ASP.NET Core fundamentals overview

This article provides an overview of the fundamentals for building ASP.NET Core apps, including dependency injection (DI), configuration, middleware, and more.

For Blazor fundamentals guidance, which adds to or supersedes the guidance in this node, see ASP.NET Core Blazor fundamentals.

Program.cs

ASP.NET Core apps created with the web templates contain the application startup code in the Program.cs file. The Program.cs file is where:

• Services required by the app are configured.
• The app's request handling pipeline is defined as a series of middleware components.

The following app startup code supports:

• Razor Pages
• MVC controllers with views
• Web API with controllers
• Minimal web APIs

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add services to the container.
builder.Services.AddRazorPages();
builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews();

var app = builder.Build();

// Configure the HTTP request pipeline.
if (!app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseExceptionHandler("/Error");
    app.UseHsts();
}

app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseStaticFiles();

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapGet("/hi", () => "Hello!");

app.MapDefaultControllerRoute();
app.MapRazorPages();

app.Run();

Dependency injection (services)

ASP.NET Core includes dependency injection (DI) that makes configured services available throughout an app. Services are added to the DI container with WebApplicationBuilder.Services, builder.Services in the preceding code. When the WebApplicationBuilder is instantiated, many framework-provided services are added. builder is a WebApplicationBuilder in the following code:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add services to the container.
builder.Services.AddRazorPages();
builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews();

var app = builder.Build();

In the preceding highlighted code, builder has configuration, logging, and many other services added to the DI container.

The following code adds Razor Pages, MVC controllers with views, and a custom DbContext to the DI container:

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
using RazorPagesMovie.Data;
var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add services to the container.
builder.Services.AddRazorPages();
builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews();

builder.Services.AddDbContext<RazorPagesMovieContext>(options =>
   options.UseSqlServer(builder.Configuration.GetConnectionString("RPMovieContext")));

var app = builder.Build();

Services are typically resolved from DI using constructor injection. The DI framework provides an instance of this service at runtime.

The following code uses constructor injection to resolve the database context and logger from DI:

public class IndexModel : PageModel
{
    private readonly RazorPagesMovieContext _context;
    private readonly ILogger<IndexModel> _logger;

    public IndexModel(RazorPagesMovieContext context, ILogger<IndexModel> logger)
    {
        _context = context;
        _logger = logger;
    }

    public IList<Movie> Movie { get;set; }

    public async Task OnGetAsync()
    {
        _logger.LogInformation("IndexModel OnGetAsync.");
        Movie = await _context.Movie.ToListAsync();
    }
}

Middleware

The request handling pipeline is composed as a series of middleware components. Each component performs operations on an HttpContext and either invokes the next middleware in the pipeline or terminates the request.

By convention, a middleware component is added to the pipeline by invoking a Use{Feature} extension method. Middleware added to the app is highlighted in the following code:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add services to the container.
builder.Services.AddRazorPages();
builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews();

var app = builder.Build();

// Configure the HTTP request pipeline.
if (!app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseExceptionHandler("/Error");
    app.UseHsts();
}

app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseStaticFiles();

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapGet("/hi", () => "Hello!");

app.MapDefaultControllerRoute();
app.MapRazorPages();

app.Run();

For more information, see ASP.NET Core Middleware.

Host

On startup, an ASP.NET Core app builds a host. The host encapsulates all of the app's resources, such as:

• An HTTP server implementation
• Middleware components
• Logging
• Dependency injection (DI) services
• Configuration

There are three different hosts capable of running an ASP.NET Core app:

• ASP.NET Core WebApplication, also known as the Minimal Host
• .NET Generic Host combined with ASP.NET Core's ConfigureWebHostDefaults
• ASP.NET Core WebHost

The ASP.NET Core WebApplication and WebApplicationBuilder types are recommended and used in all the ASP.NET Core templates. WebApplication behaves similarly to the .NET Generic Host and exposes many of the same interfaces but requires less callbacks to configure. The ASP.NET Core WebHost is available only for backward compatibility.

The following example instantiates a WebApplication:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add services to the container.
builder.Services.AddRazorPages();
builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews();

var app = builder.Build();

The WebApplicationBuilder.Build method configures a host with a set of default options, such as:

• Use Kestrel as the web server and enable IIS integration.
• Load configuration from appsettings.json, environment variables, command line arguments, and other configuration sources.
• Send logging output to the console and debug providers.

Non-web scenarios

The Generic Host allows other types of apps to use cross-cutting framework extensions, such as logging, dependency injection (DI), configuration, and app lifetime management. For more information, see .NET Generic Host in ASP.NET Core and Background tasks with hosted services in ASP.NET Core.

Servers

An ASP.NET Core app uses an HTTP server implementation to listen for HTTP requests. The server surfaces requests to the app as a set of request features composed into an HttpContext.

Windows

ASP.NET Core provides the following server implementations:

• Kestrel is a cross-platform web server. Kestrel is often run in a reverse proxy configuration using IIS. In ASP.NET Core 2.0 or later, Kestrel can be run as a public-facing edge server exposed directly to the Internet.
• IIS HTTP Server is a server for Windows that uses IIS. With this server, the ASP.NET Core app and IIS run in the same process.
• HTTP.sys is a server for Windows that isn't used with IIS.

macOS

ASP.NET Core provides the Kestrel cross-platform server implementation. In ASP.NET Core 2.0 or later, Kestrel can run as a public-facing edge server exposed directly to the Internet. Kestrel is often run in a reverse proxy configuration with Nginx or Apache.

Linux

ASP.NET Core provides the Kestrel cross-platform server implementation. In ASP.NET Core 2.0 or later, Kestrel can run as a public-facing edge server exposed directly to the Internet. Kestrel is often run in a reverse proxy configuration with Nginx or Apache.

For more information, see Web server implementations in ASP.NET Core.

Configuration

ASP.NET Core provides a configuration framework that gets settings as name-value pairs from an ordered set of configuration providers. Built-in configuration providers are available for a variety of sources, such as .json files, .xml files, environment variables, and command-line arguments. Write custom configuration providers to support other sources.

By default, ASP.NET Core apps are configured to read from appsettings.json, environment variables, the command line, and more. When the app's configuration is loaded, values from environment variables override values from appsettings.json.

For managing confidential configuration data such as passwords, .NET Core provides the Secret Manager. For production secrets, we recommend Azure Key Vault.

For more information, see Configuration in ASP.NET Core.

Environments

Execution environments, such as Development, Staging, and Production, are available in ASP.NET Core. Specify the environment an app is running in by setting the ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT environment variable. ASP.NET Core reads that environment variable at app startup and stores the value in an IWebHostEnvironment implementation. This implementation is available anywhere in an app via dependency injection (DI).

The following example configures the exception handler and HTTP Strict Transport Security Protocol (HSTS) middleware when not running in the Development environment:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add services to the container.
builder.Services.AddRazorPages();
builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews();

var app = builder.Build();

// Configure the HTTP request pipeline.
if (!app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseExceptionHandler("/Error");
    app.UseHsts();
}

app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseStaticFiles();

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapGet("/hi", () => "Hello!");

app.MapDefaultControllerRoute();
app.MapRazorPages();

app.Run();

For more information, see Use multiple environments in ASP.NET Core.

Logging

ASP.NET Core supports a logging API that works with a variety of built-in and third-party logging providers. Available providers include:

• Console
• Debug
• Event Tracing on Windows
• Windows Event Log
• TraceSource
• Azure App Service
• Azure Application Insights

To create logs, resolve an ILogger<TCategoryName> service from dependency injection (DI) and call logging methods such as LogInformation. For example:

public class IndexModel : PageModel
{
    private readonly RazorPagesMovieContext _context;
    private readonly ILogger<IndexModel> _logger;

    public IndexModel(RazorPagesMovieContext context, ILogger<IndexModel> logger)
    {
        _context = context;
        _logger = logger;
    }

    public IList<Movie> Movie { get;set; }

    public async Task OnGetAsync()
    {
        _logger.LogInformation("IndexModel OnGetAsync.");
        Movie = await _context.Movie.ToListAsync();
    }
}

For more information, see Logging in .NET Core and ASP.NET Core.

Routing

A route is a URL pattern that is mapped to a handler. The handler is typically a Razor page, an action method in an MVC controller, or a middleware. ASP.NET Core routing gives you control over the URLs used by your app.

The following code, generated by the ASP.NET Core web application template, calls UseRouting:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddRazorPages();

var app = builder.Build();

// Configure the HTTP request pipeline.
if (!app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseExceptionHandler("/Error");
    app.UseHsts();
}

app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseStaticFiles();

app.UseRouting();

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapRazorPages();

app.Run();

For more information, see Routing in ASP.NET Core.

Error handling

ASP.NET Core has built-in features for handling errors, such as:

• A developer exception page
• Custom error pages
• Static status code pages
• Startup exception handling

For more information, see Handle errors in ASP.NET Core.

Make HTTP requests

An implementation of IHttpClientFactory is available for creating HttpClient instances. The factory:

• Provides a central location for naming and configuring logical HttpClient instances. For example, register and configure a github client for accessing GitHub. Register and configure a default client for other purposes.
• Supports registration and chaining of multiple delegating handlers to build an outgoing request middleware pipeline. This pattern is similar to ASP.NET Core's inbound middleware pipeline. The pattern provides a mechanism to manage cross-cutting concerns for HTTP requests, including caching, error handling, serialization, and logging.
• Integrates with Polly, a popular third-party library for transient fault handling.
• Manages the pooling and lifetime of underlying HttpClientHandler instances to avoid common DNS problems that occur when managing HttpClient lifetimes manually.
• Adds a configurable logging experience via ILogger for all requests sent through clients created by the factory.

For more information, see Make HTTP requests using IHttpClientFactory in ASP.NET Core.

Content root

The content root is the base path for:

• The executable hosting the app (.exe).
• Compiled assemblies that make up the app (.dll).
• Content files used by the app, such as:
  • Razor files (.cshtml, .razor)
  • Configuration files (.json, .xml)
  • Data files (.db)
• The Web root, typically the wwwroot folder.

During development, the content root defaults to the project's root directory. This directory is also the base path for both the app's content files and the Web root. Specify a different content root by setting its path when building the host. For more information, see Content root.

Web root

The web root is the base path for public, static resource files, such as:

• Stylesheets (.css)
• JavaScript (.js)
• Images (.png, .jpg)

By default, static files are served only from the web root directory and its sub-directories. The web root path defaults to {content root}/wwwroot. Specify a different web root by setting its path when building the host. For more information, see Web root.

Prevent publishing files in wwwroot with the <Content> project item in the project file. The following example prevents publishing content in wwwroot/local and its sub-directories:

<ItemGroup>
  <Content Update="wwwroot\local\**\*.*" CopyToPublishDirectory="Never" />
</ItemGroup>

In Razor .cshtml files, ~/ points to the web root. A path beginning with ~/ is referred to as a virtual path.

For more information, see Static files in ASP.NET Core.

Additional resources

• WebApplicationBuilder source code