Handling multiple domain objects with Model-View-Controller

The Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture style separates software into models representing core functionality, views which display the models to the user, and controllers which let the user change the models. Although more sophisticated architectures have since been developed, MVC is interesting to explore because its simplicity makes it more acceptable to practitioners and it is beginning to become well-known in industry. However, MVC is rarely studied with regard to systems containing more than one domain model. Several issues are either ambiguous or missing in the literature. The distinction between views and controllers, the way model states are updated in a multiple-model architecture, and the creation of reusable domain-specific components. A program was developed to investigate these issues, and this paper documents the corresponding design decisions. MVC proved helpful in creating a multiple-model system with reusable components, although some weaknesses remain.