it is the presentation layer of the mvc architecture

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MVC Framework Introduction

Over the last few years, websites have shifted from simple HTML pages with a bit of CSS to incredibly complex applications with thousands of developers working on them at the same time. To work with these complex web applications developers use different design patterns to lay out their projects, to make the code less complex and easier to work with. The most popular of these patterns is MVC also known as Model View Controller.

Table of Content

What is MVC?

Features of mvc, components of mvc, working of the mvc framework with example, advantages of mvc, disadvantages of mvc, popular mvc frameworks.

The Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework is an architectural/design pattern that separates an application into three main logical components Model , View , and Controller . Each architectural component is built to handle specific development aspects of an application. It isolates the business logic and presentation layer from each other. It was traditionally used for desktop graphical user interfaces (GUIs) . Nowadays, MVC is one of the most frequently used industry-standard web development frameworks to create scalable and extensible projects. It is also used for designing mobile apps.

MVC was created by Trygve Reenskaug . The main goal of this design pattern was to solve the problem of users controlling a large and complex data set by splitting a large application into specific sections that all have their own purpose.

• It provides a clear separation of business logic, UI logic, and input logic.
• It offers full control over your HTML and URLs which makes it easy to design web application architecture.
• It is a powerful URL-mapping component using which we can build applications that have comprehensible and searchable URLs.
• It supports Test Driven Development (TDD).

To know more about the benefits of using the MVC Framework refer to the article – Benefits of using MVC framework

The MVC framework includes the following 3 components:

MVC Architecture Design

Controller:

The controller is the component that enables the interconnection between the views and the model so it acts as an intermediary. The controller doesn’t have to worry about handling data logic, it just tells the model what to do. It processes all the business logic and incoming requests, manipulates data using the Model component, and interact with the View to render the final output.

Responsibilities:

• Receiving user input and interpreting it.
• Updating the Model based on user actions.
• Selecting and displaying the appropriate View.

Example: In a bookstore application, the Controller would handle actions such as searching for a book, adding a book to the cart, or checking out.

The View component is used for all the UI logic of the application. It generates a user interface for the user. Views are created by the data which is collected by the model component but these data aren’t taken directly but through the controller. It only interacts with the controller.

• Rendering data to the user in a specific format.
• Displaying the user interface elements.
• Updating the display when the Model changes.

Example: In a bookstore application, the View would display the list of books, book details, and provide input fields for searching or filtering books.

The Model component corresponds to all the data-related logic that the user works with. This can represent either the data that is being transferred between the View and Controller components or any other business logic-related data. It can add or retrieve data from the database. It responds to the controller’s request because the controller can’t interact with the database by itself. The model interacts with the database and gives the required data back to the controller.

• Managing data: CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations.
• Enforcing business rules.
• Notifying the View and Controller of state changes.

Example: In a bookstore application, the Model would handle data related to books, such as the book title, author, price, and stock level.

Let’s imagine an end-user sends a request to a server to get a list of students studying in a class. The server would then send that request to that particular controller that handles students. That controller would then request the model that handles students to return a list of all students studying in a class.

The flow of Data in MVC Components

The model would query the database for the list of all students and then return that list back to the controller. If the response back from the model was successful, then the controller would ask the view associated with students to return a presentation of the list of students. This view would take the list of students from the controller and render the list into HTML that can be used by the browser.

The controller would then take that presentation and returns it back to the user. Thus ending the request. If earlier the model returned an error, the controller would handle that error by asking the view that handles errors to render a presentation for that particular error. That error presentation would then be returned to the user instead of the student list presentation.

As we can see from the above example, the model handles all of the data. The view handles all of the presentations and the controller just tells the model and view of what to do. This is the basic architecture and working of the MVC framework.

The MVC architectural pattern allows us to adhere to the following design principles: 1. Divide and conquer. The three components can be somewhat independently designed. 2. Increase cohesion. The components have stronger layer cohesion than if the view and controller were together in a single UI layer. 3. Reduce coupling. The communication channels between the three components are minimal and easy to find. 4. Increase reuse. The view and controller normally make extensive use of reusable components for various kinds of UI controls. The UI, however, will become application-specific, therefore it will not be easily reusable. 5. Design for flexibility. It is usually quite easy to change the UI by changing the view, the controller, or both. 

• Codes are easy to maintain and they can be extended easily.
• The MVC model component can be tested separately.
• The components of MVC can be developed simultaneously.
• It reduces complexity by dividing an application into three units. Model, view, and controller.
• It works well for Web apps that are supported by large teams of web designers and developers.
• This architecture helps to test components independently as all classes and objects are independent of each other
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Friendly.
• It is difficult to read, change, test, and reuse this model
• It is not suitable for building small applications.
• The inefficiency of data access in view.
• The framework navigation can be complex as it introduces new layers of abstraction which requires users to adapt to the decomposition criteria of MVC.
• Increased complexity and Inefficiency of data

Some of the most popular and extensively used MVC frameworks are listed below.

• Ruby on Rails
• Zend Framework

MVC is generally used on applications that run on a single graphical workstation. The division of logical components enables readability and modularity as well as it makes it more comfortable for the testing part.

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Model View Controller is a predictable software design pattern that can be used across many frameworks with many programming languages, commonly Python , Ruby , PHP , JavaScript, and more. It is popularly used to design web applications and mobile apps .

This blog post defines the concept of a Model-View-Controller (MVC) software design pattern and does a basic example Model-View-Controller in JavaScript/HTML/CSS .

Today we will cover:

• What is MVC architecture?

Benefits of MVC

• Web App as MVC

Separation of Concerns

Mvc code example.

The architecture components of the MVC pattern are designed to handle different aspects of an application in development. The MVC design pattern serves to separate the presentation layer from the business logic.

Why do developers care about MVC? MVC is popular in app and web development, and it’s one of the most widely used software design patterns for app and web development. The Model View Controller design pattern separates concerns into one of 3 buckets:

You can think of a web application as a Model View Controller design. MVC is popular in web applications, one of the reasons is because responsibilities are divided between the client & server.

MVC design allows for Separation of Concerns - dividing the logic up between the 3 buckets, so that each bucket can act independently.

The model, view, and controller don’t depend on each other. Why does this matter? Generally, software is worked on by teams - a team might have a designer, engineer, and database architect. Separation of concerns means each team member can work on their piece at the same time, because logic has been separated into buckets. Separation of concerns is also great for maitenance - developers can fix a bug in one piece of code, without having to check out the other pieces of code.

Loosely coupled means that each piece: the model, view and controller, act independently of eachother.

Developers can modify one of the pieces, and the other 2 pieces should keep working and not require modifications. When designing MVC software – the logic in each of the three buckets is independent. Everything in View acts independently of the model – and vice verse, the view won’t have any logic dependent on the model.

Making independent models and views makes code organization simple and easy to understand and keeps maintenance easier. Programmers can fix a bug in the view without changing the model code.

MVC Framework Tutorial for Beginners: What is, Architecture & Example

What is MVC Framework?

The Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework is an architectural pattern that separates an application into three main logical components Model, View, and Controller. Hence the abbreviation MVC. Each architecture component is built to handle specific development aspect of an application. MVC separates the business logic and presentation layer from each other. It was traditionally used for desktop graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Nowadays, MVC architecture in web technology has become popular for designing web applications as well as mobile apps.

History of MVC

• MVC architecture was first discussed in 1979 by Trygve Reenskaug
• MVC model was first introduced in 1987 in the Smalltalk programming language.
• MVC was first time accepted as a general concept, in a 1988 article
• In the recent time, MVC pattern is widely used in modern web applications

Features of MVC

• Easy and frictionless testability. Highly testable, extensible and pluggable framework
• To design a web application architecture using the MVC pattern, it offers full control over your HTML as well as your URLs
• Leverage existing features provided by ASP.NET, JSP, Django, etc.
• Clear separation of logic: Model, View, Controller. Separation of application tasks viz. business logic, Ul logic, and input logic
• URL Routing for SEO Friendly URLs. Powerful URL- mapping for comprehensible and searchable URLs
• Supports for Test Driven Development (TDD)

MVC Architecture

Here is the detailed architecture of MVC framework:

Three important MVC components are:

• Model: It includes all the data and its related logic
• View: Present data to the user or handles user interaction
• Controller: An interface between Model and View components

Let’s see each other this component in detail:

A View is that part of the application that represents the presentation of data.

Views are created by the data collected from the model data. A view requests the model to give information so that it presents the output presentation to the user.

The view also represents the data from charts, diagrams, and tables. For example, any customer view will include all the UI components like text boxes, drop downs, etc.

The Controller is that part of the application that handles the user interaction. The controller interprets the mouse and keyboard inputs from the user, informing model and the view to change as appropriate.

A Controller send’s commands to the model to update its state(E.g., Saving a specific document). The controller also sends commands to its associated view to change the view’s presentation (For example scrolling a particular document).

The model component stores data and its related logic. It represents data that is being transferred between controller components or any other related business logic. For example, a Controller object will retrieve the customer info from the database. It manipulates data and sends back to the database or uses it to render the same data.

It responds to the request from the views and also responds to instructions from the controller to update itself. It is also the lowest level of the pattern which is responsible for maintaining data.

MVC Examples

Let’s see Model View Controller example from daily life:

• Let’s assume you go to a restaurant. You will not go to the kitchen and prepare food which you can surely do at your home. Instead, you go there and wait for the waiter to come on.
• Now the waiter comes to you, and you order the food. The waiter doesn’t know who you are and what you want he just written down the detail of your food order.
• Then, the waiter moves to the kitchen. In the kitchen, waiter does not prepare your food.
• The cook prepares your food. The waiter is given your order to him along with your table number.
• Cook then prepared food for you. He uses ingredients to cooks the food. Let’s assume that your order a vegetable sandwich. Then he needs bread, tomato, potato, capsicum, onion, bit, cheese, etc. which he sources from the refrigerator
• Cook final hand over the food to the waiter. Now it is the job of the waiter to moves this food outside the kitchen.
• Now waiter knows which food you have ordered and how they are served.

In this MVC architecture example,

Let see one more MVC model example,

Car driving mechanism is another example of the MVC model.

• Every car consist of three main parts.
• View= User interface : (Gear lever, panels, steering wheel, brake, etc.)
• Controller- Mechanism (Engine)
• Model- Storage (Petrol or Diesel tank)

Car runs from engine take fuel from storage, but it runs only using mentioned user interface devices.

Popular MVC web frameworks

Here, is a list of some popular MVC frameworks:

• Ruby on Rails
• Zend Framework
• CodeIgniter

Advantages of MVC: Key Benefits

Here, are major benefits of using MVC architecture:

• Easy code maintenance which is easy to extend and grow
• MVC Model component can be tested separately from the user
• Easier support for new types of clients
• Development of the various components can be performed parallelly.
• It helps you to avoid complexity by dividing an application into the three units. Model, view, and controller
• It only uses a Front Controller pattern which process web application requests through a single controller.
• Offers the best support for test-driven development
• It works well for Web apps which are supported by large teams of web designers and developers.
• Provides clean separation of concerns(SoC).
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Friendly.
• All classes and objects are independent of each other so that you can test them separately.
• MVC design pattern allows logical grouping of related actions on a controller together.

Disadvantages of using MVC

• Difficult to read, change, unit test, and reuse this model
• The framework navigation can some time complex as it introduces new layers of abstraction which requires users to adapt to the decomposition criteria of MVC.
• No formal validation support
• Increased complexity and Inefficiency of data
• The difficulty of using MVC with the modern user interface
• There is a need for multiple programmers to conduct parallel programming.
• Knowledge of multiple technologies is required.
• Maintenance of lots of codes in Controller

3-tier Architecture vs. MVC Architecture

• The MVC is an architectural pattern that separates an application into 1) Model, 2) View and 3) Controller
• MVC architecture in Java is a highly testable, extensible and pluggable framework
• Some popular MVC frameworks are Rails, Zend Framework, CodeIgniter, Laravel, Fuel PHP, etc.
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DEV Community

Posted on Oct 8, 2023

Demystifying Model-View-Controller (MVC) Architecture: The Heart of Software Design

A Few patterns in software architecture have had as significant impact as the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. This time-tested design pattern has shaped the way we construct software systems by offering a structured framework that improves flexibility, maintainability, and scalability. Here, we will delve deep into the world of MVC architecture, investigating its core concepts, components, and real-world applications.

Understanding MVC Architecture

The Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, at its heart, is a software design pattern that divides an application into three interconnected components:

Model : The Model represents the data and essential logic of the application. It is in charge of managing data, processing business rules, and reacting to information or update requests.

View : The View is in charge of presenting data to the user and collecting user feedback. The user interface (UI) component shows Model information and delivers user interactions to the Controller.

Controller : The Controller works as a link between the Model and the View. It processes user input, requests, and connects with the Model to update or retrieve data. It essentially controls the application's flow.

The Role of Each Component

To use it effectively we need to understand the specific roles and responsibilities of each component in MVC:

1. Model: Managing Data and Logic

The Model serves as the application's foundation. Its responsibilities include:

Data Management : Storing, retrieving, and managing the application's data, whether it's user information, product details, or any other type of data.

Business Logic : Implementing the application's basic logic, such as calculations, validations, and data processing.

Data Updates : Notifying the View of any changes in data, ensuring that the View constantly presents up-to-date information.

2. View: User Interface and Presentation

The View is all about the user experience. Its duties include the following:

Data Display : The presentation of data from the Model in a user-friendly format. This includes text, graphics, and other UI elements being rendered.

User Interaction : Gathering user input and passing it on to the Controller for processing. This covers events such as clicks, keystrokes, and touches.

Listening for Model notifications and adjusting the UI to reflect changes in the underlying data.

3. Controller: Managing Application Flow

The Controller serves as a traffic cop, ensuring that communication between the Model and the View runs smoothly:

User Input Handling : Capturing user input from the View and converting it into actions or requests for the Model to process.

Orchestration of Business Logic : Coordinating the execution of business logic within the Model, such as data changes, calculations, and validations.

Notifying the View of any changes in data or state that necessitate altering the UI.

Advantages of MVC Architecture

The MVC architecture provides several important benefits for software development, including:

Separation of Concerns : It imposes a distinct division between user interface, data administration, and application logic, making the software more arranged and maintainable.

Reusability : Each element is independently reusable. For instance, you can alter the View while leaving the Model or Controller untouched, or vice versa.

Scalability : The modular design of MVC makes it possible for development teams and code to grow as needed.

Testability : It makes testability simpler and makes it easy to find and correct problems because each component can be unit-tested independently.

Real-World Applications of MVC

MVC architecture finds applications in a wide range of software systems, including:

Web Development : Many web frameworks, such as Ruby on Rails, Django, and Angular, follow MVC patterns to build web applications.

Desktop Applications : GUI-based desktop applications use MVC to separate user interface elements from application logic.

Mobile Apps : Mobile app development, whether for iOS or Android, often involves implementing MVC or similar patterns to manage the user interface and application logic.

The Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture, which offers an organised method for developing adaptable, manageable, and scalable software systems, is a cornerstone of software design. MVC has paved the path for developing strong applications that adapt to changing requirements and developing technology by separating concerns and establishing explicit roles for each component.

Understanding MVC design is crucial for creating software solutions that excel in both functionality and maintainability, whether you're a seasoned software architect or a beginning developer. You'll be on the road to software excellence if you use the MVC pattern.

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Difference Between MVC and MVC + 3 Layered Architecture?

I haven't been able to find a definitive answer online, so I'm hoping that someone with experience can help answer this.

Many MVC tutorials I find online end up using the MVC architectural pattern as the architecture for the entire application. But, I have read conflicting statements from those on this site and other sites who say that MVC is just an architecture for the presentation layer of a layered architecture.

At this point I'm leaning towards the idea that it is perfectly valid as a pattern for an entire application, especially because it seems like overkill to have to design 3 separate layers for a small to medium sized application.

Which is it? Is MVC a perfectly good architectural pattern for an entire application, or is it just meant to be used as the presentation layer of a layered architecture?

• architecture

2 Answers 2

Is MVC a perfectly good architectural pattern for an entire application, or is it just meant to be used as the presentation layer of a layered architecture?

MVC is only concerned with the user-interaction part of an application and it is a perfectly good architectural pattern for an entire application.

The MVC pattern contains 3 parts: The Controller, which is responsible for receiving user actions, the View, which is responsible for showing information to users, and the Model, which contains all the rest of the application.

If your application is not too large (which is typically the case with example programs that showcase the MVC pattern), there is no need to structure the Model further.

For a larger application, the Model part of the MVC pattern can become so large that further structure is needed to fully understand how it works. That is when you should start to apply additional architectural patterns like a layered architecture.

• thanks for you answer! It's exactly what I was looking for. The fact that a layered architecture simply augments the Model into a more organized piece makes a lot of sense –  Mixed_Signals Commented Jan 17, 2021 at 2:49

The MVC patterns contains three things:

C - Controller - Which accepts the HTTP request

M - Model - Which the controller uses to pass data to the view

V - View - HTML that is rendered for the end user

There's nothing in there for business logic, data access, authentication, or many other things.

So the answer is NO it is not a complete pattern, unless you don't need data access, business logic, authentication, or anything else.

It seems like overkill to have to design 3 separate layers for a small to medium sized application

See Why do we need so many classes in design patterns?

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Learn Spring MVC at  https://www.javaguides.net/p/spring-mvc-tutorial.html

1. Three Tier (Three Layer) Architecture

2. Three Tier (Three Layer) Architecture VS MVC Pattern

• The Model Layer  - This is the data layer which contains the business logic of the system, and also represents the state of the application. It’s independent of the presentation layer, the controller fetches the data from the Model layer and sends it to the View layer.
• The Controller Layer  - The controller   layer acts as an interface between  View  and  Model . It receives requests from the  View  layer and processes them, including the necessary validations.
• The View Layer  - This layer represents the output of the application, usually some form of UI. The presentation layer is used to display the  Model  data fetched by the  Controller .

3. How to use Three-layer architecture in Spring MVC web applications.

• Controller classes as the presentation layer. Keep this layer as thin as possible and limited to the mechanics of the MVC operations, e.g., receiving and validating the inputs, manipulating the model object, returning the appropriate ModelAndView object, and so on. All the business-related operations should be done in the service classes. Controller classes are usually put in a controller package.
• Service classes as the business logic layer. Calculations, data transformations, data processes, and cross-record validations (business rules) are usually done at this layer. They get called by the controller classes and might call repositories or other services. Service classes are usually put in a service package.
• Repository classes as data access layer. This layer’s responsibility is limited to Create, Retrieve, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations on a data source, which is usually a relational or non-relational database. Repository classes are usually put in a repository package.
• Presentation Layer - controller package
• Business Logic Layer - service package
• Data Access Layer - repository package 

Read more about MVC pattern at  Model View Controller (MVC) Design Pattern in Java

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• An Interview Question

What is difference between 3-layer architecture and MVC architecture?

• Vikas Singh
• Oct 07, 2014

In this Blog you will learn difference Between 3-layer architecture and MVC architecture.

• 3-layer architecture separates the application into 3 components which consists of Presentation Layer Business Layer and Data Access Layer.
• In 3-layer architecture, user interacts with the Presentation layer. 
• 3-layer is a linear architecture.
• MVC architecture separates the application into three components which consists of Model, View and Controller.
• In MVC architecture, user interacts with the controller with the help of view. MVC is a triangle architecture.
• MVC does not replace 3-layer architecture. Typically 3-layer and MVC are used together and MVC acts as the Presentation layer.

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MVC as a presentation layer only

I have a WebAPI web service, which acts as a business logic layer for client applications (WinForms and Mobile).

Now I want to create an MVC application which will act as presentation layer only, and I am having doubts weather this architecture makes sense or does it break MVC concepts.

If it makes sence, what is the right/correct way of interaction between MVC application (as a presentation layer) and WebAPI service (as a business logic layer)?

Will appreciate if anyone can give me some code examples.

• asp.net-mvc
• asp.net-mvc-4
• asp.net-web-api

• 3 I don't mix WebAPI and BusinessLogic. I'll spit them in two separate Projects (WebAPI + DLL Assembly for the Business Logic) so I can be more flexible on how to access the Bussiness Layer. If archtecture permits and WebApi and MVC runs on the same server the could "share" the BusinessLogic by using the DLL. –  gsharp Commented Nov 24, 2015 at 17:28

3 Answers 3

It's fine if you use mvc this way, your controllers can access the webapi and serve the data to the templates.

You might also consider angularjs as views/templates and the controllers there can call the webapi for data.

While I think other answers are accurate, here is some other concerns you may think of.

First, your WebAPI is probably where your business are implemented. Indeed, you may already deal with:

• Business related exception
• Operations available

Your Api is what should not change, unless the business rule behind a certain functionnality changes too.

What I want to point out here is one thing: Keep your user interface completely independant from your API

The risk of using an MVC app with a WebApi

All the code together = mutiple reasons to change the same thing.

By using an MVC app, you could be tempted to package the WebApi and the MVC app in the same solution. You would also be able to deploy all your stuff together. But doing it this way, you may end up with a big bunch of code where parts are not evolving at the same speed (i.e: user interface will change oftently, but do the Api will change every time a UI fix is need. NO. And do every changes to the API will impact the UI. No.)

All code together enables shortcuts

What I mean by that, is that if everything is package together, a developer could be tempted to call some method directly instead of calling the API that should be the only valid facade. Any shortcut taken can lead will lead to code duplication, bugs, validation error, etc. Again: do not package your MVC app with your API.

Use a Javascript framework

The other suggestions are good. AngularJS, ReactJS, EmberJS are good frameworks. (There are other, pick the one that fits your needs) But again, it will be a good choice for your architecture because you will create a clear separation between your UI app and your API app which are separated concerns. Your business logic will be well protected, and you will be sure that your code is only call via HTTP calls, the only valid facade of your API. In other words, you make sure nobody will take shortcuts.

Use .NET MVC app in its own project

If you still want to use .NET MVC, I would suggest that you call your API via HTTP: no shortcuts. I would create a different solution and with a separated MVC project where calls to the API would be made using the HttpClient or something like RestSharp . What you want here is to avoid to bind your UI to your API code. You want to bind your UI to the contract define by the API facade (api controllers) not their implementation.

I think better, of course if it possible in your situation, to use one of the JavaScript MVC frameworks. I think AngularJS, ReactJS or EmberJS will be the most coolest variants for your purpose. I don't think that calling ASP.MVC actions and then do another call to WEB API from there it's good idea, imho.

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