How to Create a Web App with ASP.NET Core and Blazor

Posted on by Panther

Blazor is a web framework developed by Microsoft that allows you to build interactive client-side web UIs using .NET and C# instead of JavaScript. It combines the flexibility of JavaScript with the power of .NET to provide a productive and efficient development experience.

In this tutorial, we will walk through the process of creating a web app with ASP.NET Core and Blazor. We will cover the following steps:

  1. Setting up the development environment
  2. Creating a new ASP.NET Core project
  3. Adding Blazor support to the project
  4. Creating a simple Blazor component
  5. Using the component in a Blazor page
  6. Running the Blazor app

Let’s get started!

1. Setting up the development environment

Before you can create a web app with ASP.NET Core and Blazor, you need to set up your development environment. Here are the requirements:

  • .NET Core SDK (version 5.0 or later)
  • A code editor (such as Visual Studio Code or Visual Studio)

Make sure you have the .NET Core SDK installed on your machine. You can verify the installation by running the following command in your terminal or command prompt:

dotnet --version

If the command displays the version of the .NET Core SDK installed, you’re good to go.

2. Creating a new ASP.NET Core project

To create a new ASP.NET Core project, open your terminal or command prompt and navigate to the directory where you want to create the project.

Run the following command to create a new ASP.NET Core project:

dotnet new webapp -o MyWebApp

This command creates a new ASP.NET Core project named “MyWebApp” in a directory called “MyWebApp”. You can replace “MyWebApp” with any name you prefer.

Navigate into the project directory:

cd MyWebApp

3. Adding Blazor support to the project

To add Blazor support to the project, run the following command in your terminal or command prompt:

dotnet new blazorserver

This command adds the necessary NuGet package references and files to enable Blazor in your ASP.NET Core project.

4. Creating a simple Blazor component

Blazor components are the building blocks of a Blazor app. They are similar to Razor views in traditional ASP.NET MVC applications.

To create a simple Blazor component, open the project in your code editor and navigate to the “Pages” folder located in the “Areas” folder. This folder contains the Blazor pages of your app.

Create a new file called “Counter.razor” and add the following code:

@page "/counter"

<h1>Counter</h1>

<p>Current count: @_count</p>

<button class="btn btn-primary" @onclick="IncrementCount">Increment</button>

@code {
    private int _count = 0;

    private void IncrementCount()
    {
        _count++;
    }
}

This code creates a simple Blazor component called “Counter”. It displays the current count and provides a button to increment the count.

5. Using the component in a Blazor page

To use the “Counter” component in a Blazor page, open the “Index.razor” file located in the “Pages” folder.

Replace the existing code with the following:

@page "/"
@inherits LayoutComponentBase

<h1>Hello, Blazor!</h1>

<Counter />

This code sets the default route for the page to “/”, inherits from the “LayoutComponentBase” class, and adds the “Counter” component inside the page.

6. Running the Blazor app

To run the Blazor app, navigate to the project directory in your terminal or command prompt:

cd MyWebApp

Run the following command to start the app:

dotnet run

Open your web browser and navigate to `https://localhost:5001` to see the running Blazor app. You should see the “Hello, Blazor!” heading and the “Counter” component.

Click the “Increment” button in the component to see the count increase.

Congratulations! You have created a web app with ASP.NET Core and Blazor. You can now explore more features and build more sophisticated applications using Blazor’s powerful capabilities.

Conclusion

Blazor provides an efficient way to build interactive client-side web UIs using .NET and C#. With its familiar programming model and powerful capabilities, you can create web apps that are both productive and performant.

In this tutorial, we walked through the process of creating a web app with ASP.NET Core and Blazor. We covered the steps of setting up the development environment, creating a new ASP.NET Core project, adding Blazor support, creating a simple Blazor component, using the component in a Blazor page, and running the Blazor app.

Now it’s time to explore more of the Blazor framework and unleash its full potential in your web development projects. Happy coding!

Related Post