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

The completed sample is available: bookstore-mvc-ef.zip. To be able to download this sample, you need to hold an active ABP Commercial license.

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.