Overview of Microsoft Web Technologies

Back to: ASP.NET Core Tutorials For Beginners and Professionals

Overview of Microsoft Web Technologies

Let us look at the different web technologies Microsoft has provided to develop web applications and web services. Microsoft offers several frameworks for developing web applications and web services through ASP.NET. These frameworks include ASP.NET Web Forms, ASP.NET MVC, ASP.NET Web API, ASP.NET Core, Razoe Pages, Blazor, and more. Each serves a distinct purpose, and none of the frameworks are meant to replace the others. Let us have an overview of all these Microsoft Web Technologies:

ASP.NET Web Forms:

ASP.NET Web Forms is one of Microsoft’s earlier frameworks, introduced in 2002 with the .NET Framework 1.0. It is designed for building dynamic, data-driven web applications using a drag-and-drop, event-driven programming model similar to Windows Forms.

Current Status: ASP.NET Web Forms is considered legacy technology and is no longer actively developed. For new projects, Microsoft recommends using ASP.NET Core.

ASP.NET MVC:

ASP.NET MVC (Model-View-Controller) is a framework that was introduced by Microsoft in 2009 as part of the .NET Framework 3.5. It provides an alternative to Web Forms, offering a framework that emphasizes a clear separation of concerns and full control over the generated HTML markup. It follows the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern, which allows developers to build scalable, testable, and maintainable web applications.

Current Status: While ASP.NET MVC is still supported, Microsoft has shifted its focus to ASP.NET Core MVC, which offers cross-platform capabilities and enhanced performance. For new projects, ASP.NET Core MVC is recommended.

ASP.NET Web API:

ASP.NET Web API is a framework for building HTTP-based services that can be consumed by various clients, including browsers, mobile devices, and desktop applications. These HTTP services can return data in various formats, including JSON and XML. ASP.NET Web API was released in 2012 as part of the .NET framework 4. So, ASP.NET Web API is a framework introduced to build RESTful HTTP services, enabling communication between clients (like browsers or mobile apps) and servers using HTTP.

Note: ASP.NET Web API has been unified into ASP.NET Core as part of ASP.NET Core Web API. For new projects, using ASP.NET Core Web API is recommended to take advantage of cross-platform support and improved performance.

ASP.NET Core MVC:

ASP.NET Core MVC is a cross-platform, open-source framework for building modern, cloud-optimized, and high-performance applications following the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern. It is part of ASP.NET Core, which was first released in 2016 as a complete rewrite of ASP.NET to support cross-platform development and improved performance.

Note: ASP.NET Core MVC is actively developed and is the recommended framework for new web application projects. It represents the future direction of Microsoft’s web development stack.

ASP.NET Core Web API:

ASP.NET Core Web API is a framework for building HTTP-based services in ASP.NET Core, designed for cross-platform and high performance. It is best suited for building RESTful services with high performance and cross-platform capabilities.

Note: ASP.NET Core Web API is actively maintained and recommended for building modern, scalable, and high-performance APIs. It benefits from the ongoing enhancements in the ASP.NET Core ecosystem.

ASP.NET Core Razor Pages:

ASP.NET Core Razor Pages is a page-based programming model introduced in ASP.NET Core 2.0 (2017). It simplifies web application development by enabling a page-focused approach, where each page handles its own actions and view logic. Unlike MVC, Razor Pages focuses on individual pages, making it easier to build simple web applications.

Note: ASP.NET Core Razor Pages is actively developed and widely adopted for scenarios where a page-based architecture is beneficial.

ASP.NET Core Blazor:

ASP.NET Core Blazor is a modern framework introduced with .NET Core 3.0 in 2019 that allows developers to build interactive web applications using C# instead of JavaScript. It is ideal for .NET developers looking to build interactive client-side Web UIs with .NET without relying on JavaScript. Blazor has two modes of operation:

• Blazor Server: Runs on the server, and updates are sent to the browser via SignalR.
• Blazor WebAssembly: Runs in the browser using WebAssembly (WASM), allowing developers to write rich, client-side web applications in C#.

Note: Blazor is actively developed and rapidly gaining popularity as a modern framework for building interactive web applications. Microsoft continues to invest heavily in Blazor, adding new features and improving performance. It represents a significant shift towards full-stack .NET development.

Comparison and Migration Path

Understanding how these frameworks interrelate can help in making informed decisions about technology stacks and migration strategies:

• Legacy to Modern: Projects using ASP.NET Web Forms can consider migrating to ASP.NET Core MVC or Razor Pages for better performance, maintainability, and cross-platform support.
• NET Core MVC vs. Razor Pages: Both ASP.NET Core MVC and Razor Pages are part of the ASP.NET Core ecosystem. ASP.NET Core MVC is preferred for applications requiring complex routing and controller logic, while ASP.NET Core Razor Pages are ideal for simpler, page-focused scenarios.
• Web API Integration: .NET Core MVC and Web API have been unified, allowing seamless integration of web applications and APIs within the same project.
• Blazor vs. JavaScript Frameworks: Blazor offers an alternative to traditional JavaScript frameworks (like React or Angular) by enabling developers to use C# for client-side development. This provides a more unified codebase for full-stack development.

Choosing the Right Framework

Selecting the appropriate Microsoft web technology depends on various factors, including project requirements, team expertise, performance needs, and future scalability:

• New Projects: Prefer NET Core MVC or Razor Pages for traditional web applications, and Blazor for interactive client-side applications.
• API Development: Use .NET Core Web API to build robust, scalable APIs.
• Legacy Maintenance: Continue maintaining existing ASP.NET Web Forms, ASP.NET MVC, and ASP.NET Web API applications, but consider planning migrations to modern ASP.NET Core frameworks.
• Cross-Platform Needs: Use NET Core frameworks to develop and deploy applications on multiple operating systems.
• Full-Stack .NET Development: Use Blazor to streamline development using C# across both client and server sides.

What are Traditional Web Applications (Server-Side Rendered)?

HTML pages are generated on the server for each client request. User actions (like clicking a link or submitting a form) trigger requests to the server, which processes the request and returns a new HTML page or updates a portion of the page.

What is Interactive Client-Side Applications (Single Page Applications – SPAs)?

Most of the rendering is handled on the client (browser) using JavaScript frameworks. The initial page load fetches the necessary HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Subsequent user interactions update the UI dynamically without full page reloads by communicating with server APIs as needed.

Note: In the context of Microsoft Web Technologies, frameworks like ASP.NET Core MVC and ASP.NET Core Razor Pages align more closely with traditional web applications, emphasizing server-side rendering and ease of maintenance. On the other hand, ASP.NET Core Blazor is used to develop interactive client-side applications, allowing developers to build SPAs using C# instead of JavaScript.

In the next article, I will give you a brief Introduction to the ASP.NET Core (Currently Called .NET without the Core Tag) Framework. In this article, I will try to give an overview of Microsoft Web Technologies, and I hope you enjoy this Microsoft Web Technologies article.