ASP.NET MVC: Introducing The MVC Storefront Series

Looks great so far. but the video player is a little small. And I can't figure out how to maximize it. probably just me being dim...

if you link to http://silverlight.services.live.com/invoke/58326/MVCStorePart1/iframe.html, you will get a larger video.

Or just double click on the video.

Back to the ol roots of eCommerce are we Rob :)

@Eric - thanks

Is this going to evolve into a new open source project? CSK + MVC = <beavis>yeeeeeeeeees!</beavis>

Would it be possible to get a downloadable version for watching offline?

Rob:

Fantastic idea. Some feedback:

- The low-quality audio from Ayende and Steve was hard to understand. It's just a distraction. Even if it was higher quality, I'm not sold on the value -- I think in the interest of the viewer's time you can show their quotes without the original audio.

- The flash-forward of coding was great. Too many screencasts show the author coding, and it's just not an efficient use of time.

- What VS color scheme do you use? It's purty.

- This is a *total* nit, but I would have named the test either "Product_DiscountAmount_IsValid" or "Product__Discount_Amount__Is_Valid". I like the naming pattern of Object+Element+Behavior (we use it too) but the delimiter between names should be crystal clear.

- I second the calls for an offline copy; always helps people watch it on their commute.

- This textarea should be more than 8 rows.

Great concept. I'll definitely be following the whole series.

Thank @pwillis... learning Camtasia isn't easy :).

The audio was captured with LiveMeeting - I agree it's whacky :) but I thought it worth it :).

RE Downloading the bits - I can't afford the bandwidth and I'm working to get a spot for the WMV's currently - I promise!

Nice. A downloadable version would be good.

@Torkel - I added a download link above.

i was trying to make some samples with asp.net mvc.. rarely i got stuck when trying to make some architectural decisions for testability. nowadays this post is what i'm looking for.

What a great idea! I can't wait to see how this plays out!

must say; i know you have your own orm, but i don't really - at all - like the way the app was started. i mena designing the 'table' structure in code? meh, i prefer to start in the db and generate it out with llblgen. llblgen also has a very nice area for implementing those 'discount' type things [the partial class].

and while testing is nice, i don't see the point of doing it for things as trivial is calculating percents. or at least if you are going to do it, do it more thoroughly.

consider if the DiscountPercent was equal to 0.000000000000000000000000001m

crazy as it is, it'll result in an answer of 0 (because it goes out of range of decimal)

Hey Rob, if you're worried about providing the videos for download due to bandwidth, you could post them up to SkyDrive and offload the bandwidth to MS (although they limit it to 50MB files, so if they're big you might have to unleash your Windows-Movie-Maker-Fu).

D

I think you have a decent voice for a presenter. It's very soft and soothing. This is something I could listen to while relaxing in a bubble bath with a roomful of burning candles.

I'm wondering...if Eric and The Mad Mexican have ever met.

Good series Rob. This is an excellent idea

-Shane

Questions:

What are you using to access data? ss, nh, l2s, or something else?

Why did you separate out services and data into projects?

Will controllers reside in the services project? model classes in the data project? Why the rename?

Is it "open" in the sense that you'll take suggestions, or is it "open" source. If so, where's the repo located?

What are you using to access data? ss, nh, l2s, or something else?

Hi Willie :)

>>>Why did you separate out services and data into projects?<<<

I wanted to have the logic bits in a different DLL. You don't need to do this for smaller apps - but in general it's a good first step. If I was following TDD to the letter, I wouldn't have done that until I realized I needed to.

>>>Will controllers reside in the services project? model classes in the data project? Why the rename?<<<

No - those control the flow of the app, not the commerce logic. This should be separated.

>>>Is it "open" in the sense that you'll take suggestions, or is it "open" source. If so, where's the repo located?<<

Yes, and yes. Part 3 is in the queue and will answer both questions.

Thanks Rob, this is good stuff :)

I'm using MS MVC with NHibernate and Spring.NET handling the controllers/NHibernate session/Dao objects.

I use jQuery for my client and ajax calls. I am really enjoying building apps in MS MVC!

Hi Rob,

Firstly, well done on the screencast. I too like the code fast-forward idea.

Is this screencast about MVC or about TDD? If your going to be mentioning practices like ensuring the test is red first, you might want to be also mentioning other TDD fundamentals like writing ONLY enough code to make the test pass.

I noticed you have 3 paths through your 2 methods being tested and only 2 tests.

These methods were not driven out by the tests you wrote.

Hey Rob

I'm always hanging by your blog as lurker, but now i feel very encouraged to get into the discussion ,since this post presents something I'm always talking about with my coworkers: the 'perfect' architecture - altough i think it's impossible, we should pursue it. And something that i don't like at all are those value objects - from now on VO. I'm a purist, so i like to follow the concept of object: a representation of characteristics and behavior of a real world's thing. So, in my opinion, creating a Data project and Service means splitting an object in two things that each one are not an object. The part that holds the properties, basically, becomes a struct, and the other one is just like those oldschool C headers. It's very disgusting to do something like ProductService.Save(Product)... We are using a OO language!! What's the problem with Product.Save() ??

You may say that this data/service approach separates clearly concerns and some logic. But i think that you can achieve the same effect (separation of concerns) transforming both classes in Product base classes. So we could have something like:

internal class ProductModel

{

//Props come here

}

internal class ProductService : ProductModel

{

//Some DB Dirty code

void Save()

{

//Get props values defined in ProductModel and persist them

}

}

And finnally

public class Product : ProductService

{}

public class Product : ProductService

{

//Maybe some interface implementation here

//Make public internal base methods you want to expose

}

You still may ask me about object's methods isolation.Well... first of all, i don't believe the methods should be isolated, but maybe you can play a little with controllers (put them in the same real Model class Product's namespace).

I think this way you have a true object and separation of concerns too!

Nice post, i'll be sure to read them all. I agree with the poster that the audio from the other guys didn't sound good and didn't add much, you can just give the synopsis of your meeting with them.

@Otmar Pereira

That discussion is endless, you will find your 'holy grail' and it will be shattered in your next job or by a new experienced co-worker that has a different view. Reading the enterprise design pattern books will confirm this, there is no one pattern to rule them all.

Rob,

Is the MVC Storefront similar to dashcommerce ?

I'm doing some R&D on building an e-commerce site using

asp.net MVC. I'm particularly interested in the PayPal

aspect.

thanks

@mike: I face this very frequentely :(! But i don't believe that this is because of different views only... i see that people can't realize that it's possible to implement a very powerful object - just like a real world thing - and still separate concerns clearly. There are a lot of lazy developers who degenerate some concepts and definitions and end up thinking: "Oh, so to separate apps concerns clearly i must put each part in a separate DLL!". They go completely against the definition of an object - creating basically a set of VO classes, that in fact are mere structs, in one DLL, and a set of classes with functions for each VO into another one.When i have to work in systems with this architecture I feel obliged to code like in those C days at college :/

I insist at the point that if we are picking up an OO language, the first thing we must acomplish is to design an OO architecture. And an OO architecture isn't the antithesis of separation of concerns. It only requires that we spend our neurons a little more. But after seing the architecture that Rob picked up for this series, I really felt like i'm missing something! Hey, people, tell me! What's wrong with OO in C# and things like Product.Save() ????

It would be nice if we can download the source code