Question

Before I ask the question, here is my understanding about Controller in MVC pattern.

1. Controller is Application Layer (in DDD)
2. It controls Application flow.
3. It is kept thin
4. It controls unit of work (a.k.a Transaction)

My question is “when should I create new Controller class?“. I’ll take an example as DinnerController in NerdDinner.

• Is it the controller for Dinner Module? (Is it module? IMO, it is too small for module)
• If it is, should I create controller for each module? And will the controller become fat?
• If it is not, when should I create new controller?

I personally prefer to create Controller class per use case. For example, CreateDinnerControllelr, EditDinnerController, ListDinnerController, SearchDinnerController, etc. But there are a few drawbacks IMO such as

1. Sometimes, it violates DRY principle (it might need to create the same ViewModel in two place, e.g. Create and Edit might have DinnerViewModel)
2. Need to explicitly define routing? (I still perfer route like /Dinner/Create, /Dinner/Edit/1)

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

After working on ASP.net MVC and rails, I think Controller should create per Resource (in the REST style application).