasks for them to develop 100% of and not have to worry about any of them needing to know anything about ASP.NET controls.  Infact, they really only need to know very little in the programming syntax to build out the views, while I have my developers actually developing.

# July 19, 2008 1:23 AM
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