Brown Field ASP.NET MVC with Webforms

Wish you were doing ASP.NET MVC but stuck with a brownfield WebForms app. How to integrate MVC into an existing WebForms app. Whats possible, where the challenges are and what you need to think about to overcome them.

Transcript

1. Brownfield MVC with WebForms
3. Brownfield MVC with WebForms
4. WHO AM I? • Josh Robb – Robb Heavy Industries • @josh_robb • Tech Lead on a 5 Year old SaaS platform. • WebForms + SQL Server + Castle Project ActiveRecord/NHibernate
5. INTRO • Who here has legacy WebForms code? • Who here does MVC?
6. WHY? • Want to migrate over time to a MVC app.
7. WHY? • Want to migrate over time to a MVC app. – YES
8. WHY? • Want to migrate over time to a MVC app. – YES • Flexibility
9. WHY? • Want to migrate over time to a MVC app. – YES • Flexibility – Maybe • simple JSON web services – $.ajax(‘/controller/returnsJSON’). Vs <asp:UpdatePanel>
10. WHY? • Want to migrate over time to a MVC app. – YES • Flexibility – Maybe • simple JSON web services – $.ajax(‘/controller/returnsJSON’). Vs <asp:UpdatePanel> • Improved Developer experience?
12. NOT REALLY
13. WHY? • Want to migrate over time to a MVC app. – YES • Flexibility – Maybe • simple JSON web services – $.ajax(‘/controller/returnsJSON’). Vs <asp:UpdatePanel> • Improved Developer experience? • NO
14. WHY NOT • To get ASP.NET MVC Experience • Because it’s cool. • Boredom
15. WHO’S DONE THIS? • Codeplex – Matt Hawley – http://www.eworldui.net/blog/ – Presentation: • Codeplex - Conversion to MVC - Jul 16, 2010 - http://www.viddler.com/v/d8b6294c
16. WHO’S DONE THIS? • Codeplex – Matt Hawley – http://www.eworldui.net/blog/ – Presentation here: • Codeplex - Conversion to MVC - Jul 16, 2010 - http://www.viddler.com/v/d8b6294c – Took 2 YEARS
17. 2 YEARS
18. WHO’S DONE THIS? – Addendum
19. WHO’S DONE THIS? – Addendum • NOT 2 years
20. WHO’S DONE THIS? – Addendum • NOT 2 years
21. WHO’S DONE THIS? – Addendum • NOT 2 years •4.5 YEARS
22. WHO’S DONE THIS? • Codeplex – Matt Hawley – http://www.eworldui.net/blog/ – Presentation here: • http://www.viddler.com/v/d8b6294c – Took 2 YEARS 4.5 YEARS • Make SURE you have buy-in from team and management
23. TIME TRACKER DEMO • Time Tracker Starter Kit • VS2005 Sample
24. REFACTORING TO MVC: STEP 0 PREPARE PROJECT • Upgrade project to VS2010/VS2012 – Project conversion wizard • Upgrade to CLR4. – <httpRuntime requestValidationMode="2.0" /> • Better in 4.5 Request.Unvalidated.Form – <trust legacyCasModel="true" /> • No dynamic if you do this. – http://www.asp.net/whitepapers/aspnet4/breaking- changes – http://www.asp.net/vnext/overview/aspnet/whats-new
25. REFACTORING TO MVC: STEP 0 PREPARE PROJECT • Convert to Web Application (if it’s a “Web Site project”)
26. REFACTORING TO MVC: STEP 1 ADD MVC 3 TO THE PROJECT • Bunch of steps. – Add references to OVER 9000 assemblies. – Add /Controllers and /Views projects – Add junk to web.config – Add {9000-000-0000} guids to .csproj file for VS Tooling. OR • Just - nuget - AddMvc3ToWebForms
27. REFACTORING TO MVC: STEP 2 INTRODUCE MASTER PAGE • If you like copy and pasting then you don’t need this. • Add .aspx Content View – using master page • Update SiteMap.xml (/home)
28. REFACTORING TO MVC: STEP 3 VIEWSTATE/POSTBACKS • The problem – Postbacks. – If(!IsPostBack) ….. • Remove master page viewstate • Remove event handlers in Master Page – they won’t work.
29. MVC WEBFORMS VIEW ENGINE LIFE CYCLE 1. HTTP Request arrives 2. Routing HTTP Handler executes, matching based on routes 3. MVC Route Handler executes controller & action 4. The ViewPage is rendered (assuming your calling RenderView) 5. The ASP.NET page life cycle is invoked
30. REFACTORING TO MVC: STEP 4 RAZOR • WebForms Master.master with Razor views. • Razor _Layout.cshtml with WebForm.aspx views. • Both are possible – google will help. Both have some limitations. • http://www.eworldui.net/blog/post/2011/01/07/Using- Razor-Pages-with-WebForms-Master-Pages.aspx
31. SECURITY • Make sure you know about: [ValidateAntiForgeryToken] and when to use it. • Make sure your escaping user input (XSS). Use the WebForms 4 escaping stuff <%: %> NOT <%= %> • Mass assignment vulnerabilities (ala github). ALWAYS Use a ViewModel – don’t bind to Database models directly. • Insecure direct object references (e.g. /users/21) • Know the OWASP Top 10 – https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Top_10_2010
32. DEPLOYMENT • Windows Server 2008 r2. • Possible on Windows 2003 r2 – but broken in some cases. (URL authorization + Extensionless Routing).
33. OTHER BITS AND PIECES • Web forms routing – MapPageRoute • Pretty urls – Microsoft.AspNet.FriendlyUrls
34. Questions