Thursday, 26 December 2013

MVC Questions - 3

1. What is MVC?

MVC is a framework methodology that divides an application’s implementation into three component roles: models, views, and controllers.

Main components of an MVC application?

1. M - Model
2. V - View
3. C - Controller

“Models” in a MVC based application are the components of the application that are responsible for maintaining state. Often this state is persisted inside a database (for example: we might have a Product class that is used to represent order data from the Products table inside SQL).

“Views” in a MVC based application are the components responsible for displaying the application’s user interface. Typically this UI is created off of the model data (for example: we might create an Product “Edit” view that surfaces textboxes, dropdowns and checkboxes based on the current state of a Product object).

“Controllers” in a MVC based application are the components responsible for handling end user interaction, manipulating the model, and ultimately choosing a view to render to display UI. In a MVC application the view is only about displaying information – it is the controller that handles and responds to user input and interaction.

2- What does Model, View and Controller represent in an MVC application?

Model: Model represents the application data domain. In short the applications business logic is contained with in the model.

View: Views represent the user interface, with which the end users interact. In short the all the user interface logic is contained with in the UI.

Controller: Controller is the component that responds to user actions. Based on the user actions, the respective controller, work with the model, and selects a view to render that displays the user interface. The user input logic is contained with in the controller.

3- In which assembly is the MVC framework defined?

System.Web.Mvc
4- What is the greatest advantage of using asp.net mvc over asp.net webforms?

It is difficult to unit test UI with webforms, where views in mvc can be very easily unit tested.

5- Which approach provides better support for test driven development - ASP.NET MVC or ASP.NET Webforms?

ASP.NET MVC

6- What is Razor View Engine?

Razor view engine is a new view engine created with ASP.Net MVC model using specially designed Razor parser to render the HTML out of dynamic server side code. It allows us to write Compact, Expressive, Clean and Fluid code with new syntax to include server side code in to HTML.

7- What are the advantages of ASP.NET MVC?

Advantages of ASP.NET MVC:

1. Extensive support for TDD. With asp.net MVC, views can also be very easily unit tested.
2. Complex applications can be easily managed
3. Separation of concerns. Different aspects of the application can be divided into Model, View and Controller.
4. ASP.NET MVC views are light weight, as they don't use viewstate.

8- Is it possible to unit test an MVC application without running the controllers in an ASP.NET process?

Yes, all the features in an asp.net MVC application are interface based and hence mocking is much easier. So, we don't have to run the controllers in an ASP.NET process for unit testing.

9- What is namespace of ASP.NET MVC?

ASP.NET MVC namespaces and classes are located in the System.Web.Mvc assembly.

System.Web.Mvc namespace 

Contains classes and interfaces that support the MVC pattern for ASP.NET Web applications. This namespace includes classes that represent controllers, controller factories, action results, views, partial views, and model binders.

System.Web.Mvc.Ajax namespace 

Contains classes that support Ajax scripts in an ASP.NET MVC application. The namespace includes support for Ajax scripts and Ajax option settings.

System.Web.Mvc.Async namespace 

Contains classes and interfaces that support asynchronous actions in an ASP.NET MVC application.

System.Web.Mvc.Html namespace 

Contains classes that help render HTML controls in an MVC application. The namespace includes classes that support forms, input controls, links, partial views, and validation.

10- Is it possible to share a view across multiple controllers?

Yes, put the view into the shared folder. This will automatically make the view available across multiple controllers.

11- What is the role of a controller in an MVC application?

The controller responds to user interactions, with the application, by selecting the action method to execute and selecting the view to render.

12- Where are the routing rules defined in an asp.net MVC application?

In Application_Start event in Global.asax

13- Name a few different return types of a controller action method?

The following are just a few return types of a controller action method. In general an action method can return an instance of a any class that derives from ActionResult class.

1. ViewResult
2. JavaScriptResult
3. RedirectResult
4. ContentResult
5. JsonResult

14- What is the ‘page lifecycle’ of an ASP.NET MVC?

Following process are performed by ASP.Net MVC page:

1) App initialization
2) Routing
3) Instantiate and execute controller
4) Locate and invoke controller action
5) Instantiate and render view

15- What is the significance of NonActionAttribute?

In general, all public methods of a controller class are treated as action methods. If you want prevent this default behavior, just decorate the public method with NonActionAttribute.

16- What is the significance of ASP.NET routing?

ASP.NET MVC uses ASP.NET routing, to map incoming browser requests to controller action methods. ASP.NET Routing makes use of route table. Route table is created when your web application first starts. The route table is present in the Global.asax file.

17- How route table is created in ASP.NET MVC?

When an MVC application first starts, the Application_Start() method is called. This method, in turn, calls the RegisterRoutes() method. The RegisterRoutes() method creates the route table.

18- What are the 3 segments of the default route, that is present in an ASP.NET MVC application?

1st Segment - Controller Name
2nd Segment - Action Method Name
3rd Segment - Parameter that is passed to the action method

Example: http://google.com/search/label/MVC
Controller Name = search
Action Method Name = label
Parameter Id = MVC

19- ASP.NET MVC application, makes use of settings at 2 places for routing to work correctly. What are these 2 places?

1. Web.Config File : ASP.NET routing has to be enabled here.
2. Global.asax File : The Route table is created in the application Start event handler, of the Global.asax file.

20- What is the adavantage of using ASP.NET routing?

In an ASP.NET web application that does not make use of routing, an incoming browser request should map to a physical file. If the file does not exist, we get page not found error.

An ASP.NET web application that does make use of routing, makes use of URLs that do not have to map to specific files in a Web site. Because the URL does not have to map to a file, you can use URLs that are descriptive of the user's action and therefore are more easily understood by users.

21- What are the 3 things that are needed to specify a route?

1. URL Pattern - You can include placeholders in a URL pattern so that variable data can be passed to the request handler without requiring a query string.
2. Handler - The handler can be a physical file such as an .aspx file or a controller class.
3. Name for the Route - Name is optional.

22- Is the following route definition a valid route definition?

{controller}{action}/{id}
No, the above definition is not a valid route definition, because there is no literal value or delimiter between the placeholders. Therefore, routing cannot determine where to separate the value for the controller placeholder from the value for the action placeholder.

23- What is the use of the following default route?

{resource}.axd/{*pathInfo}
This route definition, prevent requests for the Web resource files such as WebResource.axd or ScriptResource.axd from being passed to a controller.

24- What is the difference between adding routes, to a webforms application and to an mvc application?

To add routes to a webforms application, we use MapPageRoute() method of the RouteCollection class, where as to add routes to an MVC application we use MapRoute() method.

25- How do you handle variable number of segments in a route definition?

Use a route with a catch-all parameter. An example is shown below. * is referred to as catch-all parameter.
controller/{action}/{*parametervalues}

26- What are the 2 ways of adding constraints to a route?

1. Use regular expressions
2. Use an object that implements IRouteConstraint interface

27- Give 2 examples for scenarios when routing is not applied?

1. A Physical File is Found that Matches the URL Pattern - This default behaviour can be overriden by setting the RouteExistingFiles property of the RouteCollection object to true.
2. Routing Is Explicitly Disabled for a URL Pattern - Use the RouteCollection.Ignore() method to prevent routing from handling certain requests.

28- What is the use of action filters in an MVC application?

Action Filters allow us to add pre-action and post-action behavior to controller action methods.

29- If I have multiple filters implemented, what is the order in which these filters get executed?

1. Authorization filters
2. Action filters
3. Response filters
4. Exception filters

30- What are the different types of filters, in an asp.net mvc application?

1. Authorization filters
2. Action filters
3. Result filters
4. Exception filters

31- Give an example for Authorization filters in an asp.net mvc application?

1. RequireHttpsAttribute
2. AuthorizeAttribute

32- Which filter executes first in an asp.net mvc application?

Authorization filter

33- What are the levels at which filters can be applied in an asp.net mvc application?

1. Action Method
2. Controller
3. Application

34- Is it possible to create a custom filter?

Yes

35- What filters are executed in the end?

Exception Filters

36- Is it possible to cancel filter execution?

Yes

37- What type of filter does OutputCacheAttribute class represents?

Result Filter

38- What are the 2 popular asp.net mvc view engines?

1. Razor
2. .aspx

39- What is difference between Viewbag and Viewdata in ASP.NET MVC?

The basic difference between ViewData and ViewBag is that in ViewData instead creating dynamic properties we use properties of Model to transport the Model data in View and in ViewBag we can create dynamic properties without using Model data.

40- What symbol would you use to denote, the start of a code block in razor views?

@

41- What symbol would you use to denote, the start of a code block in aspx views?

<%= %>

In razor syntax, what is the escape sequence character for @ symbol?
The escape sequence character for @ symbol, is another @ symbol

42- When using razor views, do you have to take any special steps to protect your asp.net mvc application from cross site scripting (XSS) attacks?

No, by default content emitted using a @ block is automatically HTML encoded to protect from cross site scripting (XSS) attacks.

43- When using aspx view engine, to have a consistent look and feel, across all pages of the application, we can make use of asp.net master pages. What is asp.net master pages equivalent, when using razor views?

To have a consistent look and feel when using razor views, we can make use of layout pages. Layout pages, reside in the shared folder, and are named as _Layout.cshtml

44- What are sections?

Layout pages, can define sections, which can then be overriden by specific views making use of the layout. Defining and overriding sections is optional.

45- What are the file extensions for razor views?

1. .cshtml - If the programming lanugaue is C#
2. .vbhtml - If the programming lanugaue is VB

46- How do you specify comments using razor syntax?

Razor syntax makes use of @* to indicate the begining of a comment and *@ to indicate the end. 

47- What is Routing?

A route is a URL pattern that is mapped to a handler. The handler can be a physical file, such as an .aspx file in a Web Forms application. Routing module is responsible for mapping incoming browser requests to particular MVC controller actions.

48- Is it possible to combine ASP.NET webforms and ASP.MVC and develop a single web application?

Yes, it is possible to combine ASP.NET webforms and ASP.MVC and develop a single web application.

49. How do you avoid XSS Vulnerabilities in ASP.NET MVC?

Use the syntax in ASP.NET MVC instead of using .net framework 4.0.

MVC Questions -2

What is MVC (Model View Controller)?

MVC is an architectural pattern which separates the representation and user interaction. It’s divided into  three broader sections, Model, View, and Controller. Below is how each one of them handles the task.
  • The View is responsible for the look and feel.
  • Model represents the real world object and provides data to the View.
  • The Controller is responsible for taking the end user request and loading the appropriate Model and View.

Figure: MVC (Model view controller)

Can you explain the complete flow of MVC?

Below are the steps to control flows in MVC (Model, View, and controller) architecture:
  • All end user requests are first sent to the controller.
  • The controller depending on the request decides which model to load. The controller loads the model and attaches the model with the appropriate view.
  • The final view is then attached with the model data and sent as a response to the end user on the browser.

Is MVC suitable for both Windows and Web applications?

The MVC architecture is suited for a web application than Windows. For Window applications, MVP, i.e., “Model View Presenter” is more applicable. If you are using WPF and Silverlight, MVVM is more suitable due to bindings.

What are the benefits of using MVC?

There are two big benefits of MVC:
  • Separation of concerns is achieved as we are moving the code-behind to a separate class file. By moving the binding code to a separate class file we can reuse the code to a great extent.
  • Automated UI testing is possible because now the behind code (UI interaction code) has moved to a simple .NET class. This gives us opportunity to write unit tests and automate manual testing.

Is MVC different from a three layered architecture?

MVC is an evolution of a three layered traditional architecture. Many components of the three layered architecture are part of MVC. So below is how the mapping goes:
FunctionalityThree layered / tiered architecture Model view controller architecture
Look and FeelUser interface View
UI logicUser interface Controller
Business logic /validationsMiddle layer Model
Request is first sent toUser interface Controller
Accessing dataData access layer Data Access Layer

Figure: Three layered architecture

What is the latest version of MVC?

When this note was written, four versions were released of MVC: MVC 1 , MVC 2, MVC 3, and MVC 4. So the latest is MVC 4.

What is the difference between each version of MVC?

Below is a detailed table of differences. But during an interview it’s difficult to talk about all of them due to time limitation. So I have highlighted the important differences that you can run through before the interviewer.
MVC 2  MVC 3MVC 4 
  • Client-side validation
  • Templated Helpers Areas
  • Asynchronous Controllers
  • Html.ValidationSummary Helper Method
  • DefaultValueAttribute in Action-Method
  • Parameters binding
  • Binary data with Model Binders
  • DataAnnotations Attributes
  • Model-Validator Providers
  • New RequireHttpsAttribute Action Filter
  • Templated Helpers
  • Display Model-Level Errors
  • Razor
  • Readymade project templates
  • HTML 5 enabled templates
  • Support for Multiple View Engines, JavaScript, and AJAX
  • Model Validation Improvements
  • ASP.NET Web API
  • Refreshed and modernized default project templates. New mobile project template.
  • Many new features to support mobile apps
  • Enhanced support for asynchronous methods

What are HTML helpers in MVC?

HTML helpers help you to render HTML controls in the view. For instance if you want to display a HTML textbox on the view , below is the HTML helper code.
<%= Html.TextBox("LastName") %>
For checkbox below is the HTML helper code. In this way we have HTML helper methods for every HTML control that exists.
<%= Html.CheckBox("Married") %>

What is the difference between “HTML.TextBox” vs “HTML.TextBoxFor”?

Both of them provide the same HTML output, “HTML.TextBoxFor” is strongly typed while “HTML.TextBox” isn’t. Below is a simple HTML code which just creates a simple textbox with “CustomerCode” as name.
Html.TextBox("CustomerCode")
Below is “Html.TextBoxFor” code which creates HTML textbox using the property name ‘CustomerCode” from object “m”.
Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.CustomerCode)
In the same way we have for other HTML controls like for checkbox we have “Html.CheckBox” and “Html.CheckBoxFor”.

What is routing in MVC?

Routing helps you to define a URL structure and map the URL with the controller.
For instance let’s say we want that when a user types “http://localhost/View/ViewCustomer/”, it goes to the “Customer” Controller and invokes the DisplayCustomer action. This is defined by adding an entry in to the routes collection using the maproute function. Below is the underlined code which shows how the URL structure and mapping with controller and action is defined.
routes.MapRoute(
               "View", // Route name
               "View/ViewCustomer/{id}", // URL with parameters
               new { controller = "Customer", action = "DisplayCustomer", 
id = UrlParameter.Optional }); // Parameter defaults   

Where is the route mapping code written?

The route mapping code is written in the “global.asax” file.

Can we map multiple URL’s to the same action?

Yes, you can, you just need to make two entries with different key names and specify the same controller and action.

How can we navigate from one view to another using a hyperlink?

By using the ActionLink method as shown in the below code. The below code will create a simple URL which helps to navigate to the “Home” controller and invoke the GotoHome action.
<%= Html.ActionLink("Home","Gotohome") %>  

How can we restrict MVC actions to be invoked only by GET or POST?

We can decorate the MVC action with the HttpGet or HttpPost attribute to restrict the type of HTTP calls. For instance you can see in the below code snippet the DisplayCustomer action can only be invoked by HttpGet. If we try to make HTTP POST on DisplayCustomer, it will throw an error.
[HttpGet]
public ViewResult DisplayCustomer(int id)
{
    Customer objCustomer = Customers[id];
    return View("DisplayCustomer",objCustomer);
} 

How can we maintain sessions in MVC?

Sessions can be maintained in MVC by three ways: tempdata, viewdata, and viewbag.

What is the difference between tempdata, viewdata, and viewbag?


Figure: Difference between tempdata, viewdata, and viewbag
  • Temp data - Helps to maintain data when you move from one controller to another controller or from one action to another action. In other words when you redirect, tempdata helps to maintain data between those redirects. It internally uses session variables.
  • View data - Helps to maintain data when you move from controller to view.
  • View Bag - It’s a dynamic wrapper around view data. When you use Viewbag type, casting is not required. It uses the dynamic keyword internally.

Figure: dynamic keyword
  • Session variables - By using session variables we can maintain data from any entity to any entity.
  • Hidden fields and HTML controls - Helps to maintain data from UI to controller only. So you can send data from HTML controls or hidden fields to the controller using POST or GET HTTP methods.
Below is a summary table which shows the different mechanisms for persistence.
Maintains data between ViewData/ViewBag TempDataHidden fieldsSession
Controller to ControllerNo YesNoYes
Controller to ViewYes NoNoYes
View to ControllerNo NoYesYes

What are partial views in MVC?

Partial view is a reusable view (like a user control) which can be embedded inside other view. For example let’s say all your pages of your site have a standard structure with left menu, header, and footer as shown in the image below.

Figure: Partial views in MVC
For every page you would like to reuse the left menu, header, and footer controls. So you can go and create partial views for each of these items and then you call that partial view in the main view.

How did you create a partial view and consume it?

When you add a view to your project you need to check the “Create partial view” check box.

Figure: Create partial view
Once the partial view is created you can then call the partial view in the main view using the Html.RenderPartial method as shown in the below code snippet:
<body>
<div>
<% Html.RenderPartial("MyView"); %>
</div>
</body> 

How can we do validations in MVC?

One of the easiest ways of doing validation in MVC is by using data annotations. Data annotations are nothing but attributes which can be applied on model properties. For example, in the below code snippet we have a simple Customer class with a property customercode.
This CustomerCode property is tagged with a Required data annotation attribute. In other words if this model is not provided customer code, it will not accept it.
public class Customer
{
    [Required(ErrorMessage="Customer code is required")]
    public string CustomerCode
    {
        set;
        get;
    } 
}  
In order to display the validation error message we need to use the ValidateMessageFor method which belongs to the Html helper class.
<% using (Html.BeginForm("PostCustomer", "Home", FormMethod.Post))
{ %>
<%=Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.CustomerCode)%>
<%=Html.ValidationMessageFor(m => m.CustomerCode)%>
<input type="submit" value="Submit customer data" />
<%}%> 
Later in the controller we can check if the model is proper or not by using the ModelState.IsValid property and accordingly we can take actions.
public ActionResult PostCustomer(Customer obj)
{
    if (ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        obj.Save();
        return View("Thanks");
    }
    else
    {
        return View("Customer");
    }
}
Below is a simple view of how the error message is displayed on the view.

Figure: Validations in MVC

Can we display all errors in one go?

Yes, we can; use the ValidationSummary method from the Html helper class.
<%= Html.ValidationSummary() %>   
What are the other data annotation attributes for validation in MVC?
If you want to check string length, you can use StringLength.
[StringLength(160)]
public string FirstName { get; set; }
In case you want to use a regular expression, you can use the RegularExpression attribute.
[RegularExpression(@"[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,4}")]public string Email { get; set; }
If you want to check whether the numbers are in range, you can use the Range attribute.
[Range(10,25)]public int Age { get; set; }
Sometimes you would like to compare the value of one field with another field, we can use the Compare attribute.
public string Password { get; set; }[Compare("Password")]public string ConfirmPass { get; set; }
In case you want to get a particular error message , you can use the Errors collection.
var ErrMessage = ModelState["Email"].Errors[0].ErrorMessage;
If you have created the model object yourself you can explicitly call TryUpdateModel in your controller to check if the object is valid or not.
TryUpdateModel(NewCustomer);
In case you want add errors in the controller you can use the AddModelError function.
ModelState.AddModelError("FirstName", "This is my server-side error.");

How can we enable data annotation validation on client side?

It’s a two-step process: first reference the necessary jQuery files.
<script src="<%= Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery-1.5.1.js") %>" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="<%= Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.js") %>" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="<%= Url.Content("~/Scripts/jquery.validate.unobtrusive.js") %>" type="text/javascript"></script> 
The second step is to call the EnableClientValidation method.
<% Html.EnableClientValidation(); %> 

What is Razor in MVC?

It’s a light weight view engine. Till MVC we had only one view type, i.e., ASPX. Razor was introduced in MVC 3.

Why Razor when we already have ASPX?

Razor is clean, lightweight, and syntaxes are easy as compared to ASPX. For example, in ASPX to display simple time, we need to write:
<%=DateTime.Now%> 
In Razor, it’s just one line of code:
@DateTime.Now

So which is a better fit, Razor or ASPX?

As per Microsoft, Razor is more preferred because it’s light weight and has simple syntaxes.

How can you do authentication and authorization in MVC?

You can use Windows or Forms authentication for MVC.

How to implement Windows authentication for MVC?

For Windows authentication you need to modify the web.config file and set the authentication mode to Windows.
<authentication mode="Windows"/>
<authorization>
<deny users="?"/>
</authorization> 
Then in the controller or on the action, you can use the Authorize attribute which specifies which users have access to these controllers and actions. Below is the code snippet for that. Now only the users specified in the controller and action can access it.
[Authorize(Users= @"WIN-3LI600MWLQN\Administrator")]
public class StartController : Controller
{
    //
    // GET: /Start/
    [Authorize(Users = @"WIN-3LI600MWLQN\Administrator")]
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        return View("MyView");
    }
} 

How do you implement Forms authentication in MVC?

Forms authentication is implemented the same way as in ASP.NET. The first step is to set the authentication mode equal to Forms. The loginUrl points to a controller here rather than a page.
<authentication mode="Forms">
<forms loginUrl="~/Home/Login"  timeout="2880"/>
</authentication> 
We also need to create a controller where we will check if the user is proper or not. If the user is proper we will set the cookie value.
public ActionResult Login()
{
    if ((Request.Form["txtUserName"] == "Shiv") && 
          (Request.Form["txtPassword"] == "Shiv@123"))
    {
        FormsAuthentication.SetAuthCookie("Shiv",true);
        return View("About");
    }
    else
    {
        return View("Index");
    }
} 
All the other actions need to be attributed with the Authorize attribute so that any unauthorized user making a call to these controllers will be redirected to the controller (in this case the controller is “Login”) which will do the authentication.
[Authorize]
PublicActionResult Default()
{
return View();
}
[Authorize]
publicActionResult About()
{
return View();
} 

How to implement AJAX in MVC?

You can implement AJAX in two ways in MVC:
  • AJAX libraries
  • jQuery
Below is a simple sample of how to implement AJAX by using the “AJAX” helper library. In the below code you can see we have a simple form which is created by using the Ajax.BeginForm syntax. This form calls a controller action called getCustomer. So now the submit action click will be an asynchronous AJAX call.
<script language="javascript">
function OnSuccess(data1) 
{
// Do something here
}
</script>
<div>
<%
        var AjaxOpt = new AjaxOptions{OnSuccess="OnSuccess"};        
    %>
<% using (Ajax.BeginForm("getCustomer","MyAjax",AjaxOpt)) { %>
<input id="txtCustomerCode" type="text" /><br />
<input id="txtCustomerName" type="text" /><br />
<input id="Submit2" type="submit" value="submit"/></div>
<%} %> 
In case you want to make AJAX calls on hyperlink clicks, you can use the Ajax.ActionLink function as shown in the below code.

Figure: Implement AJAX in MVC
So if you want to create an AJAX asynchronous hyperlink by name GetDate which calls the GetDate function in the controller, below is the code for that. Once the controller responds, this data is displayed in the HTML DIV tag named DateDiv.
<span id="DateDiv" />
<%: 
Ajax.ActionLink("Get Date","GetDate",
new AjaxOptions {UpdateTargetId = "DateDiv" })
%> 
Below is the controller code. You can see how the GetDate function has a pause of 10 seconds.
public class Default1Controller : Controller
{
   public string GetDate()
   {
       Thread.Sleep(10000);
       return DateTime.Now.ToString();
   }
}
The second way of making an AJAX call in MVC is by using jQuery. In the below code you can see we are making an AJAX POST call to a URL /MyAjax/getCustomer. This is done by using $.post. All this logic is put into a function called GetData and you can make a call to the GetData function on a button or a hyperlink click event as you want.
function GetData() 
{
    var url = "/MyAjax/getCustomer";
    $.post(url, function (data) 
    {
        $("#txtCustomerCode").val(data.CustomerCode);
        $("#txtCustomerName").val(data.CustomerName);
    }
    )
} 

What kind of events can be tracked in AJAX?


Figure: Tracked in AJAX

What is the difference between ActionResult and ViewResult?

  • ActionResult is an abstract class while ViewResult derives from the ActionResult class. ActionResult has several derived classes like ViewResult, JsonResult, FileStreamResult, and so on.
  • ActionResult can be used to exploit polymorphism and dynamism. So if you are returning different types of views dynamically, ActionResult is the best thing. For example in the below code snippet, you can see we have a simple action called DynamicView. Depending on the flag (IsHtmlView) it will either return a ViewResult or JsonResult.

public ActionResult DynamicView() { if (IsHtmlView) return View(); // returns simple ViewResult else return Json(); // returns JsonResult view}

What are the different types of results in MVC?

Note: It’s difficult to remember all the 12 types. But some important ones you can remember for the interview are ActionResult, ViewResult, and JsonResult. Below is a detailed list for your interest:
There 12 kinds of results in MVC, at the top is the ActionResult class which is a base class that can have 11 subtypes as listed below:
  1. ViewResult - Renders a specified view to the response stream
  2. PartialViewResult - Renders a specified partial view to the response stream
  3. EmptyResult - An empty response is returned
  4. RedirectResult - Performs an HTTP redirection to a specified URL
  5. RedirectToRouteResult - Performs an HTTP redirection to a URL that is determined by the routing engine, based on given route data
  6. JsonResult - Serializes a given ViewData object to JSON format
  7. JavaScriptResult - Returns a piece of JavaScript code that can be executed on the client
  8. ContentResult - Writes content to the response stream without requiring a view
  9. FileContentResult - Returns a file to the client
  10. FileStreamResult - Returns a file to the client, which is provided by a Stream
  11. FilePathResult - Returns a file to the client

What are ActionFilters in MVC?

ActionFilters help you to perform logic while an MVC action is executing or after an MVC action has executed.

Figure: ActionFilters in MVC
Action filters are useful in the following scenarios:
  1. Implement post-processing logic before the action happens.
  2. Cancel a current execution.
  3. Inspect the returned value.
  4. Provide extra data to the action.
You can create action filters by two ways:
  • Inline action filter.
  • Creating an ActionFilter attribute.
To create an inline action attribute we need to implement the IActionFilter interface. The IActionFilter interface has two methods: OnActionExecuted and OnActionExecuting. We can implement pre-processing logic or cancellation logic in these methods.
public class Default1Controller : Controller , IActionFilter
{
    public ActionResult Index(Customer obj)
    {
        return View(obj);
    }
    void IActionFilter.OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext filterContext)
    {
        Trace.WriteLine("Action Executed");
    }
    void IActionFilter.OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
    {
        Trace.WriteLine("Action is executing");
    }
} 
The problem with the inline action attribute is that it cannot be reused across controllers. So we can convert the inline action filter to an action filter attribute. To create an action filter attribute we need to inherit from ActionFilterAttribute and implement the IActionFilter interface as shown in the below code.
public class MyActionAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute , IActionFilter
{
    void IActionFilter.OnActionExecuted(ActionExecutedContext filterContext)
    {
        Trace.WriteLine("Action Executed");
    }
    void IActionFilter.OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
    {
      Trace.WriteLine("Action executing");
    }
} 
Later we can decorate the controllers on which we want the action attribute to execute. You can see in the below code I have decorated the Default1Controller with the MyActionAttribute class which was created in the previous code.
[MyActionAttribute]
public class Default1Controller : Controller 
{
    public ActionResult Index(Customer obj)
    {
        return View(obj);
    }
}

Can we create our custom view engine using MVC?

Yes, we can create our own custom view engine in MVC. To create our own custom view engine we need to follow three steps:
Let’ say we want to create a custom view engine where in the user can type a command like “<DateTime>” and it should display the current date and time.
Step 1: We need to create a class which implements the IView interface. In this class we should write the logic of how the view will be rendered in the render function. Below is a simple code snippet for that.
public class MyCustomView : IView
{
    private string _FolderPath; // Define where  our views are stored
    public string FolderPath
    {
        get { return _FolderPath; }
        set { _FolderPath = value; }
    }

    public void Render(ViewContext viewContext, System.IO.TextWriter writer)
    {
       // Parsing logic <dateTime>
        // read the view file
        string strFileData = File.ReadAllText(_FolderPath);
        // we need to and replace <datetime> datetime.now value
        string strFinal = strFileData.Replace("<DateTime>", DateTime.Now.ToString());
        // this replaced data has to sent for display
        writer.Write(strFinal); 
    }
} 
Step 2: We need to create a class which inherits from VirtualPathProviderViewEngine and in this class we need to provide the folder path and the extension of the view name. For instance, for Razor the extension is “cshtml”; for aspx, the view extension is “.aspx”, so in the same way for our custom view, we need to provide an extension. Below is how the code looks like. You can see the ViewLocationFormats is set to the Views folder and the extension is “.myview”.
public class MyViewEngineProvider : VirtualPathProviderViewEngine
{
    // We will create the object of Mycustome view
    public MyViewEngineProvider() // constructor
    {
        // Define the location of the View file
        this.ViewLocationFormats = new string[] { "~/Views/{1}/{0}.myview", 
          "~/Views/Shared/{0}.myview" }; //location and extension of our views
    }
    protected override IView CreateView(
      ControllerContext controllerContext, string viewPath, string masterPath)
    {
        var physicalpath = controllerContext.HttpContext.Server.MapPath(viewPath);
        MyCustomView obj = new MyCustomView(); // Custom view engine class
        obj.FolderPath = physicalpath; // set the path where the views will be stored
        return obj; // returned this view paresing
        // logic so that it can be registered in the view engine collection
    }
    protected override IView CreatePartialView(ControllerContext controllerContext, string partialPath)
    {
        var physicalpath = controllerContext.HttpContext.Server.MapPath(partialPath);
        MyCustomView obj = new MyCustomView(); // Custom view engine class
        obj.FolderPath = physicalpath; // set the path where the views will be stored
        return obj;
        // returned this view paresing logic
        // so that it can be registered in the view engine collection
    }
} 
Step 3: We need to register the view in the custom view collection. The best place to register the custom view engine in the ViewEngines collection is the global.asax file. Below is the code snippet for that.
protected void Application_Start()
{
    // Step3 :-  register this object in the view engine collection
    ViewEngines.Engines.Add(new MyViewEngineProvider());
    …..
} 
Below is a simple output of the custom view written using the commands defined at the top.

Figure: Custom view engine using MVC
If you invoke this view, you should see the following output:

How to send result back in JSON format in MVC

In MVC, we have the JsonResult class by which we can return back data in JSON format. Below is a simple sample code which returns back a Customer object in JSON format using JsonResult.
public JsonResult getCustomer()
{
    Customer obj = new Customer();
    obj.CustomerCode = "1001";
    obj.CustomerName = "Shiv";
    return Json(obj,JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);
}
Below is the JSON output of the above code if you invoke the action via the browser.

What is WebAPI?

HTTP is the most used protocol. For the past many years, browser was the most preferred client by which we consumed data exposed over HTTP. But as years passed by, client variety started spreading out. We had demand to consume data on HTTP from clients like mobile, JavaScript, Windows applications, etc.
For satisfying the broad range of clients REST was the proposed approach. You can read more about REST from the WCF chapter.
WebAPI is the technology by which you can expose data over HTTP following REST principles.

But WCF SOAP also does the same thing, so how does WebAPI differ?


SOAPWEB API
SizeHeavy weight because of complicated WSDL structure. Light weight, only the necessary information is transferred.
ProtocolIndependent of protocols.Only for HTTP protocol
FormatsTo parse SOAP message, the client needs to understand WSDL format. Writing custom code for parsing WSDL is a heavy duty task. If your client is smart enough to create proxy objects like how we have in .NET (add reference) then SOAP is easier to consume and call. Output of WebAPI are simple string messages, JSON, simple XML format, etc. So writing parsing logic for that is very easy.
PrinciplesSOAP follows WS-* specification. WebAPI follows REST principles. (Please refer to REST in WCF chapter.)

With WCF you can implement REST, so why WebAPI?

WCF was brought into implement SOA, the intention was never to implement REST. WebAPI is built from scratch and the only goal is to create HTTP services using REST. Due to the one point focus for creating REST service, WebAPI is more preferred.

How to implement WebAPI in MVC

Below are the steps to implement WebAPI:
Step 1: Create the project using the WebAPI template.

Figure: Implement WebAPI in MVC
Step 2: Once you have created the project you will notice that the controller now inherits from ApiController and you can now implement POST, GET, PUT, and DELETE methods of the HTTP protocol.
public class ValuesController : ApiController
{
    // GET api/values
    public IEnumerable<string> Get()
    {
        return new string[] { "value1", "value2" };
    }
    // GET api/values/5
    public string Get(int id)
    {
        return "value";
    }
    // POST api/values
    public void Post([FromBody]string value)
    {
    }
    // PUT api/values/5
    public void Put(int id, [FromBody]string value)
    {
    }
    // DELETE api/values/5
    public void Delete(int id)
    {
    }
} 
Step 3: If you make an HTTP GET call you should get the below results:

Figure: HTTP

How can we detect that an MVC controller is called by POST or GET?

To detect if the call on the controller is a POST action or a GET action we can use the Request.HttpMethod property as shown in the below code snippet.
public ActionResult SomeAction()
{
    if (Request.HttpMethod == "POST")
    {
        return View("SomePage");
    }
    else
    {
        return View("SomeOtherPage");
    }
}

What is bundling and minification in MVC?

Bundling and minification helps us improve request load times of a page thus increasing performance.

How does bundling increase performance?

Web projects always need CSS and script files. Bundling helps us combine multiple JavaScript and CSS files in to a single entity thus minimizing multiple requests in to a single request.
For example consider the below web request to a page . This page consumes two JavaScript files Javascript1.js and Javascript2.js. So when this is page is requested it makes three request calls:
  • One for the Index page. 
  • Two requests for the other two JavaScript files: Javascript1.js and Javascript2.js.
The below scenario can become worse if we have a lot of JavaScript files resulting in  multiple requests, thus decreasing performance. If we can somehow combine all the JS files into a single bundle and request them as a single unit that would result in increased performance (see the next figure which has a single request).



So how do we implement bundling in MVC?

Open BundleConfig.cs from the App_Start folder.
In BundleConfig.cs, add the JS files you want bundle into a single entity in to the bundles collection. In the below code we are combining all the javascript JS files which exist in the Scripts folder as a single unit in to the bundle collection.
bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/Scripts/MyScripts").Include(
"~/Scripts/*.js")); 
Below is how your BundleConfig.cs file will look like:
public  class BundleConfig
{
    public static void RegisterBundles(BundleCollection bundles)
    {
        bundles.Add(new ScriptBundle("~/Scripts/MyScripts").Include(
           "~/Scripts/*.js"));
        BundleTable.EnableOptimizations = true;
    }
}
Once you have combined your scripts into one single unit we then to include all the JS files into the view using the below code. The below code needs to be put in the ASPX or Razor view.
<%= Scripts.Render("~/Scripts/MyScripts")  %>
If you now see your page requests you would see that script request is combined into one request.

How can you test bundling in debug mode?

If you are in a debug mode you need to set EnableOptimizations to true in the bundleconfig.cs file or else you will not see the bundling effect in the page requests.
BundleTable.EnableOptimizations = true;

Explain minification and how to implement it

Minification reduces the size of script and CSS files by removing blank spaces , comments etc. For example below is a simple javascript code with comments.
// This is test
var x = 0;
x = x + 1;
x = x * 2;
After implementing minification the JavaScript code looks like below. You can see how whitespaces and comments are removed to minimize file size, thus increasing performance.
var x=0;x=x+1;x=x*2;
When you implement bundling, minification is implemented by itself. In other words the steps to implement bundling and minification are the same.