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Introduction to MVC

ASP.NET Core MVC is a popular open-source framework for building modern, cloud-based, internet-connected applications. It leverages the MVC design pattern, which separates concerns into three distinct components:

• Model: Represents the application's data and business logic.
• View: Responsible for presenting the data to the user and handling user input.
• Controller: Acts as an intermediary between the Model and the View, processing user input, interacting with the Model, and selecting the appropriate View to render.

MVC provides a clear separation of concerns, making applications easier to test, maintain, and scale. It's ideal for complex applications with distinct data and UI logic.

Learn more about ASP.NET Core MVC

Getting Started with Razor Pages

Razor Pages is a page-focused framework within ASP.NET Core that simplifies building web UIs for all supported platforms. It builds on ASP.NET Core MVC and provides a higher-level abstraction that focuses on pages rather than controllers and actions.

Each Razor Page consists of a .cshtml file for the UI markup and an optional .cshtml.cs file for the page logic (a code-behind file). This structure is intuitive for developers familiar with web forms or single-page applications.

Razor Pages are excellent for:

• Form handling and validation.
• Building simple to moderately complex web UIs.
• Developers who prefer a page-centric development model.

Explore Razor Pages tutorials

Key Concepts and Features

Routing

Both MVC and Razor Pages utilize a routing system to map incoming HTTP requests to the appropriate handlers. ASP.NET Core provides flexible routing options, including convention-based and attribute-based routing.

Model Binding

Model binding automatically maps incoming request data (like form values, query strings, and route data) to the parameters of your controller actions or page model properties.

Validation

ASP.NET Core supports robust validation mechanisms, both client-side and server-side, to ensure data integrity. You can use data annotations or fluent validation APIs.

Tag Helpers

Tag Helpers are a server-side HTML attribute extension that allows you to author HTML tags using C# code. They enable Razor views to run on the server, facilitating HTML generation and interaction with server-side frameworks like ASP.NET Core.

View Components and Partial Views

These are reusable UI components that help in modularizing your views and promoting code reuse.

When to Choose MVC vs. Razor Pages

The choice between MVC and Razor Pages often depends on the complexity and structure of your application:

• MVC: Best suited for applications with complex business logic, clear separation of concerns, and where the MVC pattern aligns well with the project's architecture. It offers more control over request handling and response generation.
• Razor Pages: An excellent choice for form-based applications, simpler UIs, or when you want a more direct approach to page development. It streamlines the process by co-locating page markup and logic.

It's also possible to use both MVC and Razor Pages within the same ASP.NET Core application.