ASP.NET Model View Presenter project structure

Question

I am just starting a new ASP.NET project and using the MVP pattern. I did consider the MS MVC but it is not released yet and would be a big learning curve for some people on the team, so I opted for MVP now and possibly future projects MVC.

Anyway, it seems I will have a single Controller/Presenter class for every webform I have it the project. This is a lot of extra classes, essentially doubling the number of files in the web project. Is this how other people structure MVP or what are the alternatives?

Answer 1

I think a lot of it depends but in most cases that is really the way it ends up going.

I personally use a n-tier architecture with data, business, presentation code. (Who knows what actual format I follow). I do get a lot more files than if I did everything in the aspx, but the code is much easier to manage.

Answer 2

This seems to be a common misconception -> "More files/classes == more complex"

The reason we chose to follow a UI separation pattern is to help separate concerns, make code easier and cheaper to change and maintain and (big, important and) we can unit test the complex parts and still keep the UI layer slim.

I'm going with the beta ASP MVC. The reason being, that while it is still only a beta (PDC very soon, that may have an impact on release and we've had 5 preview releases) it has a better framework to support this style than I could write in a reasonable time frame.

You could of course go with another framework, like castle monorail.

Answer 3

To your question - I have seen many different takes on MVP and seen nothing that reduces the number of files, and I can't think of a way to reduce the number of files.

In my experience, I have reused view interfaces and even code behinds where the view structure is identical, but presenting different data. And you could also think of reusing the controllers where applicable.

I think it is worthwhile to note that having more files will be a natural consequence of moving to a more agile and test-drive development and developers will find it more and more natural as they go. (Just like some of us find it very natural having lots of methods inside a single file...)