ASP.NET MVC: Grouping classes around controller

Question

In asp.net mvc (4), out of the box, views go into Views folder, and then grouped by controller in subfolders.

Controllers go into Controllers folder, (View/Edit/Input)Models go into Models folder, etc.

I do like the way views are organized. I do not, however, like breaking the rest of the MVC pieces horizontally.

My question is, what would be downsides of leaving views organization structure as it is, but group other classes by controller (i.e. by use-cases). E.g.:

/Home
  HomeController.cs
  IndexViewModel.cs
  IndexViewModelBinder.cs
/Messages
  MessagesController.cs
  MessagesApiController.cs
  MessagesViewModelBinder.cs
  MessageViewModel.cs
  MessagesListViewModel.cs
/Views
  /Home
     Index.cshtml
  /Messages
     MessagesIndex.cshtml
     MessageDetails.cshtml

Areas will group related components together, true, but you will still have your 5 controllers in one folder, and 10 view models in another folder. So Areas do alleviate the problem, but it is not equivalent to the solution I laid out. — THX-1138
– THX-1138, Commented Sep 12, 2012 at 3:46

Dai · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-12 01:57:34Z

All that matters is the arrangement of the View files because they're accessed at runtime. Everything else is compiled into the assembly so the physical location of their source files is irrelevant.

Like you I find the default arrangement a bit awkward for larger projects, so this is how I lay out my current projects:

~/
    /Areas
        /DefaultArea // I always use areas, even when there's only one, because it simplifies things when adding additional areas.
            /Controllers
                FooController.cs
            /Views
                /Foo
                    FooView.aspx // Yes, I use WebFormView. Just a matter of personal preference
                    FooEdit.aspx
                    FooModels.cs // this file contains my ViewModels

So basically, I put my ViewModel classes in the same folder as the views rather than putting all the ViewModels together (which makes less logical sense). I was tempted to put my Controllers in their views' folders, but I decided against it.

I've found no downsides to my approach so far (been using it almost 2 years now).

Tod Thomson · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-12 02:10:20Z

1

I generally like to avoid areas where possible as it creates some issues with routing.

I think your structure is completely fine (and superior to the default MVC/Web structure of separating code based on "type" rather thank "function").

All I would suggest is that you only keep your "web" .cs files in the web DLL (e.g. Controllers, ViewModels, Binders, etc) and have the same structure in separate DLL(s) for Domain / Services / etc layers so they can be reused / tested separately if/as required.

answered Sep 12, 2012 at 2:10

Tod Thomson

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