ASP.NET MVC is so-so

2007-10-15 @ 19:28#

ok, i watched a guthrie demo and found a couple things interesting. for example, i like the fact that the MVC mod will not support the dreaded "post-back" pattern introduced by ASP.NET years ago.

also, the URL-templating is pretty nice. i have a similar two-way url-templating pattern in exyus, so it's a a kind of validation of the pattern.

the views seem to be mostly ASP.NET using LINQ. pretty cool, but i prefer a more basic XSLT model. more portable, more open. of course, that's not a motivation for the msft folks and i understand that.

i also see some nice sugar in the editing process. the exyus pattern is to declare a C# class, produce XSD/XSLT documents and, in most cases, create a set of SQL Server sprocs that return XML for XSLT transformation. using the ASP.NET model will cut much of that out using the DataBinding (ActiveRecord-like) and LINQ in-page stuff. again, i prefer better separation, but i see why msft would like this.

however, even in this very early talk, i see lots of typical ASP.NET patterns creeping into the implementation including the use of data-bound grids, in-place editing, and a heavy dependence on the "action" verb in the URL line. i'm not a fan of this style, but it's been part of the msft pattern since almost day one.

another thing i noticed is the touting of the "all-open" model. scott mentioned that we could plug in any controller system (nvelocity, spring, etc.) or any model (activerecord, etc.) if we didn't like the one that ships. is this a good thing? if yes, than what is the new ASP.NET MVC anyway? a shell of interfaces tied closely to the editor, i think. that's good for Visual Studio, but does it go beyond that?

so, nothing outlandish. nothing ground-breaking. and this is not even a part of the VS2008 release, it comes after that. sounds to me like i can wait a while.

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