How ASP.NET MVC Works (For Aspiring Architects) - #2

Stage

Details

Receive first request for the application

In the Global.asax file, Route objects are added to the RouteTable object.

void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) 
{
    RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
}

public static void RegisterRoutes(RouteCollection routes)
{
    routes.Add(new Route
    (
         "Category/{action}/{categoryName}"
         , new CategoryRouteHandler()
    ));
}

Perform routing

The UrlRoutingModule module uses the first matching Route object in the RouteTable collection to create the RouteData object, which it then uses to create a RequestContext object.

Create MVC request handler

The MvcRouteHandler object creates an instance of the MvcHandler class and passes the RequestContext instance to the handler.

Create controller

The MvcHandler object uses the RequestContext instance to identify the IControllerFactory object (typically an instance of the DefaultControllerFactory class) to create the controller instance with.

Execute controller

The MvcHandler instance calls the controller's Execute method.

Invoke action

For controllers that inherit from the ControllerBase class, the ControllerActionInvoker object that is associated with the controller determines which action method of the controller class to call, and then calls that method.

Execute result

The action method receives user input, prepares the appropriate response data, and then executes the result by returning a result type. The built-in result types that can be executed include the following: ViewResult (which renders a view and is the most-often used result type), RedirectToRouteResult, RedirectResult, ContentResult, JsonResult, FileResult, and EmptyResult.