ASP.NET Core : Add NorthwindContext To Startup Class And Create Database

In this post will are going to finally create the database that we have been preparing for in the last previous blog posts.  It's a two step process, first you have to add the NorthwindContext to the application in the Startup class, then you have to run the Entity Framework migration tool.

Here are the steps to create your NorthwindCafe database:

1.  Open the Startup.cs file, then type the following lines in the ConfigureServices method

 
            var connectionString = Configuration["Data:NorthwindContextConnection"];

            services.AddDbContext<NorthwindContext>(options => options.UseSqlServer(connectionString));

The line above gets the connection string from the appSettings.json file that we've created earlier. Then use the AddDbContext method in the services instance.  Dependency injection will take care of the plumbing for you.  Using lamba expression we tell the Entity Framework to use the Sql Sever provider for Entity Framework core.

Make sure you have the following namespaces in your Startup class

using NorthwindCafe.Web.Models;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;

ASP.NET Core : Configure project.json File To Support Entity Framework Core

In the previous post we created the DbContext for the Northwind Cafe application.  In this post we will configure the project.json file to support Entity Framework Core.

Here are the steps:

1.  Open the project.json file

ASP.NET Core : Create The NothwindContext ( EntityFrameworkCore )

In our previous post we created the models for our Northwind Cafe application.  In this blog we will create the DbContext class which is the conduit between your entity classes and the database.  Think of it as a bridge that the database and the entity framework has to cross to get to each other.

Follow the steps below to create the NorthwindContext:

1. Create a class in Models folder call NorthwindContext

ASP.NET Core : Entity Framework Core Models For Northwind Cafe

In the previous post we added a configuration file call appSettings.json file to store our connection string to the database that we are going to create through Entity Framework.  Even though Microsoft provides us with the Northwind database, we don't really want to use it because it's outdated.  We care going to modernize the database by rebuilding it from scratch with the code first approach with Entity Framework Core.  If you look at the existing Northwind database you will see that there's a lot of redundant data and tables.  For example there are tables for Customers, Employees, Suppliers and Shippers.  Those are basically roles, and we will take care of those roles later on in the series using the Identity framework.  What we are going to do is start out simple with just the Products, Categories, Orders, OrderDetails table and add on to those tables as we progress in building the application.

ASP.NET Core : Add appSettings.json Configuration Files With Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration Library

Now that we have most of our static contents taken care of for our application, meaning we did everything we could without a database.  It's time to create our database.  But before we can do that we need a place to store our connection string to the database.  Usually we just store the connection string in the web.config file in our web application.  However, since ASP.NET Core is trying to break free from the old way of doing things, there's a new way to store configuration information which is more flexible the old web.config way.  As usual it also requires more work.

ASP.NET Core : Adding Font-Awesome For Northwind Cafe Navigation Icons

In this tutorial we will add icons to your navbar.  In the previous tutorial we added a responsive layout with bootstrap.  In this post we will add some icons to your navigation.  Font-Awesome gives you professional looking vector graphics, which are implemented using CSS.  Bootstrap will use Font-Awesome as it's icons starting version 4.0 and beyond. Glyphaicons will go away. So we might as start using it, in anticipation of Bootstrap 4.0.