ASP.NET Core Recipes

Transcription

1 ASP.NET Core Recipes A Problem-Solution Approach Second Edition John Ciliberti

2 ASP.NET Core Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach John Ciliberti Sparta, New Jersey, USA ISBN-13 (pbk): ISBN-13 (electronic): DOI / Library of Congress Control Number: Copyright 2017 by John Ciliberti This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein. Cover image by Freepik ( Managing Director: Welmoed Spahr Editorial Director: Todd Green Acquisitions Editor: Todd Green Development Editor: Anne Marie Walker Technical Reviewer: Damien Foggon Coordinating Editor: Mark Powers Copy Editor: Kim Wimpsett Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media New York, 233 Spring Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY Phone SPRINGER, fax (201) , orders-ny@springer-sbm.com, or visit Apress Media, LLC is a California LLC and the sole member (owner) is Springer Science + Business Media Finance Inc (SSBM Finance Inc). SSBM Finance Inc is a Delaware corporation. For information on translations, please rights@apress.com, or visit rights-permissions. Apress titles may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use. ebook versions and licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Print and ebook Bulk Sales web page at Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to readers on GitHub via the book s product page, located at For more detailed information, please visit Printed on acid-free paper

3 Dedicated to my daughter Katrina who never takes my ipad so she can watch Netflix.

4 Contents at a Glance About the Author...xxi About the Technical Reviewer...xxiii Acknowledgments...xxv Introduction...xxvii Chapter 1: ASP.NET Core MVC Fundamentals... 1 Chapter 2: Getting Started with ASP.NET Core MVC Chapter 3: MVC Razor Syntax and HTML Helpers Chapter 4: Using Tag Helpers Chapter 5: Getting the Most from the New Features in ASP.NET Core MVC Chapter 6: Solution Design Using ASP.NET Core MVC Chapter 7: Test-Driven Development with ASP.NET Core MVC Chapter 8: Moving from Web Forms to ASP.NET Core MVC Chapter 9: Data Validation Using ASP.NET Core MVC Chapter 10: Securing Your ASP.NET Core MVC Application Chapter 11: Creating Modern User Experiences Using React.js and ASP.NET Core Appendix Index v

5 Contents About the Author...xxi About the Technical Reviewer...xxiii Acknowledgments...xxv Introduction...xxvii Chapter 1: ASP.NET Core MVC Fundamentals Understanding the Microsoft Web Development Ecosystem... 1 Problem... 1 Solution... 2 How It Works Understanding the MVC Pattern Problem Solution...11 How It Works Understanding the Differences Between MVC, MVVM, and MVP Problem Solution...15 How It Works Discovering the Features of ASP.NET Core MVC Problem Solution...17 How It Works vii

6 1-5. Understanding the Architecture of ASP.NET Core MVC Problem Solution...22 How It Works Understanding Models in ASP.NET Core MVC Problem Solution...30 How It Works Understanding Controllers and Actions in ASP.NET Core MVC Problem Solution...33 How It Works Understanding Page Routing in ASP.NET Core MVC Problem Solution...37 How It Works Understanding View Engines in ASP.NET Core MVC Problem Solution...40 How It Works Chapter 2: Getting Started with ASP.NET Core MVC Setting Up Your Development Environment Problem Solution...43 How It Works Determining Which Operating System to Use for Your Development Machine Problem Solution...48 How It Works viii

7 2-3. Creating a New ASP.NET Core MVC Application Using Visual Studio Problem Solution...50 How It Works Creating a New ASP.NET Core MVC Application Using dotnet.exe Problem Solution...51 How It Works Understanding the Structure of an ASP.NET Core MVC Project Problem Solution...53 How It Works Using Visual Studio s Debugging Windows to Debug an ASP.NET Core MVC Application Problem Solution...57 How It Works Setting a Conditional Breakpoint in an ASP.NET Core MVC Controller Problem Solution...60 How It Works Testing Your ASP.NET Core MVC Application Across Many Browsers at the Same Time Problem Solution...63 How It Works Editing Your Views and Layouts from Inside Internet Explorer Problem Solution...64 How It Works ix

8 Chapter 3: MVC Razor Syntax and HTML Helpers Understanding Razor Syntax Problem Solution...67 How It Works Creating an Action Link Problem Solution...75 How It Works Creating an Action Link to Another Controller Problem Solution...79 How It Works Creating an Action Link to Another Area Problem Solution...80 How It Works Creating an Action Link with Custom HTML Attributes Problem Solution...82 How It Works Creating an Action Link That Uses HTTPS Problem Solution...83 How It Works Creating Your Own Action Link for Creating HTTPS Links Problem Solution...84 How It Works x

9 3-8. Creating an Action Link with an Anchor Target Problem Solution...86 How It Works Creating an Image Link Problem Solution...90 How It Works Creating an Image Link Using a Bootstrap Glyphicon Problem Solution...90 How It Works Using HTML Helpers to Create HTML Form Elements Problem Solution...92 How It Works Using Strongly Typed HTML Helpers Problem Solution...95 How It Works Using Templated HTML Helpers Problem Solution...97 How It Works Creating an Inline Function in a Razor View Problem Solution...99 How It Works xi

10 Chapter 4: Using Tag Helpers Understanding Tag Helpers Problem Solution How It Works Creating Hyperlinks with the Anchor Tag Helper Problem Solution How It Works Building a Form Using the Form, Label, and Input Tag Helpers Problem Solution How It Works Data Binding a Nullable bool to an Option Tag Helper Problem Solution How It Works Creating a Drop-Down List with the Select Tag Helper Problem Solution How It Works Validating Input with Tag Helpers Problem Solution How It Works Improving Performance with the Cache Tag Helper Problem Solution How It Works xii

11 4-8. Using the Environment, Script, and Link Tag Helpers for Conditionally Rendering Script and Link Tags Problem Solution How It Works Creating a Custom Tag Helper Problem Solution How It Works Chapter 5: Getting the Most from the New Features in ASP.NET Core MVC Understanding NuGet with ASP.NET Core MVC Problem Solution How It Works Upgrading from ASP.NET MVC 5 to ASP.NET Core MVC Problem Solution How It Works Upgrading from Web API to ASP.NET MVC Problem Solution How It Works Creating a Tag Cloud Using a View Component Problem Solution How It Works Using the Inject Feature to Implement a Hit Counter Problem Solution How It Works xiii

12 Chapter 6: Solution Design Using ASP.NET Core MVC Developing Reference Architectures for ASP.NET Core MVC Applications Problem Solution How It Works Designing Your ASP.NET Core MVC Project for the Cloud Problem Solution Deploying an ASP.NET Core MVC Application in a Docker Container Problem Solution How It Works Creating a Data Access Layer Using Entity Framework Core Code First Problem Solution How It Works Creating a Data Access Layer Using Entity Framework Core Code First from an Existing Database Problem Solution How It Works Using the Repository and Unit of Work Patterns in Your Data Access Layer Problem Solution How It Works Using the Options Pattern to Simplify Configuration of Your ASP.NET Core MVC Application Problem Solution How It Works xiv

13 6-8. Using Areas to Organize a Large ASP.MVC Project Problem Solution How It Works Chapter 7: Test-Driven Development with ASP.NET Core MVC Adding an xunit Test Project to an ASP.NET Core Web Application Solution Problem Solution How It Works Creating Unit Tests for a Controller Problem Solution How It Works Understanding Test-Driven Development Strategies Problem Solution How It Works Simulating Calls to External Dependencies Using Moq Problem Solution How It Works Using the Inversion of Control and Constructor Injection Patterns with ASP.NET Core MVC Problem Solution How It Works Chapter 8: Moving from Web Forms to ASP.NET Core MVC Deciding Between Staying with Web Forms, a Full Rewrite, or Gradual Migration Problem Solution xv

14 8-2. Converting a Web Forms Page to MVC Problem Solution How It Works Creating a Custom Tag Helper That Mimics the ASP.NET Data List Control Problem Solution How It Works Creating a Data Grid with Paging, Sorting, and Filtering Support Problem Solution How It Works Creating a Data Grid That Allows Inline Editing Problem Solution How It Works Chapter 9: Data Validation Using ASP.NET Core MVC Validating Form Data Using Data Annotations Problem Solution How It Works Creating a Custom Validation Attribute Problem Solution How It Works Processing Custom Business Rules on an Entity by Implementing IValidatableObject Problem Solution How It Works xvi

15 9-4. Using Remote Validation Problem Solution How It Works Creating Complex Validation Rules Using Fluent Validation Problem Solution How It Works Chapter 10: Securing Your ASP.NET Core MVC Application Creating an ASP.NET Core Web Site That Uses ASP.NET Identity Core for Authentication and Authorization Problem Solution How It Works Adding Custom Fields to the ApplicationUser Class Problem Solution How It Works Allowing Users to Log In to Your ASP.NET Core Application Using Facebook Problem Solution How It Works Enabling Two-Factor Authorization in Your ASP.NET Core Application Problem Solution How It Works xvii

16 Chapter 11: Creating Modern User Experiences Using React.js and ASP.NET Core Understanding node.js and Bower Integration in the ASP.NET Core Project System Problem Solution How It Works Customizing the JavaScript Build Workflow in an ASP.NET Core Project Problem Solution How It Works Adding React to an ASP.NET Core Application Problem Solution How It Works Understanding React, JSX, ES6, Babel, and Webpack Problem Solution How It Works Adding Unit Testing and Static Code Analysis to a React Project Problem Solution How It Works Creating an SPA Using ASP.NET Core and React Problem Solution How It Works xviii

17 Appendix A-1. Installing SQL Server 2016 Developer Downloading Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Developer Installing Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Developer Installing SQL Server Management Tools A-2. Downloading and Installing the Sample Database Downloading the Database Backup File Restoring the Database Backup Using SSMS A-3. Adding ASP.NET Core Recipe s NuGet Repository to Visual Studio A-4. Installing Git A-5. Cloning the ASP.NET Core Recipes Git Repository Checking for Updates Reporting Issues and Asking Questions Index xix

18 About the Author John Ciliberti is a principal software engineer at Express Scripts. He has 16 years of professional experience in software engineering and architecture. After four years at Express Scripts, seven years with KPMG s Enterprise Architecture practice, and five years of solutions architecture consulting, he has acquired strong business and communications skills backed up by a broad range of technical knowledge. He specializes in machine learning, enterprise architecture, and web application development technologies. xxi

19 About the Technical Reviewer Damien Foggon is technical director and lead developer for Thing-E Ltd., a company specializing in the development of dynamic web solutions for the education sector. He was responsible for the development of several ASP and ColdFusion web sites, and he s now in the process of moving most of them to ASP.NET. In addition to coauthoring Beginning ASP.NET 4.5 Databases (Apress, 2013), Damien is a regular technical reviewer for numerous.net books. After several false starts, he s busy assembling his personal site. xxiii

20 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my family, especially my wife Kathy for her endless patience; my kids, Katrina and Maria; and everyone else in my life who helped me to complete this project. xxv

21 Introduction ASP.NET Core is the biggest change in the Microsoft web development ecosystem since the introduction of ASP.NET in ASP.NET Core is not an incremental upgrade to ASP.NET MVC. ASP.NET Core is a rewrite of the entire ASP.NET platform from the ground up. ASP.NET Core is a modular, cross-platform, open source, high-performance, Internet-scale framework designed for full-stack developers. ASP.NET Core can easily be used in tandem with advanced front-end development workflows such as those needed to develop single-page web applications using frameworks such as React and Angular 4. The journey to ASP.NET Core has been a long one. I first started writing this book in June 2014 shortly after the first community technology preview (CTP) of ASP.NET Core was released. Over the next few years the contents of this book evolved along with the evolution of ASP.NET Core. Some chapters had to be rewritten several times because of the constant steam of breaking changes that came with each preproduction release. Writing this book so early in the development process of ASP.NET Core forced me to peer deeper into the framework and in some cases become directly involved in finding and correcting design issues and defects in ASP.NET Core. ASP.NET Core was the first version of ASP.NET to be developed out in the open with full participation from the community. This openness allowed the community not only to witness the development but also to contribute and shape its direction. Since ASP.NET Core is open source, you can understand the inner workings of the framework better than ever before. In many recipes, after showing how to use a feature of ASP.NET Core, I include pointers and explanations of the ASP.NET Core source code on GitHub. This allows you to learn how to solve the development problem discussed in the recipe as well as truly understand how the solution works. You can find the source code for this book on GitHub at AspNetCoreRecipes. The GitHub repository will be continuously updated as ASP.NET Core evolves. The code for the examples in this book will remain in the master branch of the repository. Updates to the source code in response to changes in ASP.NET Core will be placed into new branches. If you have questions or find issues with any of the examples in this book, please reach out to me on GitHub by posting an issue on the repository. You can find information on how to set up Git and download the source code in the appendix of this book. xxvii