This article will compare four important architecture presentation patterns i.e. MVP(SC),MVP(PV),PM,MVVM and MVC. Many developers are confused around what is the difference between these patterns and when should we use what. This article will first kick start with a background and explain different types of presentation patterns. We will then move ahead discussing about the state , logic and synchronization issues. Finally we will go in detail of each pattern and conclude how they differ from each other.

Here’s my small gift for all my .NET friends , a complete 400 pages FAQ Ebook which covers various .NET technologies like Azure , WCF , WWF , Silverlight , WPF , SharePoint and lot more from here.

Special thanks

This whole article is abstract from http://martinfowler.com/eaaDev/uiArchs.html GUI architectures. Great work by Mr. Martin flower.

Josh Smith and team http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd419663.aspx , great work on MVVM.

Mr. Nikhil kothari's blog http://www.nikhilk.net/Silverlight-ViewModel-Pattern.aspx , awesome source for MVVM.

Mr. Oleg Zhukov explains how to build a MVP Framework for .NET http://www.codeproject.com/KB/architecture/DotNetMVPFramework_Part1.aspx

Background - Presentation patterns

One of the biggest problems associated with user interface is lot of cluttered code. This cluttered code is due to two primary reasons , first the UI has complicated logic to manipulate the user interface objects and second it also maintains state of the application. Presentation patterns revolve around how to remove the UI complication and make the UI more clean and manageable. Below are different variety and classifications of presentation patterns as shown in the below figure.

Presentation pattern are divided in to three important categories MVP ( Model view presenter ) , MVC ( Model view controller) and finally (PM) presenter model. MVP is further divided in to supervising controller and passive view. Presenter model is further divided by Microsoft team in two technology specific patterns MVVM for silverlight and MVVM for WPF.

3 big problems of UI :- State , Logic and Synchronization

There are 3 big problems associated with UI as listed below.

State :- State / data is one of the biggest concern in UI. State means the current data picture of your user interface. In web terminologies it can be session variable and in windows application it can be a simple UI level data. The more the UI maintains states ,the more complication is increased.

Logic :- User interface normally have UI logics like manipulating textboxes , combo boxes or any other UI elements.The more these kind of logic exists in the UI the more it becomes complex.

Synchronization :- User interfaces normally co-ordinate with domain / business components. UI also needs to synchronize data between UI elements ( textboxes , comboboxes etc) and business objects. If your UI is taking of synchronization again the UI complexity increases.

The Hero - Presentation design Pattern

Presentation design pattern helps to solve the above UI problems. The base logic of presentation design patterns is that we need to create a extra class which will consume complicated logic , data and synch issues which currently the UI does , thus making the UI dump , clean and simple. Depending on how much this class takes responsibilities defines further whether its a SC , PV , PM design pattern etc. In other words its the maturity of the presenter class which will define what kind of design pattern it is.

Some acronyms to simplify the article

AcronymFull form
VView or user Interface.
PPresenter class which has the UI logic.
LUI logic
SState of the UI
MBusiness components or domain objects.
SCSupervising controller .
PVPassive view.
PMPresenter model.

We will use the above acronym to simplify our explanation of presentation design pattern.

Supervising controller pattern ( SC )

Fundamentals about SC :-

  • State is stored in the view.
  • Presenter owns the complex presentation logic. Simple UI binding logic is taken care by using binding technologies like WPF binding and Silverlight binding. Anything complex is taken care presenter class.
  • Presenter is aware of the view.
  • View is not aware of the presenter.
  • View connects with model using technical bindings provided by WPF and Silverlight.

Passive view (PV)

Fundamentals about PV :-

  • State is stored in the view.
  • All logic of UI is stored in presenter.
  • View is completely isolated from the model. It also takes the extra task of synchronizing data between model and view.
  • Presenter is aware of the view.
  • View is not aware of the presenter.

You can read more about MVP (PV) from this , it also has a sample code which shows how MVP comes in to action link

Presentation Model (PM)

Fundamentals about SC :-

  • State is stored in the presenter.
  • Logic is stored in presenter.
  • Presenter represents a abstract view of the UI.
  • Presenter is not aware of the view.
  • View is aware of the presenter.
  • View is completely isolated from the model.

MVVM

Fundamentals about SC :-

  • Presenter model is the base.
  • State is stored in the presenter.
  • Logic is stored in presenter.
  • Presenter represents an abstract view of the UI.
  • Presenter is not aware of the view.
  • View is aware of the presenter.
  • View is completely isolated from the model.
  • Uses WPF and Silverlight bindings.

MVC

Fundamentals about MVC :-

  • Does not have a presenter , has a controller.
  • Request first comes to the controller.
  • Controller binds the model with the view.
  • Logic is stored in the controller.

You can read more about MVC from this, it also has a sample code which shows how MVC comes in to action link

Summarizing

Below is a summary comparison table for all presentation patterns from the aspect of state , logic and synchronization.

  StateLogicSynchronization
Supervising controller     
 Presenter XX
 ViewX  
 ModelView connects to model for data using databindings like WPF bindings , Silverlight bindings etc.
Passive View     
 Presenter XX
 ViewX  
Presenter model    
 PresenterXX 
 View  X
MVVM    
 PresenterXX 
 View  X
 Databinding commands of WPF , Silverlight , ASP.NET is used.
MVCController XX
 ViewX  

Below is a visual comparison of what we discussed above.

When to use MVP and When to use MVC ?

First thing all the above patterns are variations of MVC. In other words all MVP patterns are twists of MVC. We will compare between MVC and MVP first and then we will compare between different variations of the MVP.

Below are the situations of when MVP is preferred over MVC.

UI unit test :- If your project is laying more stress on automated unit test on UI then MVP is preferred over MVC because the presenter class of MVP isolates all the UI logic in to the presenter. The presenter is a complete mock of the UI so it can be unit tested separately using VSTS test suite or NUNIT.

Views are same with slight variations :- If your application nature is such that it has views which can be reused with different data then MVC is a good thought. Especially if you have a application which is more report oriented. For example you have a two views which are almost same like 'Sales by month' and 'Sales by year'. Both these reports can be shown by using the same ASPX page probably with different models. So if your application has same UI look and feel with slight variations MVC is a good fit. Especially if you have reporting nature kind of application MVC will fly as compared to MVP.

Multi UI support :- If you forecast that your application will consume different UI technologies then MVP is good fit. In other words if your application will be consumed by windows UI as well as web application UI then MVP is a good fit. It will help you to increase reusability by using the presenter class.

Complex Screens :- If you have complex screen with lot of user interaction MVC can be complicated as you end up with lot of controller classes for every interaction. MVP here is a better suit because you can encapsulate those complex logic in to a class and test it separately to ensure a bug free code.

Technology used :- Technology is a very important factor. If technology provides automation for architecture building it becomes more sense to use patterns accordingly. For instance if you are purely using ASP.NET application with out Silverlight or WPF its more sensible to go with MVP. ASP.NET pages expect the control events to be handled on the behind code while MVC expects these events to be handled on the controller. So we end up with rewriting the complete code of event handling for ASP.NET controls on the controller. If you are using silverlight and WPF they have nice binding support which makes MVP a better fit. On the other hand if you have same view with slight variations and you are have 3.5 as a framework you can use MVC framework to automate and suit your needs.

Technology selection drives 60% of whether you will select MVC or MVP.

 

各自用一句话来概括MVC、MVP、MVVM的差异特点

MVC：

用户的请求首先会到达Controller，由Controller从Model获取数据，选择合适的View，把处理结果呈现到View上；

MVP：

用户的请求首先会到达View，View传递请求到特定的Presenter，Presenter从Model获取数据后，再把处理结果通过接口传递到View。

MVVM：

立足于原有MVP框架并且把WPF的新特性(数据绑定DataBind、依赖属性Dependency Property、路由事件Routed Events、命令Command等...)揉合进去。

 

【翻译】MVC vs. MVP vs. MVVM2011-11-04 17:38 by Virus-BeautyCode

MVC vs. MVP vs. MVVM

1 简介

　　原文地址：

MVC vs. MVP vs. MVVM « Niraj Bhatt – Architect's Blog

　　三者的目的都是分离关注，使得UI更容易变换（从Winform变为Webform），使得UI更容易进行单元测试。

2 MVC MVP

2.1 MVC

　　1、View接受用户的交互请求，

　　2、View将请求转交给Controller，

　　3、Controller操作Model进行数据更新

　　4、数据更新之后，Model通知View数据变化

　　5、View显示更新之后的数据

　　View和Controller使用Strategy模式实现，View使用Composite模式，View和Model通过Observer模式同步信息。Controller不知道任何View的细节，一个Controller能被多个View使用。MVC的一个缺点是很难对controller进行单元测试，Controller操作数据，但是如何从View上断言这些数据的变化呢？例如，点击一个View的按钮，提交一个事件给Controller，Controller修改Model的值。这个值反映到View上是字体和颜色的变化。测试这个Case还是有点困难的。

2.2 MVP

　　1、 View接受用户的交互请求

　　2、 View将请求转交给Presenter

　　3、 Presenter操作Model进行数据库更新

　　4、 数据更新之后，Model通知Presenter数据发生变化

　　5、 Presenter更新View的数据

　　Presenter将Model的变化返回给View。和MVC不同的是，presenter会反作用于view，不像controller只会被动的接受view的指挥。正常情况下，发现可以抽象view，暴漏属性和事件，然后presenter引用view的抽象。这样可以很容易的构造view的mock对象，提高可单元测试性。在这里，presenter的责任变大了，不仅要操作数据，而且要更新view。

　　在现实中mvp的实现会根据view的充、贫血而有一些不同，一部分倾向于在view中放置简单的逻辑，在presenter放置复杂的逻辑，另一部分倾向于在presenter中放置全部的逻辑。这两种分别被称为：Passive View和Superivising Controller。

　　在Passive View中，为了减少UI组件的行为，使用controller不仅控制用户事件的响应，而且将结果更新到view上。可以集中测试controller，减小view出问题的风险。

　　在Superivising Controller中的controller既处理用户输入的响应，又操作view处理view的复杂逻辑。

3 M-V-VM

　　MVVM是在原有领域Model的基础上添加一个ViewModel，这个ViewModel除了正常的属性意外，还包括一些供View显示用的属性。例如在经典的MVP中，view有一个属性ischeck，需要在presenter中设置view的ischeck值。但是在MVVM中的presenter也会有一个ischeck属性来同步view的ischeck属性，可能会用到observer模式同步ischeck的值。在MVVM中，presenter被改名为ViewModel，就演变成了你看到的MVVM。在支持双向绑定的平台，MVVM更受欢迎。例如：微软的WPF和Silverlight。