I have noticed a few changes which I am very pleased with, with the release of ASP.NET MVC 4 RC and I am just going to run through a couple of them.
The first would be the new project dialog which includes a couple of options.
I am going to take a moment to introduce you to the choices you have here.
Empty
Includes the minimum amount of references that is required to get an ASP.NET MVC project up and running. (Notice that Entity Framework is not included in here anymore either, which was included with the MVC 3 Empty Template).
There is also a slight difference with the way the project is structured in that you will open the Global.asax and immediately realize that it’s clean and the route configuration has left the building. This has been moved to a new folder called App_Start which contains the Action Filters as well as the Route Config.
Basic
Includes a series of scripts, assembly references as well as a bundling configuration for them. Here is a short list of what’s included
- jQuery
- jQuery UI
- modernizr
- KnockoutJS
- jQuery Validation
- Entity Framework
- WebGrease
The template also sports a _Layout.cshtml which includes the jQuery bundle as well as the default theme styling. No controllers though.
Internet Application
This template includes everything from the Basic template and 2 controllers with implemented actions and views. The 1st of a fully functional Account controller, which allows a user to register and login and the second is a home controller with an index, about and contact action. This is great if you want a quick start template that already has some basic account registration and authentication.
Intranet Application
Includes everything from the Internet Application except for the Account controller and the web.config has been setup to use Windows as it’s authentication method.
Mobile Application
If you want to focus on mobile first, then this is the template to use. It has everything that the Internet Application template has, however it has been setup to use jQuery.mobile instead
WebAPI
“ASP.NET Web API is a framework that makes it easy to build HTTP services that reach a broad range of clients, including browsers and mobile devices. ASP.NET Web API is an ideal platform for building RESTful applications on the .NET Framework”
I really like the different type of templates that have been included in the RC of ASP.NET MVC 4. It really caters for a wider range of developers and tasks, i.e. skill level and prototyping.
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