63 ASP.NET MVC interview questions to ask talented programmers 

ASP.NET MVC is a web framework developers use for the model-view-controller (MVC) architecture. It is an open-source platform that helps developers build scalable and maintainable web applications efficiently. Therefore, it’s essential to hire a professional programmer or developer who feels comfortable navigating this framework. 

You can use an ASP.NET test to learn more about candidates’ web development skills and experience. Skills assessments are a great tool for identifying top talent among a group of job applicants so that you can shortlist them for the interview stage. 

Using a skills test will also: 

• Reduce bias in hiring 

• Improve the candidate experience 

• Save time in recruitment 

• Reduce the risk of making poor hires 

Finding the right interview questions is another important part of the hiring process. Do you need some inspiration? Look through our list of 63 ASP.NET MVC interview questions to hire the right candidate for your company.

20 ASP.NET MVC interview questions to ask beginners 

Check out these 20 ASP.NET MVC interview questions to ask beginner candidates with minimal work experience in web development. 

1. What is ASP.NET MVC?

2. What are the advantages of MVC?

3. Explain the life cycle of an MVC application. 

4. How do you perform routing in the MVC pattern? 

5. Can you define MVC?

6. What is a partial view in MVC? 

7. State the differences between a view and a partial view. 

8. What are the different return types of a controller action method?

9. Name two ways to add constraints to a route. 

10. What are the drawbacks of the ASP.NET MVC model?

11. What is the difference between TempData, ViewData, and ViewBag?

12. How do you maintain sessions in MVC?

13. What is the purpose of ActionFilters in MVC?

14. What are the steps to create a request object?

15. Explain the roles of presentation, abstraction, and control in MVC. 

16. What are the three important segments for routing?

17. Can you explain the page life cycle of MVC?

18. Define view logic. 

19. What is DispatcherServlet?

20. What is the database-first approach using the entity framework?

If you need more ideas, head on to our selection of the best Entity Framework interview questions

5 sample answers to beginner-friendly ASP.NET MVC interview questions

Refer to these sample answers to beginner-friendly ASP.NET MVC interview questions when narrowing down your list of candidates. 

1. What is ASP.NET MVC?

Interviewees should know that ASP.NET MVC is a web application framework that helps programmers and developers build applications using software engineering architecture. It uses the MVC pattern, which stands for model-view-controller, to separate a computer program into distinguishable parts. 

2. What are the advantages of MVC?

MVC is a popular architectural pattern that has many benefits for web development. The ideal candidate will have some experience using MVC and understand how to use it to build web applications. 

Here are some advantages of MVC: 

• The user interface displays multiple views of data 

• Clean separation of the model, data, and business logic 

• Speeds up the development process

• Integrates with JavaScript 

• Provides better testability and support 

• SEO-friendly platform for web pages 

Send applicants a UX/UI Design test to determine how much they know about developing user interfaces and creating websites or mobile applications that focus on the customer experience. 

3. What is the difference between TempData, ViewData, and ViewBag?

Even candidates with little experience should still understand the different components of MVC. In their response, each applicant may provide definitions or give examples of how they would use these features in a web application. 

Here are definitions for each of these terms:

• TempData: Software engineers can use the TempDataDictionary class to pass data through each request. It holds on to the information and transfers data between controllers or actions. TempData stores temporary information before removing it after the request is completed. 

• ViewData: This feature stores internal information. It uses typecasting to form complex data types and prevent errors in the system. You can only use ViewData for a current request that contains key-value pairs in a dictionary. 

• ViewBag: This dynamic property passes data from a controller to the desired view. This temporary data also enables you to share values without the need for typecasting or a complex data type. 

4. State the differences between a view and a partial view.

Interviewees should explain what view and partial view mean in ASP.NET MVC. Their answers will reveal how much they know about the web framework. 

Below are the definitions of these components: 

• View: In the context of MVC, the view is responsible for rendering an app’s interface and showing data to users. It usually contains HTML markup along with server-side code. It generates the HTML output displayed in the user’s web browser.

• Partial view: On the other hand, a partial view is an independent, modular view component that can be included within another view. It can render HTML output within another file’s rendered output. Many app developers use partial views to reuse parts of a UI across different views. 

5. Explain the roles of presentation, abstraction, and control in MVC.

ASP.NET MVC has several unique components that candidates should be aware of. Test their knowledge by asking about presentation, abstraction, and control. These components play a huge role in web development, so it’s important to hire the right person who has sufficient knowledge of these features. 

The roles of presentation, abstraction, and control are as follows: 

• Presentation: This component focuses on the visual representation of the user interface in an application. It contains MVC controllers, views, static files, JavaScript, and other popular frameworks like Angular and Knockout. 

• Abstraction: The abstraction component is responsible for handling and processing the application’s data independent of its visual representation. 

• Control: The control component of MVC handles the flow of control between the presentation and abstraction components. It determines the appropriate action in response to user input.

18 intermediate ASP.NET MVC interview questions to ask job applicants 

Use these 18 intermediate ASP.NET MVC interview questions to better understand applicants’ skills, work experience, and knowledge of web application development. 

1. Define ORM and how it works in ASP.NET MVC. 

2. What is Web API? 

3. How would you implement Ajax in MVC?

4. Define separation of concerns. 

5. What are the different properties of MVC routes?

6. What is the significance of NonActionAttribute?

7. How do you handle an error in MVC? 

8. What is ViewStart?

9. What are the GET and POST action types?

10. Explain some of the rules of Razor syntax. 

11. Discuss two instances in which you cannot use routing in MVC. 

12. How would you describe RenderBody and RenderPage? 

13. Explain the concept of default route in MVC. 

14. Give me some benefits of using areas in MVC. 

15. How are Visual Studio and MVC related?

16. How do you register a route pattern? 

17. What are the different types of validators?

18. What is forms authentication, and why do we need it? 

5 sample answers to intermediate ASP.NET MVC interview questions

Below are sample answers you can compare with applicants’ responses to the intermediate ASP.NET MVC interview questions. 

1. Define ORM and how it works in ASP.NET MVC.

ORM refers to object-relational mapping, a technique software engineers use to map data between a relational database and object-oriented programming. This forms a virtual object database so that programmers can interact with databases using object-oriented concepts.

2. What is Web API?

ASP.NET Web API is a framework for building services based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). It enables developers to build RESTful APIs that can be used for web applications. 

Send applicants a REST API test to gain a basic understanding of their programming skills and ability to maintain a scalable application programming interface. 

3. What are the GET and POST action types?

Interviewees should understand these methods and how they work in ASP.NET MVC. Those with more experience may provide examples of how they may use GET and POST to manage data in the programming framework. 

You can refer to the definitions below: 

• GET: This action type retrieves data from a server by sending a request. Developers use GET to read or retrieve information from a specified resource. GET requests have length restrictions and should not be used for sensitive data.

• POST: You can use this action to send data to a server to create or update a resource. POST requests aren’t restricted in terms of data length, though large amounts of data may require more time for processing and data encapsulation.

4. Give me some benefits of using areas in MVC.

Areas are a way of separating distinct modules in an application. Software developers can use areas to break a large app down into smaller modules when coding or organizing files with important information. 

Some benefits of using areas in MVC include:

• Enhances organization for models, views, and controllers in separate functions of the application 

• Provides easier integration with other areas in the web framework 

• Improves code reusability by encapsulating related functionality

5. Explain some of the rules of Razor syntax.

Razor is a markup syntax that programming professionals can use for embedding code. It has a default view engine that doesn’t interrupt coding or block servers in HTML links. The markup is simple to use, making it especially good for beginners. It also enables programmers to mix server-side code and HTML in C#. 

Here are some of the rules of Razor syntax:

• Razor code blocks are enclosed in @{ }

• Arranged expressions (variables and functions) start with @

• Code statements end with a semicolon

• Variables are declared with the var keyword 

• Strings are enclosed with quotation marks 

• C# code is case sensitive

Consider sending candidates a C# algorithms test to see how they would use Razor syntax in this programming language. 

25 advanced ASP.NET MVC interview questions to ask senior programmers

Choose from this list of 25 advanced ASP.NET MVC interview questions to learn more about senior programmers and their experience in the programming field. 

1. How is state management handled in ASP.NET MVC?

2. How do you perform exception handling? 

3. When should you use Html.Partial in MVC?

4. How do you return a JSON response from an action method? 

5. Define Spring MVC. 

6. What do you understand by model binding?

7. If you place the log.txt file in the ~/bin/ folder of an ASP.NET MVC application, will it affect the app?

8. Define output caching in MVC. 

9. Share some benefits of using an IoC container in an application.

10. Give some examples of file extensions you can use for Razor views. 

11. What are non-action methods in MVC?

12. Which is better: Razor or ASPX?

13. What is Glimpse?

14. How can you navigate from one view to another using a hyperlink?

15. What are the potential constraints to a route?

16. Can you automate manual testing and write a unit test?

17. What is the difference between WCF and Web API and WCF REST and Web Service?

18. How do you create a route table in ASP.NET MVC? 

19. Explain dependency resolution in MVC. 

20. What are HTML helpers? 

21. Can you share a view across multiple controllers? 

22. Name some of the newest features in ASP.NET MVC.

23. What purpose does the standard route resource.axd/*pathinfo serve?

24. How can you use MVC architecture in JSP?

25. What file formats do Razor views support?

8 sample answers to advanced ASP.NET MVC interview questions

Revisit these sample answers to advanced ASP.NET MVC questions to ensure you hire the right candidate for your team. 

1. Define Spring MVC. 

Spring MVC is a type of Java framework that follows an MCV pattern. It can help developers build web applications more easily by providing benefits like clear separation of roles, reusable business code, and customizable binding and validation.

The core Spring framework also revolves around DispatcherServlet, which is the front controller for processing requests and rendering views for the application. 

2. Share some benefits of using an IoC container in an application.

IoC stands for inversion of control, a design pattern that manages the flow of control in a computer program. It involves transferring control over object creation and management to an IoC container. This question can help you better understand candidates’ programming skills and knowledge of design patterns. 

Some benefits of using an IoC container include the following: 

• Manages dependencies between different program components

• Secure design pattern for application development 

• Reduces the amount of code 

• Makes code easier to test and maintain

• Decreases coupling between components

3. If you place the log.txt file in the ~/bin/ folder of an ASP.NET MVC application, will it affect the app?

Candidates should know not to put log files in the ~/bin/ folder because it could trigger errors in ASP.NET MVC. It may also cause a pool restart, which terminates any pending requests and increases the risk of bugs, memory leaks, coding errors, and application crashes. 

4. How do you return a JSON response from an action method?

JSON is an open standard file format that acts as a payload for a web service. It uses a response stream to generate requests and respond to the action method. Interviewees should mention that returning JSON can help them transmit data in specific web applications. 

Here is a way of returning the JSON response from the action method: 

public JsonResult sample()

{

string send = “yes”;

return Json(send, JsonRequestBehavior.AllowGet);

}

5. How is state management handled in ASP.NET MVC?

Candidates with more experience should be able to understand how state management is handled in this framework. Unlike ASP.NET Web Forms, ASP.NET MVC takes a stateless approach. Instead, it uses model binding, TempData, and session state for state management, giving programmers more control over how data is stored and retrieved.

Send candidates a Working with Data test to see how they read and manipulate data using ASP.NET MVC while avoiding errors. 

6. Name some of the newest features in ASP.NET MVC.

Candidates who stay up to date with ASP.NET MVC should know about the framework’s latest features. This question will reveal whether they have enough knowledge of the web application framework. For a bonus point, interviewees should explain each feature and how it may benefit development. 

Below are some new features in ASP.NET MVC: 

• Attribute routing: There has been a recent change in how the system handles incoming requests. Any requests go straight to the file on the dedicated web server. One-to-one mapping helps software developers define routes and create action methods for pattern maps with URLs. 

• New default MVC template: Microsoft replaced the default template with the open-source CSS framework Bootstrap. Developers now have the opportunity to choose from several styling options when designing code in ASP.NET MVC. 

• Better identity management: The new management system automatically manages authentication and the identity of users. Built-in features, such as logic, can enable more integration with third-party apps. 

7. What purpose does the standard route resource.axd/*pathinfo serve?

The standard route resource.axd/*pathinfo can prevent specific requests from reaching a controller in MVC. It blocks additional processing of the request and locates missing URL parameters. You can stop requests for web files such as WebResource.axd or ScriptResource.axd to serve scripts in the web programming network. 

8. How do you create a route table in ASP.NET MVC?

This question tests a candidate’s knowledge of routing in MVC. Offer them the chance to write down their response to avoid receiving a complicated verbal answer. Remember to keep each response to ensure you hire an applicant with strong programming skills and work experience. 

Creating a route table involves two steps: 

1. Register the route using RegisterRoutes()

2. Add the route to Application_Start() by using the Global.asax file

When should you use ASP.NET MVC interview questions in your hiring process?

We recommend you use ASP.NET MVC interview questions after getting candidates to complete relevant skills tests. Conducting your hiring process in this order ensures you’re only interviewing applicants with top skills and knowledge of computer programming and web frameworks.

For example, you could send candidates a Software Engineer test to see how they navigate programming languages and data structures. If you want to learn more about their mindset, the 16 Types personality test can give you insight into their decision-making processes and personal challenges. 

Use the test results to better understand job applicants and acquire interesting talking points for each interview. 

For what roles can you use ASP.NET MVC interview questions? 

Since ASP.NET MVC is a web framework, you should use these interview questions to learn more about candidates applying for computer programming roles like the following:

• Software engineers

• Programming specialists

• Full-stack web developers

• .NET developers

• Computer programmers

• Software developers

• Systems analysts

• Front-end developers

• Data scientists

• Cloud engineers 

In this article, we have provided questions for interviewees at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. This enables you to choose questions that match each applicant’s skills and level of expertise.

Remember that it’s important to ask the right questions so that candidates feel comfortable in the interview. 

Hire top talent using our skills tests and interview questions

Our test library provides a range of unique and comprehensive tests that can enhance your hiring process. When searching for tests to include in a skills assessment, you can filter tests by various test types, such as situational judgment or software skills. 

Use skills tests like our ASP.NET test to identify developers and programmers who can use web frameworks effectively. 

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