ASP.NET Core MVC / Razor Pages Tutorial - Part 2

About this tutorial

This is the second part of the ASP.NET Core MVC / Razor Pages tutorial series. All parts:

• Part I: Creating the project and book list page
• Part II: Creating, updating and deleting books (this tutorial)
• Part III: Integration tests

You can also watch this video course prepared by an ABP community member, based on this tutorial.

Creating a new book

In this section, you will learn how to create a new modal dialog form to create a new book. The modal dialog will look like in the below image:

Create the modal form

Create a new razor page, named CreateModal.cshtml under the Pages/Books folder of the Acme.BookStore.Web project.

CreateModal.cshtml.cs

Open the CreateModal.cshtml.cs file (CreateModalModel class) and replace with the following code:

using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

namespace Acme.BookStore.Web.Pages.Books
{
    public class CreateModalModel : BookStorePageModel
    {
        [BindProperty]
        public CreateUpdateBookDto Book { get; set; }

        private readonly IBookAppService _bookAppService;

        public CreateModalModel(IBookAppService bookAppService)
        {
            _bookAppService = bookAppService;
        }

        public async Task<IActionResult> OnPostAsync()
        {
            await _bookAppService.CreateAsync(Book);
            return NoContent();
        }
    }
}

• This class is derived from the BookStorePageModel instead of standard PageModel. BookStorePageModel inherits the PageModel and adds some common properties & methods that can be used in your page model classes.
• [BindProperty] attribute on the Book property binds post request data to this property.
• This class simply injects the IBookAppService in the constructor and calls the CreateAsync method in the OnPostAsync handler.

CreateModal.cshtml

Open the CreateModal.cshtml file and paste the code below:

@page
@inherits Acme.BookStore.Web.Pages.BookStorePage
@using Volo.Abp.AspNetCore.Mvc.UI.Bootstrap.TagHelpers.Modal
@model Acme.BookStore.Web.Pages.Books.CreateModalModel
@{
    Layout = null;
}
<abp-dynamic-form abp-model="Book" data-ajaxForm="true" asp-page="/Books/CreateModal">
    <abp-modal>
        <abp-modal-header title="@L["NewBook"].Value"></abp-modal-header>
        <abp-modal-body>
            <abp-form-content />
        </abp-modal-body>
        <abp-modal-footer buttons="@(AbpModalButtons.Cancel|AbpModalButtons.Save)"></abp-modal-footer>
    </abp-modal>
</abp-dynamic-form>

• This modal uses abp-dynamic-form tag helper to automatically create the form from the model CreateBookViewModel.
  • abp-model attribute indicates the model object where it's the Book property in this case.
  • data-ajaxForm attribute sets the form to submit via AJAX, instead of a classic page post.
  • abp-form-content tag helper is a placeholder to render the form controls (it is optional and needed only if you have added some other content in the abp-dynamic-form tag, just like in this page).

Add the "New book" button

Open the Pages/Books/Index.cshtml and set the content of abp-card-header tag as below:

<abp-card-header>
    <abp-row>
        <abp-column size-md="_6">
            <h2>@L["Books"]</h2>
        </abp-column>
        <abp-column size-md="_6" class="text-right">
            <abp-button id="NewBookButton"
                        text="@L["NewBook"].Value"
                        icon="plus"
                        button-type="Primary" />
        </abp-column>
    </abp-row>
</abp-card-header>

This adds a new button called New book to the top-right of the table:

Open the pages/books/index.js and add the following code just after the Datatable configuration:

var createModal = new abp.ModalManager(abp.appPath + 'Books/CreateModal');

createModal.onResult(function () {
    dataTable.ajax.reload();
});

$('#NewBookButton').click(function (e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    createModal.open();
});

• abp.ModalManager is a helper class to manage modals in the client side. It internally uses Twitter Bootstrap's standard modal, but abstracts many details by providing a simple API.

Now, you can run the application and add new books using the new modal form.

Updating a book

Create a new razor page, named EditModal.cshtml under the Pages/Books folder of the Acme.BookStore.Web project:

EditModal.cshtml.cs

Open the EditModal.cshtml.cs file (EditModalModel class) and replace with the following code:

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

namespace Acme.BookStore.Web.Pages.Books
{
    public class EditModalModel : BookStorePageModel
    {
        [HiddenInput]
        [BindProperty(SupportsGet = true)]
        public Guid Id { get; set; }

        [BindProperty]
        public CreateUpdateBookDto Book { get; set; }

        private readonly IBookAppService _bookAppService;

        public EditModalModel(IBookAppService bookAppService)
        {
            _bookAppService = bookAppService;
        }

        public async Task OnGetAsync()
        {
            var bookDto = await _bookAppService.GetAsync(Id);
            Book = ObjectMapper.Map<BookDto, CreateUpdateBookDto>(bookDto);
        }

        public async Task<IActionResult> OnPostAsync()
        {
            await _bookAppService.UpdateAsync(Id, Book);
            return NoContent();
        }
    }
}

• [HiddenInput] and [BindProperty] are standard ASP.NET Core MVC attributes. SupportsGet is used to be able to get Id value from query string parameter of the request.
• In the GetAsync method, we get BookDto from BookAppService and this is being mapped to the DTO object CreateUpdateBookDto.
• The OnPostAsync uses BookAppService.UpdateAsync() to update the entity.

Mapping from BookDto to CreateUpdateBookDto

To be able to map the BookDto to CreateUpdateBookDto, configure a new mapping. To do this, open the BookStoreWebAutoMapperProfile.cs in the Acme.BookStore.Web project and change it as shown below:

using AutoMapper;

namespace Acme.BookStore.Web
{
    public class BookStoreWebAutoMapperProfile : Profile
    {
        public BookStoreWebAutoMapperProfile()
        {
            CreateMap<BookDto, CreateUpdateBookDto>();
        }
    }
}

• We have just added CreateMap<BookDto, CreateUpdateBookDto>(); to define this mapping.

EditModal.cshtml

Replace EditModal.cshtml content with the following content:

@page
@inherits Acme.BookStore.Web.Pages.BookStorePage
@using Acme.BookStore.Web.Pages.Books
@using Volo.Abp.AspNetCore.Mvc.UI.Bootstrap.TagHelpers.Modal
@model EditModalModel
@{
    Layout = null;
}
<abp-dynamic-form abp-model="Book" data-ajaxForm="true" asp-page="/Books/EditModal">
    <abp-modal>
        <abp-modal-header title="@L["Update"].Value"></abp-modal-header>
        <abp-modal-body>
            <abp-input asp-for="Id" />
            <abp-form-content />
        </abp-modal-body>
        <abp-modal-footer buttons="@(AbpModalButtons.Cancel|AbpModalButtons.Save)"></abp-modal-footer>
    </abp-modal>
</abp-dynamic-form>

This page is very similar to the CreateModal.cshtml, except:

• It includes an abp-input for the Id property to store Id of the editing book (which is a hidden input).
• It uses Books/EditModal as the post URL and Update text as the modal header.

Add "Actions" dropdown to the table

We will add a dropdown button to the table named Actions.

Open the Pages/Books/Index.cshtml page and change the <abp-table> section as shown below:

<abp-table striped-rows="true" id="BooksTable">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>@L["Actions"]</th>
            <th>@L["Name"]</th>
            <th>@L["Type"]</th>
            <th>@L["PublishDate"]</th>
            <th>@L["Price"]</th>
            <th>@L["CreationTime"]</th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
</abp-table>

• We just added a new th tag for the "Actions" button.

Open the pages/books/index.js and replace the content as below:

$(function () {

    var l = abp.localization.getResource('BookStore');

    var createModal = new abp.ModalManager(abp.appPath + 'Books/CreateModal');
    var editModal = new abp.ModalManager(abp.appPath + 'Books/EditModal');

    var dataTable = $('#BooksTable').DataTable(abp.libs.datatables.normalizeConfiguration({
        processing: true,
        serverSide: true,
        paging: true,
        searching: false,
        autoWidth: false,
        scrollCollapse: true,
        order: [[1, "asc"]],
        ajax: abp.libs.datatables.createAjax(acme.bookStore.book.getList),
        columnDefs: [
            {
                rowAction: {
                    items:
                        [
                            {
                                text: l('Edit'),
                                action: function (data) {
                                    editModal.open({ id: data.record.id });
                                }
                            }
                        ]
                }
            },
            { data: "name" },
            { data: "type" },
            { data: "publishDate" },
            { data: "price" },
            { data: "creationTime" }
        ]
    }));

    createModal.onResult(function () {
        dataTable.ajax.reload();
    });

    editModal.onResult(function () {
        dataTable.ajax.reload();
    });

    $('#NewBookButton').click(function (e) {
        e.preventDefault();
        createModal.open();
    });
});

• Used abp.localization.getResource('BookStore') to be able to use the same localization texts defined on the server-side.
• Added a new ModalManager named createModal to open the create modal dialog.
• Added a new ModalManager named editModal to open the edit modal dialog.
• Added a new column at the beginning of the columnDefs section. This column is used for the "Actions" dropdown button.
• "New Book" action simply calls createModal.open() to open the create dialog.
• "Edit" action simply calls editModal.open() to open the edit dialog.

You can run the application and edit any book by selecting the edit action. The final UI looks as below:

Deleting a book

Open the pages/books/index.js and add a new item to the rowAction items:

{
    text: l('Delete'),
    confirmMessage: function (data) {
        return l('BookDeletionConfirmationMessage', data.record.name);
    },
    action: function (data) {
        acme.bookStore.book
            .delete(data.record.id)
            .then(function() {
                abp.notify.info(l('SuccessfullyDeleted'));
                dataTable.ajax.reload();
            });
    }
}

• confirmMessage option is used to ask a confirmation question before executing the action.
• acme.bookStore.book.delete() method makes an AJAX request to JavaScript proxy function to delete a book.
• abp.notify.info() shows a notification after the delete operation.

The final index.js content is shown below:

$(function () {

    var l = abp.localization.getResource('BookStore');

    var createModal = new abp.ModalManager(abp.appPath + 'Books/CreateModal');
    var editModal = new abp.ModalManager(abp.appPath + 'Books/EditModal');

    var dataTable = $('#BooksTable').DataTable(abp.libs.datatables.normalizeConfiguration({
        processing: true,
        serverSide: true,
        paging: true,
        searching: false,
        autoWidth: false,
        scrollCollapse: true,
        order: [[1, "asc"]],
        ajax: abp.libs.datatables.createAjax(acme.bookStore.book.getList),
        columnDefs: [
            {
                rowAction: {
                    items:
                    [
                        {
                            text: l('Edit'),
                            action: function (data) {
                                editModal.open({ id: data.record.id });
                            }
                        },
                        {
                            text: l('Delete'),
                            confirmMessage: function (data) {
                                return l('BookDeletionConfirmationMessage', data.record.name);
                            },
                            action: function (data) {
                                acme.bookStore.book
                                    .delete(data.record.id)
                                    .then(function() {
                                        abp.notify.info(l('SuccessfullyDeleted'));
                                        dataTable.ajax.reload();
                                    });
                            }
                        }
                    ]
                }
            },
            { data: "name" },
            { data: "type" },
            { data: "publishDate" },
            { data: "price" },
            { data: "creationTime" }
        ]
    }));

    createModal.onResult(function () {
        dataTable.ajax.reload();
    });

    editModal.onResult(function () {
        dataTable.ajax.reload();
    });

    $('#NewBookButton').click(function (e) {
        e.preventDefault();
        createModal.open();
    });
});

Open the en.json in the Acme.BookStore.Domain.Shared project and add the following translations:

"BookDeletionConfirmationMessage": "Are you sure to delete the book {0}?",
"SuccessfullyDeleted": "Successfully deleted"

Run the application and try to delete a book.

Next Part

See the next part of this tutorial.