In the “ASP.NET Core Register User” article we’ll be using the aspnet-codegenerator tool and essential packages such as Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.EntityFrameworkCore to add user registration to your ASP.NET applications. Follow this step-by-step guide to configure the Identity system, and add a user registration feature in your ASP.NET Core application.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, you will need to have the following tools installed on your system:
- .NET Core SDK
- Visual Studio Code (or any other code editor of your choice)
Step 1: Installing aspnet-codegenerator
The aspnet-codegenerator tool is a command-line utility that generates code for various features in an ASP.NET Core application. To install this tool, open a command prompt or terminal window and enter the following command:
dotnet tool install -g dotnet-aspnet-codegenerator
This command will download and install the tool on your system. Once the installation is complete, you can use the dotnet aspnet-codegenerator command to generate code for various features in your application.
Step 2: Creating a new ASP.NET Core application
To create a new ASP.NET Core application, open a command prompt or terminal window and enter the following command:
dotnet new webapp -n MyApplication
This command will create a new ASP.NET Core application with the name MyApplication. Once the project is created, navigate to the project directory using the cd command:
cd MyApplication
Step 3: Adding the required packages
To create a user registration feature in your application, you will need to add the following packages:
- Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGeneration.Design
- Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design
- Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.EntityFrameworkCore
- Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.UI
- Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer
- Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools
You can add these packages using the following commands:
dotnet add package Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.CodeGeneration.Design dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design dotnet add package Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.EntityFrameworkCore dotnet add package Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity.UI dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools
These commands will download and install the required packages and add them to the project’s csproj file.
Step 4: Generating the User Registration Feature
Now that you have installed the required packages, you can use the aspnet-codegenerator tool to generate the user registration feature. To do this, enter the following command:
dotnet aspnet-codegenerator identity -dc MyApplication.Data.ApplicationDbContext --files "Account.Register"
This command will generate a new Razor view file named Register.cshtml in the Areas/Identity/Pages/Account folder of your project. This view file contains the HTML markup for the registration form.
Step 5: Updating the DbContext class (Optional)
The aspnet-codegenerator tool will generate a DbContext class named ApplicationDbContext in the Data folder of your project. You will need to update this class to use the Identity system and include the required tables for user registration.
Open the ApplicationDbContext.cs file in the `Areas/Identity/Data`. You can customize the database. If you want to skyrocket your C# career, check out our powerful ASP.NET full-stack web development course that also covers test-driven development.
Step 6: Updating the Startup class
Next, you will need to update the `Program.cs` file to configure the `Identity` system and add the required services and middleware.
Open the `Program.cs` file and add the following code before `var app = builder.Build();`.
builder.Services.AddRazorPages();
Also, add the following code to add the required middleware before `app.MapControllerRoute(…)`:
app.UseEndpoints(endpoints =>
{
endpoints.MapRazorPages();
});
Step 7: Updating the appsettings.json file
The last step is to update the appsettings.json file to include the connection string for the database. Open the appsettings.json file and configure the connection string if you need to:
{
"ConnectionStrings": {
"DefaultConnection": "Server=(localdb)\\mssqllocaldb;Database=MyApplication;Trusted_Connection=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=true"
},
...
Replace the connection string with the appropriate value for your database.
Running the App
Run the app and navigate to `http://localhost:5219/Identity/Account/Register` where 5219 should be replaced with your app’s port, and test it.
Conclusion
In this article, we have covered the steps required to create a user registration feature in an ASP.NET Core application using the aspnet-codegenerator tool and the required packages. By following the steps, you should now have a working user registration feature in your application. By the way, did you know that we offer a unique online course that boosts your C# career? Check it out here!