No Controls? Since the very early ASP.NET MVC previews, the most common argument I’ve heard against using the framework is the lack of user controls. In my opinion, this is a mixed blessing, however, for some, this is a show stopper. What can you do to provide a rich user interface with the MVC framework, while not reinventing the wheel?
jQuery Now you could go ahead and program a full fledged data grid or WYSIWYG editor, however, unless you have a bit of time to spare this is not the ideal solution. As most may realize, jQuery fits very nicely to fill in the gaps left by the absence of user controls. For the most part, the controls are not going to let you just drag-and-drop, type in a dataset and profit but a lot of the pain is kept to a minimum.
Examples
Ingrid
If
you’re looking for a data grid there are a number of options available
pictured above is Ingrid. Flexigrid is another good one that people
have used with the MVC framework, however, their site appears to be down at the moment.
Treeviews are available
Check out the jQuery plugin database.
Getting Started So, if you’ve decided you want to look more into using jQuery plugins – a couple of tips that may make the transition a little easier:
- Obviously, familiarize yourself with jQuery. Some of the plugins will work with almost 0 configuration but it’s much better to actually know what’s going on. View more info on getting started with jQuery
- The JsonResult is your friend – learn it well.
- Read up on what people using different languages are doing. I’m not saying that you should necessarily go out and learn Rails or CakePHP/CodeIgniter (although, it is beneficial). but at least look at the techniques that programmers from that realm of things are doing – see how they are implementing their controls.
What tips do you have for creating robust user interfaces with the MVC framework?