ASP.NET Core WishList Application

The ASP.NET Core WishList Application is designed to allow users to create their own wishlists, and other users to mark that they are buying those items in such a way the owner of the wish list isn't able to see, while other users are able to see. This application is designed using the Model View Controller design pattern.

Note: This project is the first in a series of four projects, this project will cover taking an empty ASP.NET Core web application, setting up it's middleware to support MVC and EntityFramework, then creating a simple single user wishlist application.

Setup the Application

If you want to use Visual Studio

If you want to use Visual Studio (highly recommended) follow the following steps:

• If you already have Visual Studio installed make sure you have .Net Core installed by running the "Visual Studio Installer" and making sure ".NET Core cross-platform development" is checked
• Open the .sln file in visual studio
• If you need to install visual studio download it at https://www.microsoft.com/net/download/ (If you're using Windows you'll want to check "ASP.NET" and ".NET Core cross-platform development" on the workloads screen during installation.)
• To run the application simply press the Start Debug button (green arrow) or press F5
• If you're using Visual Studio on Windows, to run tests open the Test menu, click Run, then click on Run all tests (results will show up in the Test Explorer)
• If you're using Visual Studio on macOS, to run tests, select the WishListTests Project, then go to the Run menu, then click on Run Unit Tests (results will show up in the Unit Tests panel)

(Note: All tests should fail! It's ok. This is supposed to happen. As you complete the project, more of the tests will pass. When you complete the project, all tests should pass)

If you don't plan to use Visual studio

If you would rather use something other than Visual Studio

• Install the .Net Core SDK from https://www.microsoft.com/net/download/core once that installation completes you're ready to roll!
• To run the application go into the WishList project folder and type dotnet run
• To run the tests go into the WishListTests project folder and type dotnet test

Features you will implement

• Setup and configure middleware to support MVC
• Create the ability to view your wishlist
• Create the ability add items to your wish list
• Create the ability to remove items from your wishlist

Tasks necessary to complete implementation:

Note: this isn't the only way to accomplish this, however; this is what the project's tests are expecting. Implementing this in a different way will likely result in being marked as incomplete / incorrect.

• Creating ASP.NET Core Application from scratch
  • Add Middleware/Configuration to Startup.cs
    • In the Startup.cs file add support for the MVC middleware and configure it to have a default route.
      • In the ConfigureServices method call AddMvc on services to add support for MVC middleware.
      • In the Configure method remove the app.Run entirely and add a call to UseRouting() on app.
      • In the Configure method after UseRouting add a call to UseEndpoints() on app with an argument of endpoints => { endpoints.MapDefaultControllerRoute(); }
    • In the Startup.cs file add support for developer exception pages and user friendly error pages.
      • In the Configure method before UseRouting add a condition that checks if env is set to Development using IsDevelopement.
        • If Development it should call UseDeveloperExceptionPage on app to get better detailed error pages.
        • Otherwise, it should call UseExceptionHandler on app and pass it the argument "/Home/Error". Next, we'll create the generic Error page provided by this method.
  • Create Home Views and HomeController
    • Create Home Views
      • Create a Generic Welcome View
        • Create a new view Index in the WishList/Views/Home folder. (you will need to make some of these folders)
        • The Index View should contain an h1 tag welcoming the user. (Note: you should remove any generated HTML from this new view and any other views you create)
      • Create a Generic Error View
        • Create a new view Error in the WishList/Views/Shared folder.
          • This view should contain a p tag saying "An error has occurred. Please try again."
    • Create the HomeController
      • Create a new Controller HomeController inside the Controllers folder (you might need to create this folder)
        • This should inherit the Controller class (you will need to add a using statement for the Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc namespace)
      • Create a new Action Index in the HomeController
        • This action should have a return type of IActionResult.
        • The return statement should return the Index view (specify the "Index" view in your return statement).
      • Create a new Action Error in the HomeController
        • This action should have a return type of IActionResult.
        • The return statement should return the Error view (specify the "Error" view in your return statement).
  • Note: The application is now viewable in your browser!
  • Create Item Model With EntityFramework Support
    • Add EntityFramework support
      • Create a class ApplicationDbContext that inherits the DbContext class in the "WishList/Data" folder. (you will need to make some of these folders) (Note : DbContext exists in the Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore namespace)
      • Add a Constructor that accepts a parameter of type DbContextOptions options and invokes the base constructor (you can do this by adding : base(options) after the method signature)
    • In the Startup class's ConfigureServices method add EntityFramework support.
      • Call AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext> on services with the argument options => options.UseInMemoryDatabase("WishList") to point EntityFramework to the application's DbContext. (Note : You will need to add a using statement for WishList.Data)
    • Create the Item model.
      • Create a new class Item in the "WishList/Models" folder (You might need to create this folder)
        • This class should contain a public property Id of type int.
        • This class should contain a public property Description of type string.
        • The Description property should have attributes of Required and MaxLength(50). (Note : You'll need to add a using statement for System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.)
      • In the ApplicationDbContext class add new public property Items of type DbSet<Item>. (Note : You'll need to add a using statement for WishList.Models.)
  • Create "Item" Views
    • Add support for Tag Helpers and Layout
      • Create a New View _ViewImports in the WishList/Views folder.
        • This view should contain @addTagHelper *, Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.TagHelpers.
      • Create a New View _ViewStart in the WishList/Views folder.
        • This view should contain @{ Layout = "_Layout"; }. (Note : We've provided a very basic layout for you, this layout contains some basic CSS and jQuery.)
    • Create a "Create" View
      • Create a new view "Create" in the "WishList/Views/Item" folder. (You will need to make some of these folders)
        • This view should use a model of Item. (You'll need to use the full WishList.Models.Item not just Item)
        • This view should contain an h3 tag saying "Add item to wishlist".
        • This view should have a form tag containing the attribute asp-action set to "create".
        • Inside the form tag create an input tag with the attribute asp-for set to "Description".
        • Inside the form tag create a span tag with the attribute asp-validation-for set to "Description".
        • Inside the form tag create an button tag with the attribute type set to "submit" and text "Add Item".
    • Create the Item's "Index" View
      • Create a new View "Index" in the "WishList/Views/Item" folder
        • This view should use a model of List<Item>. (You'll need to use the full WishList.Models.Item not just Item)
        • This view should have an h1 tag containing "Wishlist".
        • After the h1 tag add an a tag with an attribute asp-action with a value of create with the text "Add item".
        • Create a ul tag that ul tag should contain a razor foreach loop that will iterate through each item of type Item in Model
        • Each iteration should contain an li tag that provides the Item's Description property followed by an a tag.
        • The a tag should have the attributes asp-action set to "delete" and asp-route-id set to the Item's Id property with the text of the a tag being "delete".
    • In Home's Index view add an a tag with attributes asp-action set to "Index" and asp-controller set to "Item" with text "View wishlist".
  • Create ItemController and it's Actions
    • Create a new Controller ItemController inside the Controllers folder that inherits the Controller class from Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc
      • Create a private readonly field _context of type ApplicationDbContext. (Do not instantiate it at this time) (Note : You will need to add a using statement to WishList.Data.)
      • Create a new constructor that accepts a parameter of type ApplicationDbContext
        • This constructor should set _context to the provided ApplicationDbContext parameter.
      • Create a new Action Index in the ItemController.
        • This action should have a return type of IActionResult.
        • This action should return the item's "Index" view. (Explicitly specify the view in the return statement)
        • This action should provide the "Index" view with a model of type List<Item> that contains all items in _context.Items.
      • Create a new Action Create in the ItemController.
        • This action should have an attribute HttpGet.
        • This action should have a return type of IActionResult.
        • This action should return the "Create" view. (Explicitly specify the view in the return statement)
      • Create a new Action Create in the ItemController.
        • This action should have an attribute HttpPost.
        • This action should accept a parameter of type Item.
        • This action should have a return type of IActionResult.
        • This action should add the provided Item to _context.Items (Note : Don't forget to SaveChanges!)
        • This action should RedirectToAction to the Index action.
      • Create a new Action Delete in the ItemController.
        • This action should accept an int parameter named "Id";
        • This action should return a type of IActionResult.
        • This action should get the Item to be deleted from _context.Items then use _context.Items
        • This action should remove the Item with the matching Id property from _context.Items. (Note : Don't forget to SaveChanges!)
        • This action should RedirectToAction to the Index action.

What Now?

Now is a good time to continue on with other ASP.NET Core courses to expand your understanding of the ASP.NET Core framework. You could also take a look at the Microsoft Azure for Developers path as Azure is often used with ASP.NET Core applications.