How does the MVC pattern differ, if at all, from the DAL / BLL design pattern?

model-view-controller data-access-layer bll
Martin Doms picture Martin Doms · Nov 6, 2008 · Viewed 10.8k times · Source

I'm making my way through the early Data Access Tutorials on Microsoft's ASP.NET website and it occurred to me that this all seems awfully similar to what I have read about separating your logic and presentation code using the MVC pattern. As a newbie I have yet to implement the MVC pattern but I'm curious as to how these two design structures differ and if I should be focusing my attention on one or the other, particularly in the context of web design.

Answer

tvanfosson picture tvanfosson · Nov 6, 2008

MVC addresses more than just data access. In MVC, both the DAL and BLL is incorporated into the Model. The view defines how the model data is presented to the user, while the controller is what responds to user inputs (GET/POST on the web).

An alternative to MVC is a classic N-tier architecture where you have a presentation layer, a business layer, and a data access layer. In this architecture, the components of the view and controller are wrapped together in the presentation layer. WebForms/WinForms is an example of the N-tier architecture, while ASP.Net MVC is an example of MVC in the Microsoft space.

Related questions

Separation of business logic and data access in django

I am writing a project in Django and I see that 80% of the code is in the file models.py. This code is confusing and, after a certain time, I cease to understand what is really happening. Here is what …

Read More
Difference between Data Access Layer and Model in MVC

I have implemented what I thought was a pretty decent representation of MVC in several web applications but since having joined crackoverflow, I'm finding that perhaps my initial definitions were a bit simplistic and thus I'd really like some clarification …

Read More
What is the difference between DAL, DTO and DAO in a 3 tier architecture style including with MVC

Recently I was learning about ORM (Object Relational Mapping) and the 3 tier architecture style (presentation,business and data persistence). If I understand correctly, I can separate the data persistence layer into DTO and DAO layer. I would like to understand, …

Read More