Question

I am currently learning ASP.NET, and I have trouble figuring out how ASP.NET MVC should be used compared to webforms.

I usually used PHP to make websites, and had to learn a lot of things about webforms : postbacks, callbacks, web controls etc. But the way I understand it, all of those are not supposed to be used in MVC applications, which seems strange to me since those represent a lot of features of the ASP.NET framework. I would like to confirm the following :

• Should I forget everything about postbacks and callbacks when using ASP.NET MVC ?
• Should I forget most web controls ? (I mean controls starting with asp:). Most of them seem not to be usable because there isn’t any “form” tag like in webforms.
• In that case, would it be right to say that ASP.NET MVC is a bit like well-organized PHP ? Webforms works in a totally different way from PHP because of the postback mechanics, but it seems to me that MVC applications can be designed pretty much the same way as PHP.
• Are .ascx user components still used in ASP.NET MVC ?
• What about the script manager, and the AJAX framework ?
• Should I use Javascript the same way I would with PHP ?

Thanks in advance !

Answer 1

Should I forget everything about postbacks and callbacks when using ASP.NET MVC ?

• Yes

Should I forget most web controls ? (I mean controls starting with asp:). Most of them seem not to be usable because there isn’t any “form” tag like in webforms.

• Yes

In that case, would it be right to say that ASP.NET MVC is a bit like well-organized PHP ? Webforms works in a totally different way from PHP because of the postback mechanics, but it seems to me that MVC applications can be designed pretty much the same way as PHP.

• Not really

Are .ascx user components still used in ASP.NET MVC ?

• No

What about the script manager, and the AJAX framework ?

• No

Should I use Javascript the same way I would with PHP ?

• Maybe

ASP.Net MVC is completely different from WebForms.

The comparison to PHP depends on how you use PHP.