Working With Controllers and Actions in MVC

Working with Controllers and Actions in MVC
Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Copyright by Application Developers Training Company
Objectives
Learn how controllers manage MVC applications Understand action methods and how they can receive input Explore how you can return a result from an action method

Agenda
Introduction to Controllers Using a Controller to Manage the Application Controller Actions Returning Action Results

Introduction to Controllers
Controller is the traffic cop to keep things smooth
Responds to user input Manages overall flow of application Interacts with model to change state and data Selects a result to respond to user
Does not itself contain UI, data, or business logic code Ultimately responsible for servicing requests
The applications logic
Lots of attention in MVC 3

Using a Controller to Manage the Application

Powerful but easy to use Implemented as .NET class with properties and methods System.Web.Mvc namespace
Your controllers are likely to need very little code Routine infrastructure encapsulated in base classes

Controllers in System.Web.Mvc
Controller must:
Implement IController interface Have a name ending in Controller Marked public, not abstract, no generic parameters
Otherwise, not recognized as controller

Methods never called as action methods
Normally inherit from Controller class

Which inherits from ControllerBase Which implements IController

The IController Interface

IController requirement isnt onerous Single purpose: find a controller and call Execute method Simple interface definition:
public interface IController { void Execute(RequestContext requestContext); }
When request arrives

Routing identifies controller, calls Execute Passes in object with context information
The ControllerBase Abstract Base Class

Implements IController
Adds controller features, such as TempData and ViewData Execute method creates ControllerContext object
Still pretty lightweight

Relatively little added functionality Could build Web site with either IController or ControllerBase

The Controller Class

Rich implementation of controller infrastructure Inherits from ControllerBase
So indirectly implements IController
Added features include

Action methods Action results Filters
Normally should implement your controllers using Controller

The MVC Request Processing Pipeline

IIS, ASP.NET, MVC collaboration
Request
HTTP
Response process to every user request
Routing Engine
Controller Factory
Controller
View
Action Method
Action Invoker
HTTP Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Response
Action Method Selection

Job of the action invoker More complicated than initially appears
Multiple overloaded methods with same name Decorated with attributes that control use Action name may be different from method name
Starts by getting action portion of route {controller}/{action}/{id}

Default action is Index
Then map action name to controller method

Simplest: one method with that action name
Action Method Qualifications

Method must meet requirements to be action method:
Public and not static or Shared Cannot be defined on System.Object or Controller
o
i.e., ToString() could not be an action method
Cannot be a special method Cannot have a NonAction attribute
Action invoker uses reflection to find candidates

All methods with same action name But method attributes can make this murky with multiple candidates
ActionName Attribute
Normal convention is for controller method name to be same as action name Can give it a different action name
Action name that is not a legal language name Use an MVC component name as action name Different naming standards

ActionMethodSelector Attribute
Now action invoker has list of all matching action names Next examines ActionMethodSelector attributes
Control what conditions a method should be used for a request Single method: IsValidForRequest
o o
Executes on each candidate action method Return false, removed from list
Implementations
NonAction attribute AcceptVerbs attribute HttpDelete, HttpGet, HttpPost, HttpPut
Controller Actions
Once invoked, action method does its job
Receive and process input Perform processing Generate output
o o o o
Select a view Write output directly to page Raw data to browser Do nothing

Action Method Input

Most methods need data to do work Can come from a variety of sources
Environment Operating system Nature of user request Direct parameters Many others
Three broad sources for action method

Context objects Method parameters Model bindings
Context Object Input

Web requests come loaded with information
HTTP headers User information Browser and capability information Users IP address Authentication information
Information available through context objects

Parameter Input
Specialized input customized for method MVC takes care of populating values Action invoker examines context objects for parameter values and uses model binder
1. Request.Form 2. RouteData.Values 3. Request.QueryString
Matches solely by name in order

Once it finds a match it stops searching Have to coordinate names to avoid duplicate names
Model Bindings
Model encapsulates data and business rules
Use directly in controllers and views Built-in features to make easy Automatic data scaffolding

Controller Session State

SessionState attribute
Control how and whether controller uses session state MVC uses session state by default, if available
SessionStateBehavior enumeration
Default Disabled ReadOnly Required

Returning Action Results

Action method follows a normal process
Receives request and data Process the request Generates response
Many possible responses Three broad types of results

HTML Redirect somewhere else Page data
All options based on ActionResult

Action Result
ActionResult base class
public abstract class ActionResult { public abstract void ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context); }
ExecuteResult receives context information Takes care of low-level work of generating a response

ActionResult Types
Type
Helper Method
Description
ContentResult
EmptyResult
Content()
--
Raw text data

Returns nothing
FileResult
HttpNotFoundResult
File()
HttpNotFound()
Base class to send file

Returns HTTP 404
HttpStatusCodeResult
HttpUnauthorizedResult JavaScriptResult JsonResult PartialViewResult RedirectResult RedirectToRouteResult ViewResult
--JavaScript() Json() PartialView() Redirect() RedirectToRoute() RedirectToAction() View()
Returns any HTTP status

Returns HTTP 401 Returns and executes script JavaScript Object Notation HTML snippet Redirect to URL Redirect to MVC route or action Full HTML page

Passing Data to the View

Use either ViewData or ViewBag
Different faces of the same feature A bit like ASP.NET Session object Exposes ViewDataDictionary But ViewData/ViewBag disappear after view rendered Session lasts for the user session
ViewData is loosely typed ViewBag is strongly typed

Uses dynamic language feature of C# and VB

ViewData and ViewBag

Not limited to passing strings Keep in mind that they are same feature, but different
Can mix and match in one action method/view Get the same result either way Generally should use ViewBag
But in VB, using in controller requires setting Option Strict Off

Returning Text Data: ContentResult

HTML is dominant data format
But browsers can deal with variety of formats
Use a ContentResult for other formats

Content helper method Specify content as string Optionally specify type, such as text/xml

Implicit Action Results

Return text and dont need to specify type If type is not string, calls ToString method with InvariantCulture setting
Wraps in ContentResult object

Missing Resource: HttpNotFoundResult

User hacks a URL
Useful to indicate that requested resource is not available Returns HTTP 404 status code
Can mask an exception that an attacker could otherwise use

Return any HTTP Status Code: HttpStatusCodeResult

More flexible than HttpNotFoundResult Can specify any HTTP status code
Optional description

Redirection Methods
Methods on the Controller class Return instances of redirection action methods
Permanent property set to true
Types
RedirectPermanent method RedirectToRoutePermanent method RedirectToActionPermanent method
Make easy to manage permanent redirections

HTTP 301 status code
Learn More!
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Working With Controllers and Actions in MVC

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Working with Controllers and Actions in MVC

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Lots of attention in MVC 3

Using a Controller to Manage the Application

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Otherwise, not recognized as controller

Normally inherit from Controller class

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

The IController Interface

When request arrives

The ControllerBase Abstract Base Class

Still pretty lightweight

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

The Controller Class

Added features include

Normally should implement your controllers using Controller

The MVC Request Processing Pipeline

Response process to every user request

HTTP Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Action Method Selection

Starts by getting action portion of route {controller}/{action}/{id}

Then map action name to controller method

Action Method Qualifications

i.e., ToString() could not be an action method

Cannot be a special method Cannot have a NonAction attribute

Action invoker uses reflection to find candidates

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Action Method Input

Three broad sources for action method

Context Object Input

Information available through context objects

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Matches solely by name in order

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Controller Session State

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Returning Action Results

Many possible responses Three broad types of results

All options based on ActionResult

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Raw text data

Base class to send file

--JavaScript() Json() PartialView() Redirect() RedirectToRoute() RedirectToAction() View()

Returns any HTTP status

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Passing Data to the View

ViewData is loosely typed ViewBag is strongly typed

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

ViewData and ViewBag

But in VB, using in controller requires setting Option Strict Off

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Returning Text Data: ContentResult

Use a ContentResult for other formats

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Implicit Action Results

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Missing Resource: HttpNotFoundResult

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Return any HTTP Status Code: HttpStatusCodeResult

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

Make easy to manage permanent redirections

Learn More @ http://www.learnnowonline.com

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