What is view engine in Asp.Net MVC?

In ASP.NET MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture, a view engine is responsible for rendering the user interface of an application based on the data provided by the controller. The view engine takes the data from the controller and generates the HTML markup that is sent to the user's browser.

The primary purpose of a view engine is to separate the presentation logic from the application's business logic. It allows developers to define the structure and layout of the user interface in a declarative manner without mixing it with the code that handles business logic.

ASP.NET MVC supports different view engines, and two of the most commonly used ones are:

1. Razor View Engine: This is the default view engine in ASP.NET MVC. Razor syntax allows you to embed server-side code (C# or VB.NET) directly into the HTML markup. It provides a clean and concise syntax for creating dynamic views.

   Example Razor syntax:

   <h1>Hello, @Model.Name!</h1>
   

2. Web Forms View Engine: This is based on the traditional ASP.NET Web Forms syntax. It uses the <% %> tags to embed server-side code within the HTML markup.

   Example Web Forms syntax:

   <h1>Hello, <%= Model.Name %>!</h1>
   

Regardless of the specific view engine used, the main function remains the same: to process the data provided by the controller and generate the appropriate HTML markup for the user interface. This separation of concerns makes it easier to maintain and scale applications, as changes to the user interface can be made independently of the underlying business logic.