ASP.NET MVC Structured Monolith

This project contains a sample application that shows mechanism used to create "Package by Feature" architecture using ASP.NET MVC 5 technology stack.

The structure is based on idea that each major business feature forms a seperate app in form of class library.

Putting web app building blocks in Class Libraries

Controllers

To use the controllers from different assembly, register controller namespace in ControllerBuilder.Current.DefaultNamespaces.

It's best to keep each assembly controllers in seperate areas. To achieve this, register route for each area with namespace constraint:

var route = RouteTable.Routes.MapRoute(
    name: appName,
    url: appName + "/{controller}/{action}/{id}",
    defaults: new {controller = "Root", action = "Index", id = UrlParameter.Optional },
    namespaces: new[] {appType.Namespace})

Remebmer to specify the Area for created route with DataTokens property:

route.DataTokens["area"] = appName;

Additionaly disable the namespace fallback to force the routes are being evaluated accordingly to constraints:

route.DataTokens["UseNamespaceFallback"] = false;

Razor files

RazorGenerator can be used to load razor views from seperate class libraries the is used. Use RazorGenerator.MsBuild package to rebuild the razor views with each build.

The compiled views become part of the assembly and therefore cannot be changed during runtime. This means that to fix even a single typo, entire assembly needs to be recompiled which will cause the IIS app-pool to reload.

To make the development cycle faster, it's possible to implement custom VirtualPathProvider that will locate the physical files (in their project folders) instrad of emvedded precompiled razor views.

Additionaly the RazorGenerator.PrecompiledRazorEngine must be made aware of this additional Path provider so that it will be able to determine if the physical file is newer in order to serve it.

See ABC.Infrastructure.Web.Defaults.VirtualPath.ABCVirtualPathProvider.

Static files

Static files from each app are copied to final web app during build using msbuild custom target. By convention, all static files should reside in Content subfolder:

<ItemGroup>
    <ModuleFiles Include="$(ProjectDir)\..\*\Content\**\*.*" Exclude="$(ProjectDir)\..\$(ProjectName)\Content\**\*.*">            
    </ModuleFiles>
</ItemGroup>

<Target Name="CopyModuleFiles">
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(ModuleFiles)" DestinationFiles="@(ModuleFiles->'$(ProjectDir)Content\%(RecursiveDir)..\%(Filename)%(Extension)')" />
</Target>

<Target Name="BeforeBuild" DependsOnTargets="CopyModuleFiles">

File ABC.Infrastructure.Web\Custom.targets contains full definition of this target. Besides file copying, it also adds the Content files to packaging targets.