You have to love the fact that the ASP.NET MVC Framework is so extensible you can create your own view engines. If you don't like the default Web Forms View Engine, you have your pick of several view engines such as:
- Brail
- NDjango
- NHaml
- NVelocity
- SharpTiles
- Spark
- StringTemplate
- XSLT
and now Sharpy ( too name a few ).
I, personally, use Spark unless the client prefers the Web Forms View Engine, but I guarantee there are developers who love each and every view engine listed above and can tell you a hundred reasons why they like their view engine the best!
Sharpy is interesting because it uses MEF to allow developers to implement their own functions and modifiers. And, Sharpy doesn't allow you to use HTML Helpers or Extension Methods. Sounds crazy, but the developer wanted to create an MVC View Engine that allowed web designers and developers to better collaborate. For better collaboration in the view he thought it was best to keep the number of abstractions and code in the view to as little as possible. Makes sense :)
If you are a previous PHP developer familiar with Smarty and agree with the restrictions of not using HTML Helpers and Extension Methods in the view, take a look at Sharpy here.
David Hayden
Related Posts:
Filed: Web Developer IDE's and Tools
Awhile back I mentioned how JetBrains has been releasing several Web Development IDE's for those web developers developing in HTML, PHP, Python, and Rails.
- Rails Developers: RubyMine
- PHP Developers: PhpStorm
- Python Developers: PyCharm
- Html Developers: WebStorm
Originally the PHP and Html Web Developer IDE was called JetBrains Web IDE, but they recently branded them as PhpStorm and WebStorm.
I have been using RubyMine for all my Rails development with some TextMate here and there. I am currently learning Python, but have yet to use PyCharm. As for PHP Development, I really enjoy using Espresso on the Mac, but I think I will give PhpStorm and WebStorm another shot given the new enhancements and bug fixes that have come out recently.
If you are a PHP or Html Web Developer, you may want to give WebStorm and PhpStorm a shot. Learn more here.
We will be looking at a few of these tools at the Sarasota Web Developer Group as we expose developers to other tools and web development frameworks.
David Hayden