Documentation

The goal is to provide a means of ad-hoc wiki-like editing of the content and view files in a web app. As this is done in a browser it can be a convenient way to edit text, layout, or style from any computer without starting visual studio. It's similar in that way to the admin screens on wordpress which make changes to theme and stylesheet files.

A secondary goal is to be able to review the screens that have been captured like a slideshow. Because the ViewData is being captured as you navigate your web application, MvcPlastic is able to use that real-world information when it's reproducing the screens you see.

As view and content files are updated the screens will immediately reflect those changes. At no time will any controller actions be invoked and there are no forms being resubmitted. This is a perfectly safe way to fine-tune the appearance of things like confirmation screens without needing to step through an entire data entry workflow to see the results of each change.

Changes are saved in the project's source location, so they can be reviewed and committed using normal source control tools.

Screen shots

After navigating to the "/plastic" controller you'll see a brief history of captured pages.

Clicking any of them, or going to "/plastic/last", will render the view and indicate which file would be most relevant for editing edit. Using Prior, Next, and Last you can navigate the captured screens like a slide show.

(Note: The site is displayed in an iframe and can be used interactively. If you do so, be sure to click Last to point plastic at the most recent page before clicking Edit.)

Editing shows a large textarea with the current file contents. The form can also be moved around and minimized to see the site at the same time.

(Note: You can edit any file at any time by clicking it in the left sidebar. The Edit button is simply a shortcut for clicking the file where the name and folder match the action and controller of the page you're viewing.)

After saving changes the view is re-rendered to display the results. The editing form is still present, minimized, and at this time you can "Show" to continue editing or click Close, return to the History, or otherwise navigate away.