Build a Starchart Web API using ASP.NET Core

The Build a Starchart Web API using ASP.NET Core Application is designed to allow users to submit and retrieve data about celestial objects. This will cover using EntityFramework to retrieve, add, update, and remove data from an in memory database and making it accessible via a web service.

Setup the Application

If you want to use Visual Studio

If you want to use Visual Studio (highly recommended) follow the following steps:

• If you already have Visual Studio installed make sure you have .Net Core installed by running the "Visual Studio Installer" and making sure ".NET Core cross-platform development" is checked
• If you need to install visual studio download it at https://www.microsoft.com/net/download/ (If you're using Windows you'll want to check "ASP.NET" and ".NET Core cross-platform development" on the workloads screen during installation.)
• Open the .sln file in visual studio
• To run the application simply press the Start Debug button (green arrow) or press F5
• If you're using Visual Studio on Windows, to run tests open the Test menu, click Run, then click on Run all tests (results will show up in the Test Explorer)
• If you're using Visual Studio on macOS, to run tests, select the StarChartTests Project, then go to the Run menu, then click on Run Unit Tests (results will show up in the Unit Tests panel)

(Note: All tests should fail at this point, this is by design. As you progress through the projects more and more tests will pass. All tests should pass upon completion of the project.)

If you don't plan to use Visual studio

If you would rather use something other than Visual Studio

• Install the .Net Core SDK from https://www.microsoft.com/net/download/core once that installation completes you're ready to roll!
• To run the application go into the StarChart project folder and type dotnet run
• To run the tests go into the StarChartTests project folder and type dotnet test

Features you will implement

• Configuring MVC and EntityFramework
• Create a web service that provides access to data
• Actions to retrieve data from the database
• Action to Submit data to the database
• Actions to Update existing data
• Action to remove data from the database

Tasks necessary to complete implementation:

Note: this isn't the only way to accomplish this, however; this is what the project's tests are expecting. Implementing this in a different way will likely result in being marked as incomplete / incorrect.

• Adding Middleware/Configuration to Startup.cs
  • In the ConfigureServices method call the AddMvc method on services to add support for MVC middleware.
  • In the ConfigureServices method call AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext> on services with the argument options => options.UseInMemoryDatabase("StarChart") to point EntityFramework to the application's DbContext. (Note: You will need to add a using directives for StarChart.Data and Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore)
  • In the Configure method add a call to UseMvc method on app.
• Create CelestialObject Model
  • Create a new public class CelestialObject in the Models directory
  • Create a new public property of type int named Id.
  • Create a new public property of type string named Name. This property should have the Required attribute. (Note: you will need to add a using directive for Systems.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations)
  • Create a new public property of type int? named OrbitedObjectId.
  • Create a new public property of type List<CelestialObject> named Satellites. This property should have the NotMapped attribute. (Note: you will need to add using directives for System.Collections.Generic and System.ComponentModels.DataAnnotations.Schema)
  • Create a new public property of type TimeSpan named OrbitalPeriod.
  • In the ApplicationDbContext class, located in the Data folder, create a new public property of type DbSet<CelestialObject> named CelestialObjects. (Note: you will need to add a using directive for StarChart.Models)
• Create CelestialObjectController class
  • Create a new class CelestialObjectController in the Controllers folder that inherits the ControllerBase class. If any actions are automatically generated they should be removed. (Note: you will need to add a using directive for Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc)
  • Add a Route attribute with a value of "" and ApiController attribute to the CelestialObjectController.
  • Create a new private readonly field of type ApplicationDbContext named _context. (Note: you will need to add a using directive for StarChart.Data)
  • Create a constructor that accepts a parameter of type ApplicationDbContext and sets the _context field using the provided parameter.
• Create all CelestialObjectController's Get actions
  • Create a new method GetById
    • This method should have a return type of IActionResult
    • This method should accept a parameter of type int named id.
    • This method should have an HttpGet attribute with an value of "{id:int}" and the Name property set to "GetById".
    • This method should return NotFound there is no CelestialObject with an Id property that matches the parameter.
    • This method should also set the Satellites property to any CelestialObjects who's OrbitedObjectId is the current CelestialObject's Id.
    • This method should return an Ok with a value of the CelestialObject who's Id property matches the id parameter.
  • Create the GetByName method
    • This method should have a return type of IActionResult
    • This method should accept a parameter of type string named name.
    • This method should have an HttpGet attribute with a value of "{name}".
    • This method should return NotFound there is no CelestialObject with an Name property that matches the name parameter.
    • This method should also set the Satellites property for each CelestialObject who's OrbitedObjectId is the current CelestialObject's Id.
    • This method should return an Ok with a value of the list of CelestialObject who's Name property matches the name parameter.
  • Create the GetAll method
    • This method should have a return type of IActionResult.
    • This method should also set the Satellites property for each of the CelestialObjects returned.
    • This method should have an HttpGet attribute.
    • This method should return Ok with a value of all CelestialObjectss.
• Create CelestialObjectControllers's Post, Put, Patch, and Delete actions
  • Create the Create method
    • This method should have a return type of IActionResult .
    • This method should accept a parameter of type [FromBody]CelestialObject. (Note: You will need to add a using directive for StarChart.Models)
    • This method should have an HttpPost attribute.
    • This method should add the provided CelestialObject to the CelestialObjects DbSet then SaveChanges.
    • This method should return a CreatedAtRoute with the arguments
      • "GetById"
      • A new object with an id of the CelestialObject's Id (note: use the new { } format)
      • The newly created CelestialObject.
  • Create the Update method
    • This method should have a return type of IActionResult .
    • This method should accept a parameter of type int named id and a parameter of type CelestialObject.
    • This method should have the HttpPut attribute with a value of "{id}".
    • This method should locate the CelestialObject with an Id that matches the provided int parameter.
      • If no match is found return NotFound.
      • If a match is found set it's Name, OrbitalPeriod, and OrbitedObjectId properties based on the provided CelestialObject parameter. Call Update on the CelestialObjects DbSet with an argument of the updated CelestialObject, and then call SaveChanges.
    • This method should return NoContent.
  • Create the RenameObject method
    • This method should have a return type of IActionResult.
    • This method should accept a parameter of type int named id and a parameter of type string named name.
    • This method should have the HttpPatch attribute with an argument of "{id}/{name}".
    • This method should locate the CelestialObject with an Id that matches the provided int parameter.
      • If no match is found return NotFound.
      • If a match is found set it's Name property to the provided name parameter. Then call Update on the CelestialObjects DbSet with an argument of the updated CelestialObject, and then call SaveChanges.
    • This method should return NoContent.
  • Create the Delete method
    • This method should have a return type of IActionResult
    • This method should accept a parameter of type int named id.
    • This method should have the HttpDelete attribute with an argument of "{id}".
    • This method should get a List of all CelestialObjects who either have an Id or OrbitedObjectIdthat matches the provided parameter.
      • If there are no matches it should return NotFound.
      • If there are matching CelestialObjects call RemoveRange on the CelestialObjects DbSet with an argument of the list of matching CelestialObjects. Then call SaveChanges.
    • This method should return NoContent.

What Now?

You've completed the tasks of this project, if you want to continue working on this project some next steps to consider would be adding authentication to help secure the Web API, refactoring to allow binaries (two objects that orbit each other), implement caching, etc.

Otherwise now is a good time to continue on the ASP.NET Core path to expand your understanding of the ASP.NET Core framework or take a look at the Microsoft Azure for Developers path as Azure is a common choice for hosting, scaling, and expanding the functionality of ASP.NET Core applications.