Integrating ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET Web Forms

Posted on by Anjali Punjab

In this article I will explain about how to integrating ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET Web Forms. With ASP.NET MVC being a mature platform, many Web Forms developers are wondering whether or not they should move to MVC or are thinking about integrating MVC into their existing Web Forms projects.

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MVC Integration: Setup, References, and Configuration

You can install the ASP.NET MVC 4 NuGet package that includes all the resources that you need to use MVC such as references, web.config changes, etc… Once you’ve installed the NuGet package there is little you need to do to use MVC except create folders named “Models”, “Views”, and “Controllers” (assuming you are keeping all these in the same project).

The NuGet Package adds in several changes to the web.config file as well as references to the project that are worth examining. The web.config sample below shows these references:

Location: <configuration><appSettings>

Configure the ASP.NET Web Pages rendering engine settings in the <appSettings> element.

<appSettings>
<add key="webpages:Version" value="2.0.0.0" />
<add key="webpages:Enabled" value="false" />
<add key="PreserveLoginUrl" value="true" />
<add key="ClientValidationEnabled" value="true" />
<add key="UnobtrusiveJavaScriptEnabled" value="true" />
</appSettings>

Location: <configuration><system.web>

This code adds various namespaces to the project’s compilation as well as parser filter and base types, which are settings that determine how views render. The namespace references below are the automatic imports to namespaces for use in views only. You must continue use the using keyword in C# code. The general namespace inclusion is in the previous example.

<pages pageParserFilterType="System.Web.Mvc.ViewTypeParserFilter, System.Web.Mvc,
Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"
pageBaseType="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage, System.Web.Mvc,
Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"
userControlBaseType="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl, System.Web.Mvc,
Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
<namespaces>
<add namespace="System.Web.Optimization" />
<add namespace="System.Web.Helpers" />
<add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
<add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
<add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
<add namespace="System.Web.Optimization" />
<add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
<add namespace="System.Web.WebPages" />
<add namespace="System.Web.WebPages.Html" />
</namespaces>
<controls>
<add assembly="Microsoft.AspNet.Web.Optimization.WebForms"
namespace="Microsoft.AspNet.Web.Optimization.WebForms"
tagPrefix="webopt" />
</controls>
</pages>

Location: <configuration><system.webServer><handlers>

These are the ASP.NET runtime HTTP handlers. They are what determines which .dlls service which type of requests at a low level. As demonstrated, these handlers are looking to interact with HTTP via verbs.

<handlers>
<remove name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-ISAPI-4.0_32bit" />
<remove name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-ISAPI-4.0_64bit" />
<remove name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-Integrated-4.0" />
<add name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-ISAPI-4.0_32bit" path="*."
verb="GET,HEAD,POST,DEBUG,PUT,DELETE,PATCH,OPTIONS" modules="IsapiModule"
scriptProcessor="%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_isapi.dll"
preCondition="classicMode,runtimeVersionv4.0,bitness32" responseBufferLimit="0" />
<add name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-ISAPI-4.0_64bit" path="*."
verb="GET,HEAD,POST,DEBUG,PUT,DELETE,PATCH,OPTIONS" modules="IsapiModule"
scriptProcessor="%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_isapi.dll"
preCondition="classicMode,runtimeVersionv4.0,bitness64" responseBufferLimit="0" />
<add name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-Integrated-4.0" path="*."
verb="GET,HEAD,POST,DEBUG,PUT,DELETE,PATCH,OPTIONS" type="System.Web.Handlers.TransferRequestHandler"
preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv4.0" />
</handlers>

Location: <configuration><runtime><assemblyBinding>

Of course if you’re dealing with differing versions of .NET for any type project, you must change assembly bindings. Assembly bindings declare which versions of which libraries to reference in the project. VS will compile against the new redirected binding than the default when you use the settings below:

<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Helpers" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-2.0.0.0" newVersion="2.0.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Mvc" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-4.0.0.0" newVersion="4.0.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-2.0.0.0" newVersion="2.0.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>

After configuring the project to incorporate MVC, you’ll need to setup routing.

Controllers and Routing

Routing is an essential component of MVC development, and MVC cannot work without it. In Web Forms V4 and later, routing is baked right in. What you’ll need to do to ensure the proper routes are set is to create a static RouteConfig class, preferably in a file (e.g., RouteConfig.cs) inside the App_Start special folder. After that, add in the code below to assign a generic route.

routes.MapRoute(
name: "Default",
url: "{controller}/{action}/{id}",
defaults: new { controller = "Home", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional }
)

Of course, the RouteConfig class won’t instantiate itself. That means you must call its RegisterRoutes function (also static) from the Global.asax.cs file like so:

void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
RouteConfig.RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
}

The last thing to do is use MVC conventions to create the appropriate folders for Models, Views, and Controllers, if you haven’t already. Otherwise, structure your project as you would for use with the MVC pattern, perhaps moving models to their own class library or service layer.

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