Asp.net MVC model binding to List<T>

Asp.net MVC is really a great platform to build performant and very controllable web applications. But sometimes some functionality is scarcely documented if at all. Internet proves (thank you Google) to be an invaluable wealth of information in this regard since other developers are usually solving similar problems. But sometimes you either don't find usable information or you want to test things for yourself as well and learn something new as you go along.

Something similar happened to me on my previous project. I had to dynamically generate a list of objects in the browser and then reliably POST them back to web server so that data would be reliably model bound and validated as well. I wanted to avoid manual validation at all costs because it would unnecessarily overcomplicate server code.

Writing a custom IHttpModule that handles Application_OnStart event

If you've been developing Asp.net web applications you've probably come across the IHttpModule interface, that makes it possible to write reusable request-level event handlers. The same thing can of course be done by writing event handlers inside the Global.asax codebehind, but then you wouldn't be able to reuse the same code unless you do a copy/paste.

But Global.asax codebehind has one particular advantage over your custom modules: it can also attach to application-level events like application start event for instance. As per documentation, this is not possible with a custom module. Or so I thought...

// I need my own blogpublic void Blog_Start(object sender, EventArgs e){…}

Blogs have been around for a long time (at least by others), but until recently I haven't really given it a serious thought of starting my own. I simply didn't really know what to write about and I would spectacularly fail in writing my own memoires or something similar.