Book Image

Apps and Services with .NET 8 - Second Edition

By : Mark J. Price
5 (7)
Book Image

Apps and Services with .NET 8 - Second Edition

5 (7)
By: Mark J. Price

Overview of this book

Elevate your practical C# and .NET skills to the next level with this new edition of Apps and Services with .NET 8. With chapters that put a variety of technologies into practice, including Web API, gRPC, GraphQL, and SignalR, this book will give you a broader scope of knowledge than other books that often focus on only a handful of .NET technologies. You’ll dive into the new unified model for Blazor Full Stack and leverage .NET MAUI to develop mobile and desktop apps. This new edition introduces the latest enhancements, including the seamless implementation of web services with ADO.NET SqlClient's native Ahead-of-Time (AOT) support. Popular library coverage now includes Humanizer and Noda Time. There’s also a brand-new chapter that delves into service architecture, caching, queuing, and robust background services. By the end of this book, you’ll have a wide range of best practices and deep insights under your belt to help you build rich apps and efficient services.

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Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Preface
Preface
Where to find the code solutions
What this book covers
What you need for this book
Get in touch
1
Introducing Apps and Services with .NET
Introducing Apps and Services with .NET
Introducing this book and its contents
App and service technologies
Setting up your development environment
Installing additional template packs
Exploring top-level programs, functions, and namespaces
Making good use of the GitHub repository for this book
Where to go for help
Practicing and exploring
Summary
Free Chapter
2
Managing Relational Data Using SQL Server
Managing Relational Data Using SQL Server
Understanding modern databases
Managing data with Transact-SQL
Managing data with low-level APIs
Understanding the types in ADO.NET
Managing data with Dapper
Cleaning up data resources
Practicing and exploring
Summary
3
Building Entity Models for SQL Server Using EF Core
Building Entity Models for SQL Server Using EF Core
Managing data with EF Core
Mapping inheritance hierarchies with EF Core
Building a reusable entity data model
Practicing and exploring
Summary
4
Managing NoSQL Data Using Azure Cosmos DB
Managing NoSQL Data Using Azure Cosmos DB
Understanding NoSQL databases
Creating Cosmos DB resources
Manipulating data with the Core (SQL) API
Exploring server-side programming
Cleaning up Azure resources
Practicing and exploring
Summary
5
Multitasking and Concurrency
Multitasking and Concurrency
Understanding processes, threads, and tasks
Running tasks asynchronously
Synchronizing access to shared resources
Understanding async and await
Practicing and exploring
Summary
6
Using Popular Third-Party Libraries
Using Popular Third-Party Libraries
Which third-party libraries are most popular?
Working with images
Working with text and numbers using Humanizer
Logging with Serilog
Mapping between objects
Making fluent assertions in unit testing
Validating data
Generating PDFs
Practicing and exploring
Summary
7
Handling Dates, Times, and Internationalization
Handling Dates, Times, and Internationalization
Working with dates and times
Working with time zones
Working with cultures
Working with Noda Time
Practicing and exploring
Summary
8
Building and Securing Web Services Using Minimal APIs
Building and Securing Web Services Using Minimal APIs
Building web services using ASP.NET Core Minimal APIs
Relaxing the same origin security policy using CORS
Preventing denial of service attacks using rate limiting
Improving startup time and resources using native AOT
Understanding identity services
Practicing and exploring
Summary
9
Caching, Queuing, and Resilient Background Services
Caching, Queuing, and Resilient Background Services
Understanding service architecture
Caching with ASP.NET Core
Fault tolerance with Polly
Queuing with RabbitMQ
Implementing long-running background services
Practicing and exploring
Summary
10
Building Serverless Nanoservices Using Azure Functions
Building Serverless Nanoservices Using Azure Functions
Understanding Azure Functions
Building an Azure Functions project
Responding to timer and resource triggers
Publishing an Azure Functions project to the cloud
Cleaning up Azure Functions resources
Practicing and exploring
Summary
11
Broadcasting Real-Time Communication Using SignalR
Broadcasting Real-Time Communication Using SignalR
Understanding SignalR
Building a live communication service using SignalR
Building a web client using the SignalR JavaScript library
Building a .NET console app client
Streaming data using SignalR
Practicing and exploring
Summary
12
Combining Data Sources Using GraphQL
Combining Data Sources Using GraphQL
Understanding GraphQL
Building a service that supports GraphQL
Defining GraphQL queries for EF Core models
Building .NET clients for a GraphQL service
Implementing GraphQL mutations
Implementing GraphQL subscriptions
Practicing and exploring
Summary
13
Building Efficient Microservices Using gRPC
Building Efficient Microservices Using gRPC
Understanding gRPC
Building a gRPC service and client
Implementing gRPC for an EF Core model
Taking gRPC further
Handling dates, times, and decimal numbers
Implementing interceptors and handling faults
Implementing gRPC JSON transcoding
Practicing and exploring
Summary
14
Building Web User Interfaces Using ASP.NET Core
Building Web User Interfaces Using ASP.NET Core
Setting up an ASP.NET Core MVC website
Defining web user interfaces with Razor views
Localizing and globalizing with ASP.NET Core
Defining web user interfaces with Tag Helpers
Output caching
Practicing and exploring
Summary
15
Building Web Components Using Blazor
Building Web Components Using Blazor
Understanding Blazor
Building Blazor components
Building a Blazor data component
Practicing and exploring
Summary
16
Building Mobile and Desktop Apps Using .NET MAUI
Building Mobile and Desktop Apps Using .NET MAUI
Understanding XAML
Understanding .NET MAUI
Building mobile and desktop apps using .NET MAUI
Using shared resources
Using data binding
Practicing and exploring
Summary
17
Epilogue
Epilogue
Cloud-native development using .NET Aspire
Introducing the Survey Project Challenge
Third edition coming in December 2025
Next steps on your C# and .NET learning journey
Good luck!
18
Index
Index

Understanding async and await

C# 5 introduced two C# keywords when working with the Task type. They are especially useful for the following:

  • Implementing multitasking for a graphical user interface (GUI)
  • Improving the scalability of web applications and web services

In Chapter 16, Building Mobile and Desktop Apps Using .NET MAUI, we will see how the async and await keywords can implement multitasking for a GUI.

But for now, let’s learn the theory of why these two C# keywords were introduced, and then later, you will see them used in practice.

Improving responsiveness for console apps

One of the limitations with console apps is that you can only use the await keyword inside methods that are marked as async, but C# 7 and earlier do not allow the Main method to be marked as async! Luckily, a new feature introduced in C# 7.1 was support for async in Main:

  1. Use your preferred code editor to add a new Console App / console project to...
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