ASP.NET MVC Preview of a Preview

UPDATE: Just to prove that this is a preview of a preview, we had a signing problem with the initial pre-built VSI download. If you tried building from source, everything should’ve been ok. We apologize for that. Even though this is meant to be a rough preview, we do want to have a high quality bar in that you should be able to try out the code. So if you run into that problem, please do download the VSI again.

It’s no secret that Microsoft can get better at naming non RTM (Release to Manufacturing) releases. We have terms like CTP, Preview, Alpha, Beta, RC (Release Candidate), and so on. On the other hand, at least Microsoft does try to move things along to RTM rather than keeping products in perpetual Beta.

With ASP.NET MVC, we also need to add yet another type of release. For now I’ve been calling this a CodePlex Source Release meaning it’s simply sharing source code that is in progress. ScottGu called it a “Preview of a Preview” in my office one day and that name stuck with me. This is really a preview of an upcoming preview. ;)

Speaking of ScottGu, he posted a detailed description of this release on his blog last night. I recommend taking a look at it because he covers most of the changes in good detail.

One aspect of this latest source release that I’m particularly happy about is that we released our unit tests. As Scott mentioned, we are using MoQ as a mock framework within our tests. Note that this is not some official endorsement of any particular mock framework. Originally we started out trying to port our tests to Rhino Mocks (which I’ve written a lot about). MoQ just happened to have a programming model that was closer to the way our internal mock framework works, so we switched over to MoQ.

I will write more about this release later. But for now, I will leave you with an updated Northwind Demo based on this release because there ain’t no party like a Northwind party.

Comments

15 responses

Brian Donahue • April 17th, 2008
"there ain’t no party like a Northwind party."
Ha! Water up the nose on that one.

Doug Mayer • April 17th, 2008
This whole shift in how Microsoft is working is very exciting. The ASP.NET MVC framework looks very promising and you guys have been doing a great job of incorporating a lot of feedback into the product.
That said, the shot at (what I'd assume to be Castle) being in perpetual beta does make it harder for some companies to use it who refuse to use non-RTM software, but in my experience said framework has been more stable than a lot of Microsoft v1's. ;)
Keep up the great job, looking forward to things becoming more stable as you make your way to beta and RTM!

Matt • April 17th, 2008
Thanks so much for the tests. Well done.

Jamie • April 17th, 2008
Alpha, Beta, Preview, RTM, whatever... As long as I test my code well and it all works together like it's supposed to, they can call it "fleebledeedoo" for all I care! Too bad pointy-headed managers sometimes get way too hung up on titles.

The Other Steve • April 17th, 2008
That said, the shot at (what I'd assume to be Castle)

How long has google's gmail been in beta? *wink*

JH • April 17th, 2008
ooooh... nice Google barb.. "at least Microsoft does try to move things along to RTM rather than keeping products in perpetual Beta"

Al Pascual • April 17th, 2008
Why is not finding my System.Web.Mvc.dll is just there and is referenced on my project.
What I am missing?
Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.Mvc' or one of its dependencies. Strong name signature could not be verified. The assembly may have been tampered with, or it was delay signed but not fully signed with the correct private key. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131045)
Cheers
Al

Haacked • April 17th, 2008
Actually, that wasn't meant to be a shot at anybody in particular. Some of my OSS mini projects are in perpetual "BETA". It's a tongue-in-cheek good natured jab. ;)

Haacked • April 17th, 2008
@Al, I posted an update to the beginning of this post. Try re-downloading the release.

Dragan Panjkov • April 17th, 2008
what happened to file northwindrepository.cs in your northwind sample (inside models folder)? it is referenced inside solution explorer but the file is missing () not there

Gabriel • April 17th, 2008
Wow! Great job for fixing the signing issue in one day! I love the community this MS technology is creating.

Haacked • April 17th, 2008
@Dragan Doh! Let me double check it.

Haacked • April 17th, 2008
Ok, I updated the Northwind sample. Sorry about that.

Louis DeJardin • April 18th, 2008
In some circles I think a "preview of a preview" could also be called "trunk" ;)

Nagarajan • April 18th, 2008
Is there any plan to include "Input data validation" part into this framework ? . For this kind of questions, no one is answering, please give us some reply...
Thanks,
Nagarajan.