C# Razor Pages: A Comprehensive Guide with Examples

Welcome to our blog post on C# Razor Pages! If you’re a web developer looking for a powerful framework to build dynamic web applications, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we will explore the ins and outs of C# Razor Pages and provide you with practical examples to help you get started.

Razor Pages is a feature of ASP.NET Core that allows you to build web pages using a combination of HTML markup and C# code. It provides a clean and efficient way to create server-side web applications without the need for complex MVC architecture.

In this blog post, we’ll cover the basics of C# Razor Pages, including how to set up your development environment, create and structure Razor Pages, handle form submissions, work with data models, and much more. We’ll also dive into advanced topics like routing, dependency injection, and customizing the Razor Pages framework to suit your specific needs.

Throughout the guide, we’ll provide code snippets and examples to illustrate the concepts and techniques. By the end, you’ll have a solid understanding of C# Razor Pages and be well-equipped to start building your own web applications.

So, whether you’re a beginner eager to learn C# Razor Pages or an experienced developer looking to enhance your skills, let’s dive in and discover the power and versatility of this incredible framework.

C# Razor Pages is a powerful framework for building dynamic web applications using ASP.NET Core. It offers a clean and efficient way to create server-side web pages without the complexity of traditional MVC architecture. In this blog post, we’ll explore the ins and outs of C# Razor Pages and provide you with practical examples to help you get started.

Setting Up Your Development Environment

Before we dive into C# Razor Pages, let’s make sure you have your development environment set up properly. You’ll need to have the .NET Core SDK installed on your machine. Once you have that, you can create a new ASP.NET Core project and start working with Razor Pages.

To create a new Razor Pages project, open your terminal or command prompt and run the following command:

dotnet new webapp --razor-pages

This command will create a new ASP.NET Core project with the Razor Pages template.

Creating and Structuring Razor Pages

With your development environment set up, it’s time to create your first Razor Page. Razor Pages have a .cshtml file extension and consist of a combination of HTML markup and C# code.

To create a new Razor Page, navigate to the ‘Pages’ directory in your project and add a new .cshtml file. You can give it any name you like, but for simplicity, let’s call it ‘Index.cshtml’.

Once you’ve created the file, open it in your preferred code editor and start adding your HTML markup. You can also embed C# code within the markup using the ‘@’ symbol.

<h1>Welcome to my Razor Page!</h1>

@{
var message = 'Hello, World!';
}

<p>@message</p>

In the example above, we’ve added a heading and a paragraph to our Razor Page. We’ve also defined a C# variable ‘message’ and displayed its value using the ‘@’ symbol.

Razor Pages follow a specific naming convention for handling HTTP requests. By default, the ‘Index.cshtml’ file we created earlier will handle requests to the root URL of our application. For example, if you’re running your application locally, you can access the Razor Page at ‘http://localhost:5000/’.

Handling Form Submissions

One of the key aspects of building web applications is handling form submissions. With Razor Pages, it’s straightforward to process form data and take appropriate actions.

Let’s say we have a simple form in our Razor Page with two input fields: ‘name’ and ’email’. We want to process this form and display a personalized greeting to the user.

First, we need to define a corresponding C# model that represents the form data. In our case, let’s create a class called ‘ContactForm’ with ‘Name’ and ‘Email’ properties.

public class ContactForm
{
 public string Name { get; set; }
 public string Email { get; set; }
}

Next, we’ll modify our Razor Page to include the form and handle the form submission.

<form method='post'>
 <div>
 <label for='name'>Name:</label>
 <input type='text' id='name' name='Name' />
 </div>
 <div>
 <label for='email'>Email:</label>
 <input type='text' id='email' name='Email' />
 </div>
 <button type='submit'>Submit</button>
</form>

@{
 if (IsPost)
 {
 var contactForm = new ContactForm
 {
 Name = Request.Form['Name'],
 Email = Request.Form['Email']
 };

 // Process the form data and display a personalized greeting
 var greeting = 'Hello, ' + contactForm.Name + '! Thank you for your submission.';
 <p>@greeting</p>
 }
}

In the example above, we’ve added an HTML form that captures the user’s name and email. The form has a ‘POST’ method, which means it will submit the data to the server when the user clicks the ‘Submit’ button.

In the C# code block, we check if the request is a ‘POST’ request (i.e., the form has been submitted). If it is, we create an instance of the ‘ContactForm’ class and populate it with the form data. We then process the form data and display a personalized greeting to the user.

This is just a simple example, but you can imagine the possibilities of handling more complex forms and performing various actions based on the submitted data.

Working with Data Models

In real-world applications, you often need to work with data from databases or external APIs. Razor Pages makes it easy to handle data models and perform CRUD operations.

Let’s say we have a ‘Product’ data model that represents a product in an e-commerce application. We want to display a list of products on our Razor Page and provide options to add, edit, and delete products.

First, we’ll define our ‘Product’ class:

public class Product
{
 public int Id { get; set; }
 public string Name { get; set; }
 public decimal Price { get; set; }
}

Next, we’ll modify our Razor Page to display a list of products:

@page
@model List<Product>

<h1>Products</h1>

<table>
 <thead>
 <tr>
 <th>Name</th>
 <th>Price</th>
 <th></th>
 </tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
 @foreach (var product in Model)
 {
 <tr>
 <td>@product.Name</td>
 <td>@product.Price</td>
 <td>
 <a href='/products/edit/@product.Id'>Edit</a>
 <a href='/products/delete/@product.Id'>Delete</a>
 </td>
 </tr>
 }
 </tbody>
</table>

In the example above, we’ve added a code block at the top of our Razor Page to specify the model type as a list of ‘Product’ objects. This allows us to iterate over the list and display each product’s name, price, and options to edit or delete the product.

Of course, this is just a basic example. In a real application, you would typically retrieve the product data from a database or external API and populate the model with the retrieved data.

Advanced Topics: Routing, Dependency Injection, and Customization

As you become more familiar with C# Razor Pages, you may want to explore advanced topics to further enhance your web applications.

Routing allows you to customize the URLs of your Razor Pages and define parameterized routes. Dependency Injection enables you to manage dependencies and make your application more modular and testable. Customization options, such as custom page handlers and filters, give you greater control over the execution flow and behavior of your Razor Pages.

These topics require more in-depth explanations and examples, so we’ll cover them in future blog posts. Stay tuned!

Conclusion

In this comprehensive guide, we’ve introduced you to C# Razor Pages and provided practical examples to help you get started. We covered the basics of creating and structuring Razor Pages, handling form submissions, working with data models, and touched on advanced topics like routing and dependency injection.

C# Razor Pages offers a powerful and efficient way to build dynamic web applications. With its clean syntax and seamless integration with ASP.NET Core, you’ll be able to create robust and scalable web applications in no time.

So, go ahead and dive into C# Razor Pages. Experiment, build, and unleash the full potential of this incredible framework. Happy coding!