ASP.NET Core is Microsoft’s web development platform. The original ASP.NET was introduced in 2002, and it has been through several reinventions and reincarnations to become ASP.NET Core 7, which is the topic of this book.

The framework consists of a platform for processing HTTP requests, a series of principal frameworks for creating applications, and secondary utility frameworks that provide supporting features, as illustrated by figure 1.

Figure 1. The structure of ASP.NET Core

This book was written to help you build web applications using the latest version of .NET and ASP.NET Core. It begins with setting up the development environment and creating a simple web application, before moving on to creating a simple but realistic online store, and then diving into the detail of important framework features.

What do readers need to know to use this book?

To get the most from this book, you should be familiar with the basics of web development, understand how HTML and CSS work, and have a working knowledge of C#. Don’t worry if you haven’t done any client-side development, such as JavaScript. The emphasis in this book is on C# and ASP.NET Core, and you will be able to pick up everything you need to know as you progress through the chapters.

What software do I need to follow the examples?

You need a code editor (either Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code), the .NET Core Software Development Kit, and SQL Server LocalDB. All are available for use from Microsoft without charge.

What platform do I need to follow the examples?

This book is written for Windows. I used Windows 10 Pro, but any version of Windows supported by Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, and .NET Core should work. ASP.NET Core is supported on other platforms, but the examples in this book rely on the SQL Server LocalDB feature, which is specific to Windows.

What does this book cover?

I have tried to cover the features that will be required by most ASP.NET Core projects. This book is split into four parts, each of which covers a set of related topics.

PART 1: INTRODUCING ASP.NET CORE

This part of the book introduces the framework. In addition to setting up your development environment and creating your first application, you’ll learn about the most important C# features for ASP.NET Core development and how to use the ASP.NET Core development tools. Most of part 1 is given over to the development of a project called SportsStore, through which I show you a realistic development process from inception to deployment, touching on all the main features of ASP.NET Core and showing how they fit together—something that can be lost in the deep-dive chapters in the rest of the book.

PART 2: THE ASP.NET CORE PLATFORM

The chapters in this part of the book describe the key features of the ASP.NET Core platform. I explain how HTTP requests are processed, how to create and use middleware components, how to create routes, how to define and consume services, and how to work with Entity Framework Core. These chapters explain the foundations of ASP.NET Core, and understanding them is essential for effective framework development.

PART 3: ASP.NET CORE APPLICATIONS

The chapters in this part of the book explain how to create different types of applications, including RESTful web services and HTML applications using controllers and Razor Pages. These chapters also describe the features that make it easy to generate HTML, including views, view components, and tag helpers.

PART 4: ADVANCED ASP.NET CORE FEATURES

The final part of the book explains how to create applications using Blazor Server, how to use the experimental Blazor WebAssembly, and how to authenticate users and authorize access using ASP.NET Core Identity.

What doesn’t this book cover?

This book doesn’t cover basic web development topics, such as HTML and CSS, and doesn’t teach basic C#.

As much as I like to dive into the details in my books, not every ASP.NET Core feature is useful in mainstream development, and I have to keep my books to a printable size. When I decide to omit a feature, it is because I don’t think it is important or because the same outcome can be achieved using a technique that I do cover.

For example, I do not describe the ASP.NET Core support for SignalR and gRPC, and I note other features in later chapters that I don’t describe, either because they are not broadly applicable or because there are better alternatives available. In each case, I explain why I have omitted a description and provide a reference to the Microsoft documentation for that topic.

Who should read this book?

This book is for experienced developers who are new to ASP.NET Core, or who are moving from an earlier version of ASP.NET, including legacy Web Forms.

If you’re ready to take a very deep dive into ASP.NET Core, check out the book here.