"Model" in MVC

The "Model" in Model-View-Controller architecture does not refer to the application data model. It refers to the user interface model underlying each widget.

Think of a text box that accepts date values. When the user types "2006-" and then pauses, the application doesn't yet have a date, so it doesn't have anything to put in its data model. The string "2006-" isn't stored somewhere in the view; it's stored in the model that backs the UI.

To integrate your UI and your data model, you've got to use data binding code, like the jgoodies derived data binding code. It would seem that MVC is more about UI framework implementation than interface.

This explains why it's so cumbersome to switch between GUI widgets that would appear to represent the same data, like a select box and a group of radio buttons. It'd actually be against the MVC philosophy to support this, because it'd put artificial constraints on the respective widget models.