Workflow with an new ASP.NET Core MVC Project

.NET Core Prerequisites

Ideally, you have to have a number of components installed on your system (Windows | Linux | MacOS):

• .NET Core
• .NET Core SDK
• Node.js

---

Create a new minimal ASP.NET Core project

IMPORTANT!

When working with Visual Studio as IDE, make sure that - AT ALL TIMES! - you can run your application both from inside the Visual Studio by pressing Ctrl + F5, and from the command prompt by executing dotnet run command.

Dotnet Command Line Version

• Create a new project directory and CD to it:

mkdir myproj && cd myproj

• Create the default initial project:

dotnet new

• Restore the default dependencies:

dotnet restore

• Run the project and see the Hello World! message:

dotnet run

Visual Studio 2015 Version

Start Visual Studio. Click on File | New | Project. In the Templates choose Visual C# | .NET Core and then ASP.NET Core Web Application (.NET Core). Browse to the root location for your new solution. Choose a nice name for it, e.g. MyGreatApp. Click the OK button. Choose now the empty ASP.NET Core template.

The solution is created. Wait for the dependencies to be installed. Build and run the solution with Ctrl + F5. When the browser starts, you will see the Hello World! message.

You can also start the command prompt in the MyGreatApp/Src/MyGreatApp folder. Run this command:

dotnet restore && dotnet run

Browse to the localhost:5000 and you will see the Hello World! message.

Dependencies

Versions are constantly changing

ASP.NET Core is constantly being developed and new versions of different components are being released. Therefore, the versions stated below can get outdated at any moment. If you wish to upgrade a version, you have to install the referenced component first.

Project.json

You can start with this configuration:

{
    "version": "1.0.0-*",
    "description": "Your best description of the application",
    "authors": [ "Your Name" ],
    "packOptions": {
        "tags": [ "" ],
        "projectUrl": "",
        "licenseUrl": ""
    },

    "dependencies": {
        "Microsoft.NETCore.App": {
            "version": "1.1.*",
            "type": "platform"
        },
        "Microsoft.AspNetCore.Diagnostics": "1.1.0",
        "Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc": "1.1.0",
        "Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Tools": {
            "version": "1.1.0-preview4-final",
            "type": "build"
        },
        "Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.IISIntegration": "1.1.0",
        "Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel": "1.1.0",
        "Microsoft.AspNetCore.StaticFiles": "1.1.0",
        "Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console": "1.1.0",
        "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.BrowserLink.Loader": "14.1.0",
        "System.Net.Http": "4.3.0"
    },

    "tools": {
        "Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.IISIntegration.Tools": "1.0.0-preview2-final"
    },

    "frameworks": {
        "netcoreapp1.0": {
            "imports": [
                "dotnet5.6",
                "portable-net45+win8",
                "dnxcore50"
            ]
        }
    },

    "buildOptions": {
        "emitEntryPoint": true,
        "preserveCompilationContext": true
    },

    "runtimes": {
        "win81-x64": {},
        "win7-x64": {},
        "osx.10.12-x64": {}
    },

    "runtimeOptions": {
        "configProperties": {
            "System.GC.Server": true
        }
    },

    "publishOptions": {
        "include": [
            "wwwroot",
            "web.config"
        ]
    },

    "scripts": {
        "postpublish": [
          "dotnet publish-iis --publish-folder %publish:OutputPath% --framework %publish:FullTargetFramework%"
        ]
    }
}

Global.json

When you install the .NET Core SDK on Windows, it shows up in C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk folder. Using the “sdk” option, we can override the default version.

{
  "projects": [ "src", "test" ],
  "sdk": {
    "version": "1.0.0-preview2-1-003177"
  }
}

Bower.json

If you need Bootstrap 3 for the styling of your website, add this bower.json file in the project root.

{
    "name": "asp.net",
    "private": true,
    "dependencies": {
      "bootstrap": "3.3.*"
    }
}

Program.cs

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
using System.IO;

namespace NNMeta
{
    public class Program
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            var host = new WebHostBuilder()
                .UseKestrel()
                .UseContentRoot(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
                .UseIISIntegration()
                .UseStartup<Startup>()
                .Build();

            host.Run();
        }
    }
}

Startup.cs

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;

namespace NNMeta
{
    public class Startup
    {
        public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
        {
            services.AddMvc();
        }

        public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env, ILoggerFactory loggerFactory)
        {
            if (env.IsDevelopment())
            {
                app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
            }

            app.UseStaticFiles();
            app.UseMvcWithDefaultRoute();
        }
    }
}

---

Controllers/HomeController.cs

using System.Collections.Generic;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

namespace NNMeta.Controllers
{
    public class HomeController : Controller
    {
        public ViewResult Index()
            => View(new Dictionary<string, string>
            {
                ["Message1"] = "This is the first message from the Index action",
                ["Message2"] = "This is the second message from the Index action"
            });
    }
}

Views/_ViewImports.cshtml

@addTagHelper *, Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.TagHelpers

Views/Home/Index.cshtml

@model Dictionary<string, string>
@{ Layout = null; }
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
  <link asp-href-include="~/lib/bootstrap/dist/css/*.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />
  <title>Result</title>
</head>
<body class="panel-body">
  <table class="table table-condensed table-bordered table-striped">
    <tr>
      @foreach (var kvp in Model)
      {
          <th>@kvp.Key</th>
      }
    </tr>
    <tr>
      @foreach (var kvp in Model)
      {
          <td>@kvp.Value</td>
      }
    </tr>
  </table>
</body>
</html>