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Building a Jokes App with ASP.NET Core

May 12, 2025

ASP.NET Crash Course

Introduction

  • Instructor: Chad Sluter, Professor of Computer Science and Software Development at Grand Canyon University.
  • Course duration: Approximately 1 hour.
  • Objective: Build a database-driven web application using ASP.NET Core and C#.
  • Application to be built: A CRUD jokes app (Create, Read, Update, Delete operations).

Course Overview

  • ASP.NET Core: Microsoft's open-source framework for building web applications.
  • MVC Pattern: Model, View, Controller design for separating application concerns.
  • Database Setup: Registration, login, and page security.
  • Audience: Intermediate programmers familiar with C#, object-oriented programming, databases, SQL, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

ASP.NET Core and Its Relevance

  • Developed by Microsoft to build web applications with C#.
  • Competitors include Java Spring, PHP Laravel, and Python Flask.
  • ASP.NET is used in enterprise-level applications and can lead to well-paying jobs.
  • .NET Framework: Microsoft's platform for various types of applications, similar to Java's virtual machine.
  • Active Server Pages (ASP): Dynamic web pages running on servers.
  • Core: Open-source, cross-platform version of ASP.NET, supporting Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Building a Jokes Application

Application Overview

  • The application allows users to manage jokes with a database.
  • Features include listing, searching, adding, editing, and deleting jokes.
  • Users must log in to create or edit jokes.

Setup and Project Creation

Tools Used

  • Visual Studio on Windows.
  • Project type: ASP.NET Core Web Application with MVC.
  • Authentication setup for individual user accounts.

Initial Setup

  • Controllers and Views: Home and Privacy pages are pre-generated.
  • Models: Data classes representing application data.

Models, Views, and Controllers (MVC)

Models

  • Classes that define the structure of data.
  • Example: Joke class with properties Id, JokeQuestion, JokeAnswer.

Views

  • Web pages using Razor syntax to dynamically display data.
  • Example: Creating forms for user input and displaying lists of data.

Controllers

  • Handle logic and user requests.
  • Example: HomeController and JokesController handling respective actions.

Database Interaction

Migrations and Entity Framework

  • Migrations: Used to create and update the database based on model changes.
  • Entity Framework: ORM for database operations without writing SQL.
  • Steps: Enable migrations, add migration, update database.

Application Features

CRUD Operations

  • Create, Read, Update, Delete jokes using generated views and controllers.

Security and Authentication

  • Use [Authorize] attribute to restrict access to certain actions (e.g., creating jokes).

Navigation and UI

  • Modify Layout view to add navigation links for jokes and search.

Search Functionality

  • Create a search form and method in the JokesController to filter jokes.

CSS and Styling

  • Customize appearance using site.css.
  • Optionally use Bootstrap for styling.

Conclusion

  • Comprehensive overview of developing an ASP.NET Core application.
  • Encouragement to explore further job opportunities with the skills gained.
  • Final thoughts by Chad Sluter, encouraging further learning and application of these skills.

This course is a solid introduction to ASP.NET Core, useful for developing enterprise-level web applications, and provides foundational knowledge for further exploration in software development.

Full transcript