Hierarchical Model–View–Controller

Hierarchical model–view–controller (HMVC) is a software architectural pattern, a variation of Model–view–controller (MVC) similar to Presentation-abstraction-control (PAC), that was published in 2000 in an article in JavaWorld Magazine, the authors apparently unaware of PAC which was published 13 years earlier. The main difference between HMVC and PAC is that HMVC is less strict in that it allows the view and model of each agent to communicate directly, thus bypassing the controller.

The controller has some oversight. The controller selects the model and then selects the view, so there is an approval mechanism by the controller. The model prevents the view from accessing the data source directly.