Key Benefits of Dynamic Bundles for ASP.Net MVC

Microsoft released MVC as an extension framework for ASP.Net. As one of the three ASP.Net programming models, the MVC framework enables programmers to create web applications using the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern. So ASP.Net MVC is used widely by programmers to effectuate the development and maintenance of large websites or web applications by keeping the business logic and presentation separate. Along with being lightweight and highly testable, the framework further allows developers to exercise full control over HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

But when the websites grows in size and complexity, the administrators have to explore efficient ways to maintain the website. The developers can effectuate the website maintenance by using DisplayTemplates, EditorTemplates, partial views and similar components. However, they still need to organize the HTML, CSS, images and JavaScript in a structured way. They must clearly define the dependencies between HTML, CSS and JavaScript to make them used by the partials perfectly.

The programmers are further required to relocate the CSS, JavaScript and images according to the HTML they support. The related HTML, CSS, JavaScript and images must be stored in the same directory. Also, the view directory of a specific controller will contain the assets that support all pages in it. Likewise, the assets shared throughout the site have to be located inside a top level directory. The rearrangement of assets will result in the creation of additional CSS and JavaScript files, which will make it difficult to create MVC bundles.

Therefore, ASP.Net programmers use Dynamic Bundles to generate the bundles dynamically when the page loads. Dynamic Bundles are designed as an extension of the MVC bundles and Razor view engine. They ensure that the right CSS and JavaScript files are loaded in the proper order each time the page loads. The caching further helps in minimizing the server overhead. On the whole, Dynamic Bundles make it easier for web programmer to improve the code reusability and maintainability of ASP.Net MVC applications.

Key Advantages of Dynamic Bundles for ASP.Net MVC Applications

Co-Locate Related Assets in the Same Directory

As noted earlier, to effectuate the maintenance of large websites the JavaScript and CSS files needs to organized according to their HTML dependency. Dynamic Bundles clearly expose the dependencies, and co-locate the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and image files in the same directory. While co-locating the assets, the Bundles check their relevance and need as part of the page or component, instead of their types.

Auto-generated

The classic ASP.Net MVC requires programmers to create and maintain the bundles. But Dynamic Bundles can be generated automatically. Despite being loaded automatically, the Bundles ensure that the right CSS and JavaScript files are loaded in the right order.

Load Only Required CSS and JavaScript Files

While using classic ASP.net MVC, programmers have to locate the CSS and JavaScript files related to a specific page or component in the same directory. So it becomes essential to organize the assets by creating hidden dependencies. But Dynamic Bundles automatically located the related assets in the same directory. They further include a view engine that allows users to store the layout files and partial views in their own directories.

Optimize Client-Side Caching

As the CSS and JavaScript files can be split according to components, it becomes easier for programmers to keep these files small and focused. The Dynamic Bundles are effective in combining these files into bundles based on layout, controller, shared or area. The client-side caching optimization results in increasing the speed and performance of the website.

Do not Require Recompilation

While updating a website, developers often add or delete HTML, CSS and JavaScript files. When using classis ASP.Net MVC, programmers have to recompile the site each time any asset is added or deleted. But Dynamic Bundles enables developers to add or delete files without recompiling the site. As the new bundles are generated automatically, it will not have any impact on the website’s performance.

In nutshell, Dynamic Bundles can be used to improve the performance of web applications developed with Classic ASP.Net MVC. It further helps developers in maintaining the ASP.Net MVC website smoothly despite the increase in its size and complexity. You can get in touch with a custom .NET development company who can help you develop web apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide .NET application development services. If you would like to hire ASP.NET developers for your development needs, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions. 

How to Get the Best out of Enterprise Portals using ASP.Net

In the digital age, each business requires a comprehensive and secure enterprise portal. The custom enterprise application will help a business in offering its products or services to the most relevant customer. At the same time, it will help the company to share fresh and updated information with website visitors by managing the content in a decentralized way.

Many businesses prefer building enterprise portals with ASP.NET to facilitate communication between the site components and data. ASP.NET further makes it easier for business to customize the look and feel of their website to deliver personalized user experience. However, the ASP.NET developers still have to keep in mind several best practices to get the best out of enterprise portals.

Tips to Get the Best out of Enterprise Portals using ASP.NET

Use CSS Media Queries

While creating an enterprise portal, ASP.NET programmers must use CSS media queries and standards-compliant HTML for adaptive rendering instead of control adapters. As a conventional technique, control adapters were used by developers to render customized presentation code for different devices and environment. But the programmers now have option to render customized presentation code using HTML and CSS. When the presentation code is rendered with HTML and CSS, the enterprise portal becomes accessible across various web browsers and devices.

Set Formatting Values in CSS Stylesheets

Many ASP.NET developers prefer values in the control markup. The developers still have option to set formatting values in CSS stylesheets. Also, the properties of ASP.NET web server controls can be used to set in-line style properties. But it is always a great idea to set formatting values in CSS stylesheets. The CSS stylesheets will make it easier for developers to maintain centralize style values, without setting the values throughout the enterprise application.

Avoid Partial Page Update with Page and Control Callbacks

Often certain parts of a web page need to be updated without refreshing the entire page. Conventionally, ASP.NET developers were updating web pages partially through the page and control callbacks. But the partial page update can now be accomplished using AJAX, Web API, SignalR, UpdatePanel or MVC action methods. These options make it easier for programmers to optimize the performance of enterprise portal by overcoming the limitations of callback methods like issues with routing and friendly URLs.

Detect Browser Capabilities Dynamically

The users have options to access the enterprise portal on a wide range of web browsers. So programmers must detect the browser capabilities in a dynamic way. Earlier, the supported features for individual web browsers were stored in an XML file. So the enterprise portals lack the ability to detect browser capabilities dynamically. But developers now have option to use feature detection frameworks like Modernizr to detect the support features of each browser. Along with identifying the support features of a web browser, the frameworks can further check if the browser produces the desired results.

Validate All User Input and Encode Output

ASP.NET programmers often inspect user requests through a feature called request validation. Despite being effective in stopping the request if any received threat is detected, request validation fails to secure enterprise portals from cross-site scripting attacks. So the developers must optimize the security of the enterprise application by validating all user input and encoding the output. They can use regular expressions to validate the input submitted by users. Likewise, the programmers can use .NET classes to validate user input in more complicated circumstances.

Use Cookies for Authentication

Many ASP.NET programmers prefer from authentication techniques that do not use cookies. But sensitive authentication information cannot be transferred secured in a query string. So cookies must be used to make the enterprise portal more secure. Along with storing sensitive authentication information through cookies, the programmers can further enhance the portal’s security by using SSL for the cookie.

A business can further reap several benefits by hiring the right ASP.NET programmers to develop the enterprise portal. A skilled and experienced developer will optimize the look, feel and performance of the enterprise portal by delivering end-to-end services. You can get in touch with a custom .net development company who can help you develop web apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide asp.net application development services. If you would like to hire asp.net programmers for your development needs, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

ASP.Net with MVC framework better than ASP.Net? Is it true?

When developers start to build new web projects they face two options- either using ASP.NET MVC framework or ASP.NET web forms. These days, more and more companies are however choosing the MVC based framework to revise their existing sites significantly or to develop new ones. The framework has a multitude of benefits as well as technical goodies which have made it the darling among the developers.

MVC, short for Model-View-Controller is an architectural pattern that helps in division of an application into three basic components- the controller, the model and the view. This framework is a great alternative to the web forms pattern when creating applications since it is highly testable as well as lightweight presentation framework. It comes integrated with all current .NET features like authentication based on membership as well as master pages. Most developers are quite familiar with the pattern. Here is a low-down on the advantages that the MVC based framework offers over the web forms.

Separating application tasks or concerns- A huge advantage in the framework is that it clearly separates Business Logic, Data, Model, UI, test-driven development and testability. Core contracts of the framework are interface-based for which mock objects may be used for the testing. These mock objects are simulated objects imitating the behaviours of application’s actual objects. The application can be unit-tested without making the controllers run, making the testing more flexible as well as fast. Any framework may be used for the testing.

Clientcaching- Silverlight makes this available to us. When we integrate Silverlight full advantage may be taken of the feature. This leads to faster application loading; in fact some part of processing may be done through web browsers, this makes the execution of client site as well as the server side a lot faster. You can even integrate JQuery and MVC so that the code written runs in browser, taking away a huge load away from the server.

HTML size- In ASP.NET there is a huge problem in the HTML size of view state as well as controls. All data rendered is stored by view state with the final result being the final HTML getting too large. For those on slow internet connections, the loading time will be slow as well as delayed. The current framework takes care of that problem since the view state concept is absent here.

Supporting ASP.NET routing- This URL-mapping component is very powerful, letting you build applications with searchable and comprehensible URLs. Through this there is no need for URLs to include extensions of file-names since the design supports patterns of URL naming and these work good enough for SEO or search engine optimization as well as REST or representational state transfer addressing.

Pluggable as well as extensible framework- The design of MVC’s components makes them easily customizable or replaceable. Individual view engine, action-method parameter serialization, URL routing policy as well as other components can be plugged in. The use of DI or Dependency Injection and IOC or Inversion of Control container models is also supported. With DI you can inject objects into classes and it does not rely on class for creation of object itself. The testing is made easier by the condition imposed that when an object is required by another object then another object should be sourced from an external source like configuration file.

The biggest advantage of ASP.NET MVC platform is that it contains all the features as well as advantages of .NET since the basis is the same for both. However, some disadvantages are that understanding codes during the process of customization may not be an easy process. Another problem is the cost- the start-up costs are much higher in the MVC platform when compared to the web form based one. But looking at the benefits that are enjoyed by the developers and the end result, this is but a small price to pay for. You can get in touch with a asp.net application development company who can help you develop web apps that are stable, scalable and secure.

We provide .net development services. If you would like to hire asp.net developers for your development needs, please contact us Mindfire Solutions.