DEV Community: Dries Deboosere

How to auto deploy an ASP.NET 6.0 application to Digital Ocean App

Dries Deboosere — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Automatic deploy your ASP.NET 6.0 GitHub repository to an DigitalOcean App. Auto-deploy your app from your GitHub source by committing and pushing your changes to your GitHub repository.

Create a new ASP.NET 6.0 web application

Open your Visual Studio and create a new ASP.NET MVC application.

In my case I choose .NET 6.0 framework
Check the Enable Docker checkbox.
Create the project.

Open the Views/Home/Index.cshtml file and add the following code.

Create a new GitHub repository from our project

Now we'll create a new GitHub repository from our project. You can do this by clicking on the Add to Source Control option.

Select Git as your source control provider.

On the next screen you can fill in the details of your repository. In my case I will use DigitalOceanDeploymentDemo as the name for my new repository. You can use the name of your repository and decide if you want to make it public or private, if you need a README, ...
Click on the Create and Push button.

Now you can see that the repository is created and the project is pushed to the repository.

Move the Dockerfile to the root of the project

It's important that the Dockerfile is in the root of the project. So we'll move the Dockerfile to the root of the project.

The easiest way to do this is to right-click on the Dockerfile in Visual Studio Solution Explorer and choose the Open Containing Folder option.

Now you can move the Dockerfile to the root of the project from the Windows Explorer.

Commit and push the changes to GitHub

Now it's time to create our Digital Ocean App.

Create Digital Ocean account

First of all, you'll need a Digital Ocean account. If you don't have an DO account than you can create an account with this referral link and you'll get $200 credits to spend in the next 60 days. (And you'll help me to keep this blog running.)

Digital Ocean App

DigitalOcean App Platform is a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offering that makes it easy for developers to deploy their C# asp.net core applications to DigitalOcean servers. With App Platform, you can publish your code directly from your GitHub repository without worrying about the underlying infrastructure. This means that you can focus on building your app and let DigitalOcean take care of the rest!

Create Digital Ocean App

Now you'll need to go to the Digital Ocean dashboard and create a new App. You can do this by clicking on the "Apps" menu item.

Click on the "Create App" button.

Digital Ocean App configuration

It's time to configure the Digital Ocean App. As Service Provider we will use GitHub , because we want to deploy our ASP.NET Docker image from a GitHub repository. So we select GitHub as our service provider.
Now click on the Manage Access button to grant Digital Ocean access to your GitHub repository.

On the next screen, choose Only select repositories and select the repository that you want to use. In this demo, we will use the Drieze/DigitalOceanDeploymentDemo repository.
Click on the Install & Authorize button to grant Digital Ocean access to your GitHub repository.

Now you can choose your granted repository in the dropdown menu below Repository. Choose the repository that you want to use. In my case it's the Drieze/DigitalOceanDeploymentDemo repository.
Next you have to choose the branch on your repository that you want to be published every time you make an update on the selected branch. In my case it's the master branch.
Leave the Source Directory on the root folder / .
Make sure that the Autodeploy checkbox is checked. It should be checked by default.
Click on the Next button.

Now you see a summary of your app. As you can see I get a random name for my app (clownfish-app), yours can be different.

Now click on the Edit button to edit the app configuration. It's important that we change the port number. We need to change the port number to 80. Because we want to use the default port for HTTP traffic.

Click on the Edit button in the HTTP Port section.

Change the port number to 80 and click on the Save button.
Click on the Back button to go back to the summary screen.

If you want, you can add an addiontal resource, but in this demo we will not add any additional resources.
Click on the Next button.
I don't have any enivronment variables, so I will skip this step. And click on Next.

In the next screen you'll see a summary of your app. If everything is correct, click on the Next button.

On the next screen you can do a review of your app. Scroll down to change the Billing plan.
Click on the Edit Plan button.

You can choose the plan that you want. If you want to use some free credits , you can use this referral link to get $200 credits to spend in the next 60 days.

I choose the Basic plan.
And changed the Size to $5.00/mo - Basic.
Click Back

Now click on the Create Resources button.

Now you can see that your app is being deployed. It can take a few minutes.

Building the Docker image

Now you can see that the Docker image is being built. It can take a few minutes.
Click on the Go to Build Logs button to see the build logs.

If you see an error that the Dockerfile is not found, you can check if the Dockerfile is in the root folder of your repository.

After a succesfull build, your app is gonna be deployed.
Now click on the Live App button to see your app live.

Now you can see that your app is live and running on Digital Ocean.

Update the GitHub repository

Now it's time to make a change to the GitHub repository. We will change the text on the home page. I'll add a new p-tag with the text "Test".

Now we need to commit the changes to the GitHub repository.
Our Digital Ocean App will detect the changes and will build a new Docker image and deploy the new Docker image to our Digital Ocean App.

After the build and deployment is done you can see that the text on the home page is changed.

GitHub repository for this demo

You can find the GitHub repository for this demo here.

How to add cookie consent in ASP.NET 6

Dries Deboosere — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Let's configure our Program.cs class by add this configuration:

builder.Services.Configure(options =>
{
    // This lambda determines whether user consent for non-essential 
    // cookies is needed for a given request.
    options.CheckConsentNeeded = context => true;

    options.MinimumSameSitePolicy = SameSiteMode.None;
});

Add following code in your Program class:

app.UseCookiePolicy();

Example:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddRazorPages();
builder.Services.Configure(options =>
{
    // This lambda determines whether user consent for non-essential 
    // cookies is needed for a given request.
    options.CheckConsentNeeded = context => true;

    options.MinimumSameSitePolicy = SameSiteMode.None;
});

var app = builder.Build();

if (!app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseExceptionHandler("/Error");
    app.UseHsts();
}

app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseStaticFiles();
app.UseCookiePolicy();

app.UseRouting();

app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapRazorPages();

app.Run();

Add a new Razor page in the Shared folder with the name: `_CookieConsentPartial.cshtml' and add following code in this new page:

`
@using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http.Features

@{
var consentFeature = Context.Features.Get();
var showBanner = !consentFeature?.CanTrack ?? false;
var cookieString = consentFeature?.CreateConsentCookie();
}

@if (showBanner)
{

    Use this space to summarize your privacy and cookie use policy. Learn More.

        Accept



    (function () {
        var button = document.querySelector("#cookieConsent button[data-cookie-string]");
        button.addEventListener("click", function (event) {
            document.cookie = button.dataset.cookieString;
        }, false);
    })();

}
`

Now add the partial tag-helper in your `_Layout.cshtml' page:



  @RenderBody()

You can place this partial tag-helper anywhere you want in your HTML code.

If you run your web application you should see something like this:

If you click Accept then you'll see the cookie message disappear. Refresh your page and you'll see that the message doesn't come back.

How to enable HTTP/2 on NGINX

Dries Deboosere — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

In this post, I'll explain how you can setup your NGINX for HTTP/2.

Go to your nginx.conf or default configuration file. In my case I'll need to change my NGINX default configuration file;

nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

This should look something like this;

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name driesdeboosere.dev *.driesdeboosere.dev;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:5000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection keep-alive;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }

listen [::]:443 ssl ipv6only=on; # managed by Certbot
listen 443 ssl; # managed by Certbot
ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/driesdeboosere.dev/fullchain.pem; # managed by Certbot
ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/driesdeboosere.dev/privkey.pem; # managed by Certbot
include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-nginx.conf; # managed by Certbot
ssl_dhparam /etc/letsencrypt/ssl-dhparams.pem; # managed by Certbot
}

Add http2 after ssl:

listen [::]:443 ssl http2 ipv6only=on; # managed by Certbot
listen 443 ssl http2; # managed by Certbot

Now save your changes to the NGINX config file and reload NGINX:

systemctl reload nginx

Well done! Now your NGINX server uses HTTP/2!

How to add text to an image with C# in dotnet

Dries Deboosere — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Demo

In this demo, we will add some text to an existing image.

We type some Lorem Ipsum text in a textarea:

And add the text to an image:

Create a new application

Create a new dotnet application, in this demo, we'll use an ASP.NET Core MVC project

Give your project and solution a name:

Choose your framework, in my case it's .NET6.0, and click on Create

Choosing an image

Time for us to choose an image. I found a free image online from an aged paper that you can download here.

Now it's time to create a folder in our project. Give this folder the name of Resources.
Copy the image to this folder

This image needs to be built as a resource and needs to be copied to the output directory. So right-click the image and choose properties;

Change the Build Action to Resource
Change the Copy to Output Directory to Copy if newer

Choose a font

Now it's time to choose a font. Because the image is an aged paper we'll use a handwriting font. For this demo, we'll use the Autography font that you can download here.

Place the otf-file in the Resources folder and change the Build Action to Resource and the Copy to Output Directory to Copy if newer.

Add text to image with C

Finally, the moment where we can write some code!

Create an IndexViewModel in the Models/Home folder

namespace AddTextToImage.Mvc.Models.Home
{
    public class IndexViewModel
    {
        public string? Text { get; set; }
    }
}

Create a ResultViewModel in the Models/Home folder

namespace AddTextToImage.Mvc.Models.Home
{
    public class ResultViewModel
    {
        public string Path { get; set; }
    }
}

Change the Index action method in the HomeController

public IActionResult Index()
{
    IndexViewModel model = new IndexViewModel();
    return View(model);
}

Change the Index view from the Home folder

@model AddTextToImage.Mvc.Models.Home.IndexViewModel

@{
    ViewData["Title"] = "Home Page";
}


        Text

        We'll never share your text with anyone else and do not store your text.

    Create image

Add two SixLabors ImageSharp NuGet packages to the project:

<>
<>

Add an Index with an [HttpPost] attribute

[HttpPost]
public IActionResult Index(IndexViewModel model)
{
    var downloadsPath = string.Empty;
    using (var img = SixLabors.ImageSharp.Image.Load(Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, "Resources", paper.jpg")))
    {
        FontCollection collection = new();
        var path = Path.GetFullPath(Path.Combine(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, "Resources")); // Path to the Resources folder
        FontFamily family = collection.Add(Path.Combine(path, "Autography.otf")); // Path incl filename for our font
        Font font = family.CreateFont(80, FontStyle.Regular); // Fontsize is 80 and Fontstyle is Regular

        // The options are optional
        TextOptions options = new(font)
        {
            Origin = new PointF(150, 100), // Set the rendering origin with the x and y coordinates
            TabWidth = 8, // A tab renders as 8 spaces wide
            WrappingLength = 1400, // Greater than zero so we will word wrap at 1400 pixels wide
            HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
        };

        IBrush brush = Brushes.Solid(Color.Black); // Font color

        string text = model.Text;

        downloadsPath = Path.Combine(_webHostEnvironment.WebRootPath, "images", "paper-with-text.jpg");

        img.Mutate(x => x.DrawText(options, text, brush)); // Write text on image
        img.Save(Path.Combine(downloadsPath)); // Save image to a folder
    }
    ResultViewModel resultModel = new ResultViewModel();
    resultModel.Path = "/images/paper-with-text.jpg";
    return RedirectToAction("Result", resultModel);
}

Inject IWebHostEnviroment in the HomeController constructor

private readonly ILogger _logger;
private readonly IWebHostEnvironment _webHostEnvironment;

public HomeController(ILogger logger, IWebHostEnvironment webHostEnvironment)
{
    _logger = logger;
    _webHostEnvironment = webHostEnvironment;
}

Create a Result method in the HomeController

public IActionResult Result(ResultViewModel model)
{
    return View(model);
}

Create a Result View in the Views/Home folder

@model AddTextToImage.Mvc.Models.Home.ResultViewModel

@{
    ViewData["Title"] = "Paper with our text";
}

    @ViewData["Title"]

Run our application

Now it's time to run our application, so start the project.

Enter some text in the text-area. Some Lorem Ipsum by example:


Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem.

Click on Create image
See the result

Tweaks

You can tinker around with all the different settings that the ImageSharp package offers, you can change by example

font size
font family
font type
font color
where the text needs to be aligned
horizontal alignment
...

Source

You can find the GitHub repository here.

How to redirect www to non-www with Nginx

Dries Deboosere — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

When you have a website or web application behind a domain, then your users can access your website by the domain name and the www sub domain.

For example, this website is accessible through https://driesdeboosere.dev (without www sub domain) and https://www.driesdeboosere.dev (with www sub domain).

When a user goes to https://www.driesdeboosere.dev then that user will be redirected to https://driesdeboosere.dev (_without the www _).

To achieve this on a Nginx server you'll need to do the following:

Configure DNS

In order to set up this redirect, www.driesdeboosere.dev to driesdeboosere.dev or visa versa, you must have an A record for the domain (driesdeboosere.dev) and an A record for the sub domain (www.driesdeboosere.dev).

Create an A record for your domain name (e.g. driesdeboosere.dev) and set the IP address to the public IP address of your Nginx server (e.g. 165.22.205.49).
Next, add another A record for your sub domain (e.g. www.driesdeboosere.dev) and specify the same IP address.

It should look something like this:

Now your servers is accessible by the www and non-www domain, but we still need to configure the redirect. That's the next step.

Configure Nginx redirect

We can do two redirects, a 301 or a 302 redirect. Learn about the difference between the two.

In our case, we want a permanent 301 redirect, so that all traffic through www.driesdeboosere.dev redirects to driesdeboosere.dev. We'll setup a new Nginx server block that points to your original server block.

Login to your server
Enter following command:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/redirect.conf

Depending on which direction you want to redirect, use one of the two options below.

Option 1: Redirect www to non-www

If you want to redirect your users from www to non-www domain, insert following configuration in the editor:

server {
    server_name www.driesdeboosere.dev;
    return 301 $scheme://driesdeboosere.dev$request_uri;
}

Save and exit.

To make the changes take effect, restart Nginx by entering following command:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Test your redirect in the browser; entering www.driesdeboosere.dev will redirect to driesdeboosere.dev.

We can test this with a curl command, enter following in PowerShell:

curl -I www.driesdeboosere.dev

You should get a 301 Moved Permanently response like this:

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Server: nginx/1.14.0 (Ubuntu)
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2021 13:04:32 GMT
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 194
Connection: keep-alive
Location: https://driesdeboosere.dev/

Option 2: Redirect non-www to www

If you want to redirect your users from non-www to www domain, insert following configuration in the editor:

server {
    server_name driesdeboosere.dev;
    return 301 $scheme://www.driesdeboosere.dev$request_uri;
}

Save and exit.

To make the changes take effect, restart Nginx by entering following command:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Test your redirect in the browser; entering driesdeboosere.dev will redirect to www.driesdeboosere.dev.

We can test this with a curl command, enter following in PowerShell:

curl -I driesdeboosere.dev

You should get a 301 Moved Permanently response like this:

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
Server: nginx/1.14.0 (Ubuntu)
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2021 13:04:32 GMT
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 194
Connection: keep-alive
Location: https://www.driesdeboosere.dev/

Conclusion

That’s it! Your Nginx permanent redirect is now configured properly, and your users will be able to access your web server via your non-www and www domain.

Difference between a permanent and temporary redirect

301 redirect (Permanent)

A 301 redirect is an permanent redirect. This way we inform search engines and browsers that a page is permanent redirected to a new address. The old address will be removed from the search engines and be replaced by the new address.

302 redirect (Temporary)

A 302 redirect is an temporary redirect. This way we inform search engines and browsers that a page is temporary redirected to a new address.

How to add cookie consent in ASP.NET Core 5.0

Dries Deboosere — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Learn how to add a cookie consent in an existing ASP.NET Core 3.1 or 5.0 web application.

Let's configure our Startup.cs class by add this configuration and using statement.

Add the using statement:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;

Add following code in the ConfigureServices method of your Startup class:

// Sets the display of the Cookie Consent banner (/Pages/Shared/_CookieConsentPartial.cshtml).
// This lambda determines whether user consent for non-essential cookies is needed for a given request.
services.Configure<CookiePolicyOptions>(options => {
    options.CheckConsentNeeded = context => true;
    options.MinimumSameSitePolicy = SameSiteMode.Strict;
});

Add following code in the Configure method of your Startup class:

app.UseCookiePolicy();

Example:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    // Sets the display of the Cookie Consent banner (/Pages/Shared/_CookieConsentPartial.cshtml).
    // This lambda determines whether user consent for non-essential cookies is needed for a given request.
    services.Configure<CookiePolicyOptions>(options => {
        options.CheckConsentNeeded = context => true;
        options.MinimumSameSitePolicy = SameSiteMode.Strict;
    });

    services.AddRouting(options => options.LowercaseUrls = true);
    services.AddRazorPages().AddRazorRuntimeCompilation();
    services.AddHttpContextAccessor();

    services.AddScoped<IProjectService, ProjectService>();
    services.AddScoped<IBlogService, BlogService>();
}

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env)
{
    if (env.IsDevelopment())
    {
        app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
    }
    else
    {
        app.UseExceptionHandler("/Error");
        // The default HSTS value is 30 days. You may want to change this for production scenarios, see https://aka.ms/aspnetcore-hsts.
        app.UseHsts();
    }

    app.UseCookiePolicy();
    app.UseHttpsRedirection();
    app.UseStaticFiles();

    app.UseRouting();

    app.UseAuthorization();

    app.UseEndpoints(endpoints =>
    {
        endpoints.MapRazorPages();
    });
}

Add a new Razor page in the Shared folder with the name: '_CookieConsentPartial.cshtml' and add following code in this new page:

@using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http.Features

@{
    var consentFeature = Context.Features.Get<ITrackingConsentFeature>();
    var showBanner = !consentFeature?.CanTrack ?? false;
    var cookieString = consentFeature?.CreateConsentCookie();
}

@if (showBanner)
{
    <div id="cookieConsent" class="alert alert-info alert-dismissible fade show" role="alert">
        Use this space to summarize your privacy and cookie use policy. <a asp-page="/Privacy">Learn More</a>.
        <button type="button" class="accept-policy close" data-dismiss="alert" aria-label="Close" data-cookie-string="@cookieString">
            <span aria-hidden="true">Accept</span>
        </button>
    </div>
    <script>
        (function () {
            var button = document.querySelector("#cookieConsent button[data-cookie-string]");
            button.addEventListener("click", function (event) {
                document.cookie = button.dataset.cookieString;
                var cookieContainer = document.querySelector("#cookieConsent");
                cookieContainer.remove();
            }, false);
        })();
    </script>
}

Now add the partial tag-helper in your '_Layout.cshtml' page:

<div class="container">
  <main role="main" class="pb-3">@RenderBody()</main>
  <partial name="_CookieConsentPartial" />
</div>

You can place this partial tag-helper anywhere you want in your HTML code.

If you run your web application you should see something like this:

If you click Accept then you'll see the cookie message disappear. Refresh your page and you'll see that the message doesn't come back.

How to add a Spotify playlist to your site

Dries Deboosere — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Adding a Spotify playlist to your website is realy easy. It's just getting some HTML code from Spotify that you can paste in your own HTML.

Open Spotify

Open the Spotify application and go to your playlist that you want to share on your website.

Get the HTML

Click on the three dots
Go to Share and then Embed playlist

Now you see the following screen:

This is how your playlist is gonna look like when you paste the html code in your website.

Now click on the Copy button to copy the code. This should look like something to this:

<iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/5aXXutTCAQMAXHV7juYBR0" width="100%" height="380" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>

If you paste this HTML code in your the HTML of your website then you'll see the (playable) Spotify playlist on your website. It will look exactly like the playlist you see in the preview:

Entity Framework Core Spotify data seed generator

Dries Deboosere — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

For my lecture on ASP.NET Web API I needed some seed data for Entity Framework Core for the API with some relational data.

I was tired of creating this manually. Yes you have sites that can create dummy data for you but I really needed some relational data between my entities. I needed following relationships between my entities:

One to many
Many to many

I thought it would be nice if I could do this with some data from Spotify. So I began to write my own Spotify scraper to create my seed data.

Created entities

With my tool I create several classes with their own properties. The entities are created as:

An artist can have many albums
An artist can have many genres
An album can have one artist
An album can have many tracks
An track can have one album
An genre can have many artists

Database scheme

Abstract base class

using System;

public abstract class EntityBase
{
    public Guid Id { get; set; }
}

Properties

Id : the Id for the primary key in your database

Artist class

An Artist class that derives from the abstract EntityBase class.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

public class Artist : EntityBase
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public int Followers { get; set; }
    public int Popularity { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable ArtistGenres { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable Albums { get; set; }
    public string SpotifyId { get; set; }
    public Uri Image { get; set; }
}

Properties

Name : The name of the Artist in Spotify
Followers : the number of followers in Spotify
Popularity : the number of popularity in Spotify
ArtistGenres : a many-to-many class for the genres of the artist
Albums : a collections of the albums from the artist in Spotify
SpotifyId : the artist id in Spotify
Image : an Uri with the main image of the artist in Spotify

Album class

An Album class that derives from the abstract EntityBase class.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

public class Album : EntityBase
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public DateTime ReleaseDate { get; set; }
    public int TotalTracks { get; set; }
    public string SpotifyId { get; set; }
    public Uri Image { get; set; }
    public Guid ArtistId { get; set; }
    public Artist Artist { get; set; }
}

Properties

Name : The name of the Album of an artist in Spotify
ReleaseDate : the release date of the album know by Spotify
TotalTracks : the number of tracks of the album in Spotify
SpotifyId : the album id in Spotify
Image : an Uri with the main image of the album in Spotify
ArtistId : the foreign key to the artist of the album
Artist : a navigation property to the Artist of the album

Track class

An Track class that derives from the abstract EntityBase class.

using System;

public class Track : EntityBase
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public string SpotifyId { get; set; }
    public int TrackNumber { get; set; }
    public int DiscNumber { get; set; }
    public int DurationMs { get; set; }
    public bool Explicit { get; set; }
    public Uri PreviewUrl { get; set; }
    public Guid AlbumId { get; set; }
    public Album Album { get; set; }
}

Properties

Name : The name of the Track of an album in Spotify
SpotifyId : the track id in Spotify
TrackNumber : the track number of the album know by Spotify
DiscNumber : the disc number of the album know by Spotify
DurationMs : the duration of a song in milliseconds in Spotify
Explicit : an Boolean if the track is marked explicit or not in Spotify
PreviewUrl : an Uri to listen to a preview of the track
AlbumId : a primary key to the album that the track belongs to
Album : a navigation property to the Album of the track

Genre class

An Genre class that derives from the abstract EntityBase class.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;

public class Genre : EntityBase
{
    public string Name { get; set; }
    public IEnumerable ArtistGenres { get; set; }
}

Properties

Name : The name of the Genre in Spotify
ArtistGenres : the many to many navigation property to the Artists with this genre

ArtistGenre class

An ArtistGenre class.

using System;

public class ArtistGenre
{
    public Guid ArtistId { get; set; }
    public Guid GenreId { get; set; }
    public Artist Artist { get; set; }
    public Genre Genre { get; set; }
}

Properties

ArtistId : The PK and FK of the ArtistId
GenreId : The PK and FK of the GenreId
Artist : The navigation property of the Artist
Genre : The navigation property of the Genre

Created seeding

The tool will create several files for your seeding.

DbContext class

An DbContext class with the name you have chosen in the tool. In this example is the name ApplicationDbContext.

using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Namespace.Of.Your.Entities;

public class ApplicationDbContext : DbContext
{
    public DbSet Artists { get; set; }
    public DbSet Genres { get; set; }
    public DbSet Albums { get; set; }
    public DbSet Tracks { get; set; }
    public DbSet ArtistGenres { get; set; }

    public ApplicationDbContext(DbContextOptions options) : base(options)
    {
    }

    protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        modelBuilder.Entity()
            .ToTable("ArtistGenre")
            .HasKey(ag => new { ag.ArtistId, ag.GenreId }); 
        modelBuilder.Entity()
            .HasOne(ag => ag.Artist)
            .WithMany(g => g.ArtistGenres)
            .HasForeignKey(ag => ag.ArtistId); 
        modelBuilder.Entity()
            .HasOne(ag => ag.Genre)
            .WithMany(a => a.ArtistGenres)
            .HasForeignKey(ag => ag.GenreId); 
        ArtistSeeder.Seed(modelBuilder);
        GenreSeeder.Seed(modelBuilder);
        AlbumSeeder.Seed(modelBuilder);
        TrackSeeder.Seed(modelBuilder);
        ArtistGenreSeeder.Seed(modelBuilder);
    }
}

Seeder classes

The tool will create five Seeder classes for the Artist, Genre, Track, Album and ArtistGenres seeding. Let's take a look to some the files.

ArtistSeeder

using Your.Entities.Namespace.Here;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

public class ArtistSeeder
{
    public static void Seed(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        modelBuilder.Entity().HasData(
            new Artist { Name = "Volbeat", Followers = 1733170, Popularity = 73, SpotifyId = "0L5fC7Ogm2YwgqVCRcF1bT", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/781539dcbee7f7d0186070c75957a0acd35dd7b9"), Id = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), },
            new Artist { Name = "Metallica", Followers = 16357199, Popularity = 84, SpotifyId = "2ye2Wgw4gimLv2eAKyk1NB", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/5a06711d7fc48d5e0e3f9a3274ffed3f0af1bd91"), Id = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), },
            new Artist { Name = "Queens of the Stone Age", Followers = 2524997, Popularity = 72, SpotifyId = "4pejUc4iciQfgdX6OKulQn", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/905233ed063a6350613c571e8508b65c3ae98080"), Id = Guid.Parse("6c9668ba-8e61-4188-a8a0-490c8b5a1b42"), }
        );
    }
}

AlbumSeeder

using Your.Entities.Namespace.Here;
using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

public class AlbumSeeder
{

    public static void Seed(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
    {
        modelBuilder.Entity().HasData(
            new Album { Name = "Rewind, Replay, Rebound (Live in Deutschland)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("27/11/2020 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 27, SpotifyId = "0YmDs7WoVGrVevnmWZMA73", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2738657a974616cca0510bf6d44"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("84485291-9246-44f8-ae8f-464b8eb8d214"), },
            new Album { Name = "Rewind, Replay, Rebound", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("28/08/2019 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 14, SpotifyId = "2wX5DsKkNi7yAX6tJPKh8b", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273624e2f2f108b7ce60d818693"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("7c53e1b5-d45e-4f59-975e-e8979e90f6d1"), },
            new Album { Name = "Rewind, Replay, Rebound (Deluxe)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("2/08/2019 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 22, SpotifyId = "700dWAqcIsUkNJ1WN1XPT5", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2733664886bf7903ba384ec22d4"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("2549afc5-ce9a-4f9a-bb03-103d06afd1d9"), },
            new Album { Name = "Let's Boogie! (Live from Telia Parken)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("14/12/2018 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 26, SpotifyId = "7MD30fGABWb74T0kKLUeTt", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273135a3f9a95ad400499d07164"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("14f9f078-1cae-4d11-bbd8-b63c0ff52af1"), },
            new Album { Name = "Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie (Deluxe)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("5/08/2016 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 17, SpotifyId = "6h302sabU6hS5O9WWikjMS", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27356a30f800f0c513effd69593"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("1d7e85b8-8fad-48e2-83b1-c6446d3afa56"), },
            new Album { Name = "Seal The Deal & Let's Boogie", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("3/06/2016 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 17, SpotifyId = "7l1llpBs2eFfqY4MdYKuh5", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273d8b1d91e505b6d90c9f77de0"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("7d84ad3c-dadf-4027-bcf6-370ad9c25359"), },
            new Album { Name = "Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies (Deluxe Version)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2013 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 21, SpotifyId = "2As7Yojemyny2lQhClYb7l", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273b02528d256d89a06ea1cbf53"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("0c41e044-55ba-4c49-af23-1a07a9bf4326"), },
            new Album { Name = "Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2013 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 14, SpotifyId = "5SBrIIYCvThaqN9r1SV2pv", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27357e78d8652bc2c54332888b7"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("be2271ec-fd7a-44cd-a7a8-18968c03ef82"), },
            new Album { Name = "Beyond Hell / Above Heaven", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2012 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 15, SpotifyId = "2sw5C70KEQdir9M85mDvYP", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273c620bb589e16dff107e49e03"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("538323e4-0602-4af5-8639-77b3a1349fa6"), },
            new Album { Name = "Live From Beyond Hell / Above Heaven", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2011 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 18, SpotifyId = "4zkQxrL6OSwXg314FlMz8z", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27390a8dcb3f3f5a8e58cb8219f"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("4a8b7fb3-f151-4288-9627-20c358a14107"), },
            new Album { Name = "Guitar Gangsters & Cadillac Blood", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2008 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 14, SpotifyId = "6QHLhOasL7wk8EduGT7iD8", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2739daf215ff64034b5f9e02593"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("87283e25-3e2d-4e84-983c-3c1aaaaed6d4"), },
            new Album { Name = "Rock The Rebel / Metal The Devil", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2007 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 11, SpotifyId = "6h0IgkicJholk20m5BtTtU", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2737009a136cdbba01e820c6244"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("16815483-1ac0-4ed0-94dc-6cc4c7025e24"), },
            new Album { Name = "The Strength / The Sound / The Songs", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("22/04/2005 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 15, SpotifyId = "3QA7oan9EaEIlXbfBdbck8", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273c33089161b2c38aeac84567b"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("8033d0e5-3529-440f-8563-fd8aa39454d9"), Id = Guid.Parse("79d56c13-ddd5-45c9-acdc-d0d3cd0a4a27"), },
            new Album { Name = "S&M2", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("28/08/2020 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 22, SpotifyId = "7Hc3m7konwS0ugyN8vJhNg", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2731cc6d15e607e0a514b7f4b95"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("eae1b242-61d2-47a8-a46f-638c674ca8a5"), },
            new Album { Name = "Live In Brazil (1993 – 2017)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("21/04/2020 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 18, SpotifyId = "2zhgGiT3sNBK2rbrC7JcRW", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27395958b5d219f1b328f083e08"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("a4767809-47ec-4776-9a7e-69d1278f7556"), },
            new Album { Name = "Live In Argentina (1993 – 2017)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("18/04/2020 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 18, SpotifyId = "5g3oqy7nAK03ke2cR5c95I", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2734d9b5b218dda1a963d06ee45"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("f215c77a-3ba3-46d2-a5b8-e60e2c188737"), },
            new Album { Name = "Live In Chile (1993 – 2017)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("15/04/2020 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 18, SpotifyId = "3inFkZMAUrTnPFVSoLHb9O", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273744a08fd20f6bb5c3ffef7c5"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("635b8559-7bc0-469c-a098-8c95edffd109"), },
            new Album { Name = "Helping Hands…Live & Acoustic At The Masonic", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/02/2019 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 12, SpotifyId = "5tEW32iyrRuYPQQ4bwUiCf", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273b4763ffbf540cd0c69bbee33"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("f17f1919-3820-436e-b3ea-e3ab90d094f6"), },
            new Album { Name = "Helping Hands...Live & Acoustic at The Masonic", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/02/2019 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 12, SpotifyId = "3KESkLVC8ivaWmZAoDinoc", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2732861274cf2dca79cb53334b6"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("cda81d17-2cb6-4cc2-9233-504cb2a49480"), },
            new Album { Name = "ライヴ・イン・テキサス1989 (Live at リユニオン・アリーナ、ダラス、1989)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("6/04/2017 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 19, SpotifyId = "0CVEbITaSHVBJO2GnawOaj", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273b9f88a8c32bbbb80f15952b4"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("ec44f6ff-4d05-4449-86ea-4e547ef810bf"), },
            new Album { Name = "Hardwired…To Self-Destruct (Deluxe)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("18/11/2016 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 26, SpotifyId = "4bcUiX49wpmDRhrC8TvDWV", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273e5a07037750e97dca575c690"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("d900c9f9-d204-4f04-abb0-48a24120ba33"), },
            new Album { Name = "Hardwired…To Self-Destruct", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("18/11/2016 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 12, SpotifyId = "7LwifLL1anaEd9eIIfIkx7", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2737b10c20f959932a6c790c074"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("a0e3b7cc-dd05-47d3-8e79-f1361b740d01"), },
            new Album { Name = "Metallica Through The Never (Music From The Motion Picture)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2013 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 16, SpotifyId = "0ecPxTAKqXdr2MJYdYOM7e", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2736c5fb059a07c1b2b15a90280"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("3b78e1b6-e634-47a9-85da-2c99dfd979e5"), },
            new Album { Name = "Metallica Through The Never (Music from the Motion Picture)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2013 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 16, SpotifyId = "72grIwGP38Iy2S1jxt1Gjd", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273f1a501610a71d48c526c7ecd"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("3e529f44-fc67-4c2f-83e1-7caf8b11651b"), },
            new Album { Name = "Lulu", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/11/2011 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 10, SpotifyId = "3FgLMfp5o2h2rAny7S6h57", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273bf3f45395f620f8bbf98d919"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("82e4c858-4320-4964-8f79-4369ec64e65d"), },
            new Album { Name = "Six Feet Down Under", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2010 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 8, SpotifyId = "6PZnDE9gWetRTjw3pHbodW", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2738b7be23eb07a8c5c73ef6cfa"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("d8f1fb5a-54c3-4501-94cc-756fffc83598"), },
            new Album { Name = "Six Feet Down Under Part 2", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2010 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 8, SpotifyId = "0kWBvUy985muQ5E0eCGAzH", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273d19ace61eec9f6591a1c4ef2"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("21208ebd-977b-4d95-9056-31c390224d11"), },
            new Album { Name = "Death Magnetic", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("12/09/2008 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 10, SpotifyId = "0lf5ceMub7KQhLfGxCdM06", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273dfe44d577f07e08564ec73ed"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("5627a1f4-65fb-46e8-ae80-b334c5d59c18"), },
            new Album { Name = "Some Kind Of Monster", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("13/07/2004 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 8, SpotifyId = "4t0oscNTGJkXiIB2uqZYWg", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2735aa399ec78711c8e2fc42048"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("5626c26d-7ae6-44fb-85e5-e52186330dc4"), },
            new Album { Name = "Some Kind Of Monster (Live)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("13/07/2004 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 8, SpotifyId = "3A0FTyAAcjgfhPibPsuVSc", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27396134a0376892706d87910c4"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("3b7b7ec3-1920-446b-9061-ca955490a387"), },
            new Album { Name = "St. Anger", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("5/06/2003 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 11, SpotifyId = "4ljK2LVKvEPd5xPgUJn0Bs", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2732fe08610316f3e5ebaa06d68"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("0cd651e2-b1fd-4bf2-ba57-803954204ee6"), },
            new Album { Name = "S&M", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("23/11/1999 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 21, SpotifyId = "3kVRcb2fuCcKcqltzczxRP", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2736b275d72474c508ce2b405a4"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("4b57b8e6-2164-4ad6-ba04-051250f643e0"), },
            new Album { Name = "Garage, Inc.", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("24/11/1998 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 27, SpotifyId = "5b7HQ04lPT7eGJQ7fmVsjC", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2737e1f85f69323acac962516c4"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("032320d1-1112-47e7-968e-3b2a926fa58a"), },
            new Album { Name = "Garage Inc.", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/1998 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 27, SpotifyId = "0vshXZYhBkbIoqxyC2fXcF", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27375e6375e11550746705a9645"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("571d4078-a850-4d63-af49-1bce94ccbef2"), },
            new Album { Name = "Reload", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("18/11/1997 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 13, SpotifyId = "7KDqRmr937ylvGilPGWxfD", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273a49eff6d64cafc2551553380"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("3028af10-55f7-4d08-b0bc-367cc0834217"), },
            new Album { Name = "Load", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("4/06/1996 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 14, SpotifyId = "5rI3pfrpvmdYtGAsBwaGec", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2730a3eb7ef6df5732fc6fa77ec"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("7963cf47-4fa8-4845-9e4f-f7d58a48c921"), },
            new Album { Name = "Live S**t: Binge & Purge", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("23/11/1993 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 24, SpotifyId = "4iBN00FZaKlaXVYfxV7bBQ", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273c99dbd20668c97579417595f"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("34c175ea-f21f-4e44-bf26-ad98b7fded7a"), },
            new Album { Name = "Live Sh*t: Binge & Purge (Live In Mexico City)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/1993 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 24, SpotifyId = "6TXWP5SAhTB9P0GN4tOT0B", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273f003fc67301640e0e99a77eb"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("1cba7915-f3d2-4ff9-98a5-1fa6970034b6"), },
            new Album { Name = "Metallica", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("12/08/1991 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 12, SpotifyId = "2Kh43m04B1UkVcpcRa1Zug", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273cf84c5b276431b473e924802"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("cd5ab0de-a75b-4d33-a3fc-02f18f2eabca"), },
            new Album { Name = "...And Justice for All (Remastered)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("7/09/1988 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 9, SpotifyId = "4Cn4T0onWhfJZwWVzU5a2t", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2738161357a12a172721e772e0d"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("89c42f56-bd2c-4c25-a33e-c7629b3201e7"), },
            new Album { Name = "...And Justice for All (Remastered Deluxe Box Set)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("7/09/1988 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 147, SpotifyId = "2XbWaerVk9fjhEiGSrd6TF", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273be54746b374358970b5e617a"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("32873e8b-b913-4d66-9190-f023e29756b5"), },
            new Album { Name = "…And Justice for All (Remastered)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("25/08/1988 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 9, SpotifyId = "6jZ1z25PyF4Yd3kHxt9rl1", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273fe896727e3db1027ed72d885"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("04cc98ef-a9c0-475f-b529-e3477a87fd62"), },
            new Album { Name = "...And Justice For All", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("25/08/1988 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 9, SpotifyId = "6Eycw3dwcDMEFSqkUvLQ7g", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2737c05e69390ab7c628a83cee7"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("0bd48e82-f3b2-4909-8124-aaeffbec8d69"), },
            new Album { Name = "…And Justice for All (Remastered Deluxe Box Set)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("25/08/1988 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 147, SpotifyId = "2bKDte0I4SceROjBMtYtKV", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2734c9fc157cd0b0ce4196f9aeb"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("fa3b3a48-e692-47af-a3c4-02d9b3dec9fa"), },
            new Album { Name = "Master Of Puppets (Deluxe Box Set / Remastered)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("3/03/1986 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 137, SpotifyId = "5rFZcoCvmCaJ1gxTMU4JTm", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27316d6f039fafd389911261ada"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("fc834878-f512-4fb8-ab5f-a76b5665767b"), },
            new Album { Name = "Master of Puppets (Remastered Deluxe Box Set)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("3/03/1986 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 137, SpotifyId = "7CGhx630DIjdJqaBDVKc5j", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273cad4832cb7b5844343278daa"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("a5a4b71a-eb08-4448-bc9c-25e71455ab90"), },
            new Album { Name = "Master Of Puppets (Remastered)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("3/03/1986 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 8, SpotifyId = "2Lq2qX3hYhiuPckC8Flj21", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273668e3aca3167e6e569a9aa20"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("8a15aee2-84ac-4b25-bf0a-8a133dbf6cd1"), },
            new Album { Name = "Master of Puppets (Remastered)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("3/03/1986 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 8, SpotifyId = "5gzLOflH95LkKYE6XSXE9k", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2732127e0afac383fb73d533a7d"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("2725fbb3-5362-44b1-a245-ddb99a8480da"), },
            new Album { Name = "Ride The Lightning (Deluxe Remaster)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("27/07/1984 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 63, SpotifyId = "2omIeSJEGQeKHPOpiXgfkr", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273533fd0b248052d04e6b732c0"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("006032e0-8b56-4876-bad8-672da756ccd0"), },
            new Album { Name = "Ride The Lightning (Remastered)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("27/07/1984 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 8, SpotifyId = "1nTvIQEXvygqSIqc2vuwAz", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273b09e5084136821bf64d327f4"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("fcebeaa9-e555-4a64-82cb-f18561e14d39"), },
            new Album { Name = "Ride The Lightning (Deluxe / Remastered)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("26/07/1984 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 64, SpotifyId = "4K5E5mWQbECn9aThu6Xnkx", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27396a926d07aea417327ea024a"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("cd4acc8b-6bc2-4c56-b5f6-c01ad099cfe5"), },
            new Album { Name = "Kill 'Em All (Deluxe Remaster)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("25/07/1983 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 54, SpotifyId = "7GttoSWxEi5lZvIWeSrh6n", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273a4c3675649cce210651d150d"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("d83fdf25-a430-4e31-a82a-06059cb43218"), },
            new Album { Name = "Kill 'Em All (Remastered)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("25/07/1983 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 10, SpotifyId = "0vNBQof86Lv5gLuf26ML7o", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27320292e6cce666a69ba5a86fb"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("0fd27ec2-bafc-4153-87fb-d207a24f7548"), },
            new Album { Name = "Kill 'Em All (Deluxe / Remastered)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("24/07/1983 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 58, SpotifyId = "3m69LQokz6DaKB3yw4BH6n", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2732875b8b37127cc23f6915c77"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("9649b29e-f326-468f-a794-525e8849d9e0"), Id = Guid.Parse("a7801b99-8cda-4a30-856b-d1a08fe2a84b"), },
            new Album { Name = "Villains", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("25/08/2017 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 9, SpotifyId = "7vuIN24G18PAUAvjnICyA6", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27326e26899d11b39b400e5252c"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("6c9668ba-8e61-4188-a8a0-490c8b5a1b42"), Id = Guid.Parse("4fb73071-3478-408a-a72d-5c481e53ddf1"), },
            new Album { Name = "...Like Clockwork", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("3/06/2013 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 10, SpotifyId = "5T5NM01392dvvd4EhGrCnj", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273eee7c041844e45dd76469fa0"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("6c9668ba-8e61-4188-a8a0-490c8b5a1b42"), Id = Guid.Parse("2d86048a-1a1f-468d-afcf-2180aae905e3"), },
            new Album { Name = "Rated R - Deluxe Edition", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2010 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 26, SpotifyId = "10UBEkRjqtl0iT2BRAwcto", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2730fa7b83a64a2501b6de8db39"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("6c9668ba-8e61-4188-a8a0-490c8b5a1b42"), Id = Guid.Parse("c00460f8-0373-43a8-b626-2d8cba290569"), },
            new Album { Name = "Era Vulgaris", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2007 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 15, SpotifyId = "1w71aBHYJ1zTOsSsmr2Fca", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27301b7dc44ae31364925b4eadc"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("6c9668ba-8e61-4188-a8a0-490c8b5a1b42"), Id = Guid.Parse("89ff74e2-3da0-44ee-a3f3-70000d4bb7e3"), },
            new Album { Name = "Era Vulgaris Tour Edition", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2007 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 24, SpotifyId = "2kJqBMlDAgX9HNfCMLlYrS", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2738597d5ec11783f4f3a33c314"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("6c9668ba-8e61-4188-a8a0-490c8b5a1b42"), Id = Guid.Parse("8dea2667-5300-4ebf-b0c1-015d287a8a1e"), },
            new Album { Name = "Over The Years And Through The Woods (Live At Brixton Academy / 2005)", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("22/11/2005 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 14, SpotifyId = "2vQTLy1EZ9JPaUU68lUMgR", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273214612618a7148d52bf1913a"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("6c9668ba-8e61-4188-a8a0-490c8b5a1b42"), Id = Guid.Parse("2d1ba5b8-733d-4cb3-a1b7-a00acbf55750"), },
            new Album { Name = "Lullabies To Paralyze", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2005 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 16, SpotifyId = "68ZycIjwlQ0fvtaxVXmgn8", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b273ab1aaed1d2f9019183390a98"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("6c9668ba-8e61-4188-a8a0-490c8b5a1b42"), Id = Guid.Parse("7fe3f405-51e9-4ca4-8383-b5016d446451"), },
            new Album { Name = "Songs For The Deaf", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("1/01/2002 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 16, SpotifyId = "4w3NeXtywU398NYW4903rY", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2739eec33b045d88f87b9b06e67"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("6c9668ba-8e61-4188-a8a0-490c8b5a1b42"), Id = Guid.Parse("9a307aaf-95ea-4913-973e-25c4561f9b88"), },
            new Album { Name = "Rated R", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("6/06/2000 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 12, SpotifyId = "05tJhGl52X4zGe0ySlcBk6", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2739c4d9db5d6895352b6eea6fc"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("6c9668ba-8e61-4188-a8a0-490c8b5a1b42"), Id = Guid.Parse("5d1b2c31-fdf1-4734-9c1d-bc6aa9d11754"), },
            new Album { Name = "Queens of the Stone Age", ReleaseDate = DateTime.Parse("22/09/1998 0:00:00"), TotalTracks = 14, SpotifyId = "4ZVYZI1wY4TmLOQ3as1UNI", Image = new Uri("https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b2732021e21bc55e928b744a0113"), ArtistId = Guid.Parse("6c9668ba-8e61-4188-a8a0-490c8b5a1b42"), Id = Guid.Parse("f5354d88-1b06-4724-ab92-1bfb90f52015"), }
        );
    }
}

And of course this is the same for:

TrackSeeder
GenreSeeder
ArtistGenreSeeder

All the entities have a foreign key Guid ID that relate to a primary key Guid ID in the seeding.

You can find my Spotify seed data generator here. Below you'll find some sort of manual to use my tool.

Spotify seed data generator manual

1. What you'll need

2. Choose your artists

3. Get your Spotify OAuth token

4. Use the Spotify seed data generator tool

5. Download the files

6. Copy folders in your project

7. Configure your connectionstring

8. Configure your Startup

9. Add migration

10. Update database

What you'll need

Spotify premium account (for your Spotify OAuth token)
ASP.NET Core application (API, MVC, Razor Pages, Blazor, ...)
Your favorite browser

Choose your artists

Go to Spotify Web player
Search for your favorite artist by clicking on "Search" or click here
Search "Metallica" for example:

Click on the name of the artist to go to the artist page
In the address bar of your browser you can now see the Spotify Artist ID of Metallica:

Copy this artist ID and paste it somewhere, we will need this ID later in the tool.
If you want additional artists, then repeat these steps to retain their Spotify artists ID's.

Get your Spotify OAuth token

Now it's time to get your (temporary) Spotify token. We will get this temporary token from the developer site from Spotify. If you already have a Spotify token, then you can skip this step and use your own token.

Go to this page to get some random Spotify artists through the Spotify Console for Developers. We won't need the artists but we only go to this page to get the Spotify token in a easy way.
Click on the green button "GET TOKEN":

Login with your Spotify Credentials
On the next screen you don't need the check any boxes for the scopes, you can click on the green button "REQUEST TOKEN":

You'll obtain an OAuth Token key in the textbox like this:

Copy this token and paste it somewhere, because we'll need this token in the tool to identity yourself to Spotify.

Keep in mind that this token expires really quick, so maybe you'll have to repeat this steps to get a new "fresh" token from Spotify.

Use the Spotify seed data generator tool

Go to the Spotify seed data generator tool
Fill in your Spotify OAuth token
Fill in your Spotify artist id's (I you have multiple ID's, then separate them by a comma)
Choose a name for your DbContext class
Choose a namespace for your DbContext class
Choose a namespace for your entity classes
Click on the GO button!
Wait :-)

Download the files

After the tool does the scraping throught the Spotify API you can download the zip file that contains all the nessecary files:

In the zip file you'll find two folders; Data and Entities:

The Entities folder contains all the entity classes and a folder that contains the BaseEntity class:

The Data folder contains the DbContext class and the Seeder classes:

Copy folders in your project

Create a new ASP.NET Core web project and copy the folders where you want them to be. For example:

Configure your connectionstring

Go to your appsettings.json and add

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultDatabase": "Server=(localdb)\\mssqllocaldb;Database=TEST.SpotifySeedGenerator;Trusted_Connection=True;"
  },
  ...
}

to your appsettings.json. So it would look like this. Of course you can change the database name or choose a different server.

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultDatabase": "Server=(localdb)\\mssqllocaldb;Database=TEST.SpotifySeedGenerator;Trusted_Connection=True;"
  },
  "Logging": {
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Microsoft": "Warning",
      "Microsoft.Hosting.Lifetime": "Information"
    }
  },
  "AllowedHosts": "*"
}

Configure your Startup

Add the following code in the ConfigureServices method from your Startup.cs class:

services.AddDbContext(options =>
                options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultDatabase")));

If you've chosen a different name for your DbContext than you need the change ApplicationDbContext to the name you have chosen.

Install NuGet packages

Install the following NuGet packages:

Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Design
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Relational
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools (If you don't have them globally installed)

And import the required namespaces in your Startup.cs class.

Add migration

Open a PowerShell terminal at the root of your project and type in following command:

❯ dotnet ef migrations add "InitialCreate"

Update database

And to update your database type in following command:

❯ dotnet ef database update

Now open your database server manager of your choice, inspect the tables and you'll see that your tables contain data. In this example I opened the Albums table with the build-in Server Explorer in Visual Studio:

Feel free to (ab)use and/or share this tool. If you have any problems or suggestions, than ping me at Twitter, and I'll see what I can do for you.

Lowercase URLs in ASP.NET Core.

Dries Deboosere — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

When you create links in your ASP.NET Core web application with TagHelpers then each word in your URL will start with a capital letter.

Take this for example:

<a asp-controller="About" asp-action="Index">About</a>
<a asp-controller="Tools" asp-action="Index">Tools</a>

This will result in following HTML code where each word from the controller and action name starts with a capital letter in the URL:

<a href="https://driesdeboosere.dev/About">About</a>
<a href="https://driesdeboosere.dev/Tools">Tools</a>

And even in your web browsers address bar the generated URL from the controller and action name starts with a capital letter:

I would like to have all my URLs in lowercase, like this:

<a href="https://driesdeboosere.dev/about">About</a>
<a href="https://driesdeboosere.dev/tools">Tools</a>

Luckily we can easily set this up in our Startup.cs class in the ConfigureServices method. We just need to setup the route options by adding the AddRouting extension method to services and set the RouteOptions LowercaseUrls property to true.

services.AddRouting(options => options.LowercaseUrls = true);

Be aware that you put this options BEFORE services.AddMvc() or services.AddControllersWithViews()!!

See this example:

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
    services.AddRouting(options => options.LowercaseUrls = true);
    services.AddControllersWithViews().AddRazorRuntimeCompilation();
    // other configurations
}

Now all our URLs created by our TagHelpers will be in lowercase.

How to exclude own visits (online and development) from Google Analytics

Dries Deboosere — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

When you use Google Analytics for your web analytics and statistics it can be annoying to get your own visits in the statistics. Especially if you are testing something on your own website.

I was updating some meta tags on my own live website and while testing them out I didn't want to count my own visits in the Google Analytics data. So I wrote a filter to exclude my own IP address from the data.

Only downside with this approach is that I need to update my IP address in the filter because my IP address provided from my ISP could change from time to time. I will look into this in the future to see if I can write a script or something to be notified when my IP address changes so I can update the filter in Google Analytics.

Another possible solution is to exclude the Google Analytics script if your logged in to your website and/or if your developing your website on your localhost.

Get to know your own IP address

First you will need to know your own IP address. If you don't know how to lookup your own IP address you can visit https://www.whatismyip.com/ and copy your public IPv4 address.

Create a IP address filter in Google Analytics

Login to your Google Analytics account
Click on admin (below on the left)
Go to the account where you want to create the filter
Click on All Filters in the ACCOUNT column

Click on the + ADD FILTER button (If you don't see this button, it means you don't the proper rights to do this)

Give your filter a proper name (Like Exclude my own IP address)

Select the Predefined filter type, select Exclude , traffic from the IP addresses and that are equal to. Enter your IP address in the textbox IP address.

Move the available views to the Selected views and hit the Save button.

That's it! Now your own visits from your IP address will not appear in the Google Analytics statistics.

Exclude tracking code if you are logged in to your website

If you are using a website with a authorization system, than you can put some code in your header tag to render the Global Site Tag (gtag.js) if a user is not logged in.

Pseudo code:

<head>
    if(User.IsNotLoggedIn)
    {
        <!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->
        <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-xxxxxxxx-xx"></script>
        <script>
            window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
            function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
            gtag('js', new Date());
            gtag('config', 'UA-xxxxxxxx-xx');
        </script>
    }
</head>

Exclude tracking in development

If you are developing and testing new features on your website, than you don't want this traffic neither in your Google Analytics statistics. If your using https://localhost:5001 (or other port) for your development than you can check if the URL from your website contains localhost: in the path.

Pseudo code:

<head>
    if(UrlPath.DoesNotContains("localhost:"))
    {
        <!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->
        <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-xxxxxxxx-xx"></script>
        <script>
            window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
            function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
            gtag('js', new Date());
            gtag('config', 'UA-xxxxxxxx-xx');
        </script>
    }
</head>

How to deploy ASP.NET Core 3.1 app to Digital Ocean Linux droplet

Dries Deboosere — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

In this tutorial we will deploy and host a simple ASP.NET Core 3.1 demo app on Ubuntu 18.04 droplet in Digital Ocean.

You can download or clone the demo app from my GitHub, or you can deploy your own ASP.NET Core 3.1 application. Just keep in my mind that this demo app doesn't make use of a database. So in this tutorial we don't setup a database. Maybe I'll write another tutorial about implementing an MySql server.

We will break this up in different steps:

1. Create Digital Ocean Ubuntu droplet

2. Create a new user in Ubuntu

3. Install .NET SDK in Ubuntu

4. Deploy our ASP.NET Core 3.1 app to Ubuntu

5. Install and configure NGINX in Ubuntu

Create Digital Ocean Ubuntu droplet

Create Digital Ocean account

First of all, you'll need a Digital Ocean account. If you haven't an DO account than you can create an account with this referral link and you'll get $100 credits to spend in the next 60 days.

Create Digital Ocean project

Once you're logged in, create a new project by clicking on the + New Project link:

In the next screen you'll need to enter an name, description and tell DO what want to do with the project.

When you're done, click on the Create Project button.

On the next screen click on the Skip for now link below.

Now it's time to create our droplet.

Click on the Get Started with a Droplet button

Create Digital Ocean droplet

Now it's time to create a droplet! First we have to choose an image distribution, in our case we choose Ubuntu 18.04.3 (LTS) x64:

We choose the Basic plan for $5/mo (scroll to the left):

We don't need block storage , so we'll skip that.

Choose a data center region close to your hometown, in my case I'll choose Amsterdam :

For the authentication, choose SSH Keys and click on the New SSH Key button:

Then follow the steps described on the right:

Now it's time to finalize and create our droplet. In my case I added backups , but for this demo purposes you don't have to.

Now click on the Create Droplet button.

Now DO will create this droplet (give it some seconds). When everything is done you'll see the droplet and it's IP address. Something like this example:

If you enter the IP address in your browser you'll get an error. This is normal, because we only have a droplet with Ubuntu. But we have to configure our Linux VPS. Let's do this next.

Create a new user in Ubuntu

We need to login into our server. We'll do this through SSH. You can download PUTTY or download PowerShell (Scroll down to assets to download). In my case I'll use PowerShell.

Connect with SSH to the server

Open PowerShell and SSH into your droplet through this command to log in to your server as the root user:

ssh root@

The IP address from my droplet is 167.172.37.58. Change the IP address by your droplets IP address

ssh root@167.172.37.58

Type yes if you get this message:

The authenticity of host '167.172.37.58 (167.172.37.58)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:VodrbvWvtonPzxiFpRiuoq0tTrgZjow+YIGUOXukx7w.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

By typing yes the connection closes, so I'll need to login again:

ssh root@167.172.37.58

Now you're asked to enter your passphrase. Enter your passphrase (or paste it with the right mouse button) and hit enter:

Enter passphrase for key 'C:\Users\dries.deboosere/.ssh/id_rsa':

Now we're logged in to the server as the root user:

Welcome to Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.15.0-66-generic x86_64)Welcome to Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.15.0-66-generic x86_64)

 * Documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com
 * Management: https://landscape.canonical.com
 * Support: https://ubuntu.com/advantage

  System information as of Sun Aug 9 15:24:27 UTC 2020

  System load: 0.0 Processes: 81
  Usage of /: 4.0% of 24.06GB Users logged in: 0
  Memory usage: 11% IP address for eth0: 167.172.37.58
  Swap usage: 0%

0 packages can be updated.
0 updates are security updates.

The programs included with the Ubuntu system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Ubuntu comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by
applicable law.

root@ubuntu-s-1vcpu-1gb-ams3-01:~#

Create new user

First we'll create a new user on the server:

adduser USERNAME

A little explanation about these commands:

adduser : create a new user with the name of USERNAME

USERNAME : the username for the new user. In my case I'll use _ dries _ as the username

Now enter following commands in PowerShell with your username:

adduser dries

The user _ dries _ is now created:

root@ubuntu-s-1vcpu-1gb-ams3-01:~# adduser dries
Adding user `dries' ...
Adding new group `dries' (1000) ...
Adding new user `dries' (1000) with group `dries' ...
Creating home directory `/home/dries' ...
Copying files from `/etc/skel' ...

Now your asked to choose a password. Enter the password and confirm your password:

Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully

Now your asked about some information. You can fill this in or press ENTER for the default values. In my case I press ENTER and at the end I choose yes by typing y :

Changing the user information for dries
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
        Full Name []:
        Room Number []:
        Work Phone []:
        Home Phone []:
        Other []:
Is the information correct? [Y/n] y

Give administrator/sudo privileges to our new user

Now our new user needs to get administrator/sudo privileges. So let set this up. To do this we'll need following commands:

usermod -a -G sudo USERNAME

A little explanation about these commands:

usermod : calls the program

-a : to add the user to a group

-G : to specify the group

sudo : stands for 'super user do'. This will execute root commands as an non-root user.

Now enter following commands in PowerShell with your username:

usermod -a -G sudo dries

Now I want the same ssh key for the root user and for the new created user (dries). We can copy this key by following commands (change dries by your username):

cp -r ~/.ssh /home/dries/
sudo chown -R dries:dries /home/dries/.ssh

Now restart the SSH service by following command:

sudo service ssh restart

Now exit the server by typing the exit command:

exit

Now it's time to login as the new created user:

ssh dries@167.172.37.58

You'll be asked for the passphrase. Because we copied over the ssh key from root user to dries we can now use the same passphrase from the root user. Enter the passphrase:

Enter passphrase for key 'C:\Users\dries.deboosere/.ssh/id_rsa':

Now you should see this in PowerShell:

dries@ubuntu-s-1vcpu-1gb-ams3-01:~$

This means we're now logged in as user dries in the server.

Install .NET SDK in Ubuntu

Now it's time to install .NET on Ubuntu. We can go to the Microsoft documentation website to see which commands we need to install this on our Ubuntu 18.04 server.

First we install the Microsoft package sources:

wget https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/18.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb -O packages-microsoft-prod.deb
sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb

Then we install the .NET 3.1 SDK:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y dotnet-sdk-3.1

Next we check if it's installed by running following command:

dotnet --info

You should see something similar like this:

.NET Core SDK (reflecting any global.json):
 Version: 3.1.302
 Commit: 41faccf259

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name: ubuntu
 OS Version: 18.04
 OS Platform: Linux
 RID: ubuntu.18.04-x64
 Base Path: /usr/share/dotnet/sdk/3.1.302/

Host (useful for support):
  Version: 3.1.6
  Commit: 3acd9b0cd1

.NET Core SDKs installed:
  3.1.302 [/usr/share/dotnet/sdk]

.NET Core runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 3.1.6 [/usr/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.1.6 [/usr/share/dotnet/shared/Microsoft.NETCore.App]

To install additional .NET Core runtimes or SDKs:
  https://aka.ms/dotnet-download

Deploy our ASP.NET Core 3.1 app to Ubuntu

Now it's finally time to publish our ASP.NET Core app to the server. But first we need to make some arrangements. We'll going to be using the instructions from the Microsoft documentation to host our ASP.NET Core app on Linux to deploy our app.

For this tutorial I'll use a simple demo ASP.NET Core 3.1 web application. You can use your own application or else you can clone/download my demo application from my GitHub repository.

There are many ways to deploy the files to a server. In this case we will deploy our files through an FTP connection to our server. We can do this through the build in FTP client in Visual Studio or with an FTP client of choice (FileZilla, ...)

Create application folder on our server

We'll deploy our app to the /var/www/ directory from our server. But this doesn't exist yet, so we have to create this folder. We also need to give access to our user we've created and to the www-data user. This www-data user will be used to run the app.

Type in following commands in PowerShell and replace with the name u want to use for your app.

sudo mkdir /var/www/
sudo mkdir /var/www/
sudo chown -R dries:www-data /var/www/

Install an FTP server on Ubuntu

We will install an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server on Ubuntu so we can transfer our files to Ubuntu.

Make sure that our system packages are up to date by running following command:

sudo apt-get update

Now it's time to install an FTP server. We will using the common open-source FTP utility vsftpd. To install vsftpd enter the following command:

sudo apt install vsftpd

Enter Y to continue

Now start vsftpd by entering following command:

sudo systemctl start vsftpd

To make sure that vsftpd is launched and enabled at startup entering following command:

sudo systemctl enable vsftpd

Open your FTP client of choice (for me this is FileZilla) and make a connection by entering the IP address from your server and your credentials (in my case user dries ). Now check if you have access to the following path: /var/www/.

Now we need to config vsftpd so we can upload files. At this moment we can only read files from the server but not upload any file. Open the vsftpd configuration file through PowerShell:

sudo nano /etc/vsftpd.conf

Find the entry write_enable=YES and uncomment this line. Don't forget to save this configuration.

Now restart the vsftpd service:

sudo systemctl restart vsftpd.service

Publish our web application

Now open a new PowerShell window and navigate to your solution folder:

Type in the following command:

dotnet publish

You should see something similar like this:

Now open your Windows Explorer and navigate to the following folder: \bin\Debug\netcoreapp3.1\publish. You'll see that this folder contains several files.

These files and folders need to be uploaded to our server. Select all the files and folders and move/drag them to the /var/www/ folder on the server through an FTP-client.

If everything worked correctly, our app is now ready to run. But if you enter the IP address of your server in a web browser, you will see that this is not working (yet!).

We are almost there! We just need to install a web server on Ubuntu. Let's do that next.

Install and configure NGINX in Ubuntu

Now it's time to install a NGINX webserver and setup a reverse proxy. A reverse proxy will forward requests made to our server to our app. As a webserver we will use NGINX and for the configuration of our reverse proxy server we will follow the Microsoft documentation.

Install NGINX

We follow the NGINX documentation to install NGINX on our Ubuntu release.

We first need to add the repository to our source.list file:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

At the bottom of the file add following lines:

deb http://nginx.org/packages/ubuntu/ xenial nginx
deb-src http://nginx.org/packages/ubuntu/ xenial nginx

Exit and save the file. Then enter following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nginx

Run NGINX though following command:

sudo service nginx start

Enter the IP address from your server in your browser. You should see the default NGINX welcome page:

Add an SSL certificate with Certbot (if you have a domain name!)

When you have a domain name that you can redirect to your IP address then you can secure your website with an SSL certificate from Let's Encrypt by using Certbot.

If you haven't a domain name, then skip this step.

Add the Certbot PPA and install with following commands:

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository universe
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:certbot/certbot
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install certbot python-certbot-nginx

Next run the following command and enter your e-mail address when asked. Agree with the Terms of Service by typing A and add your domain name.

sudo certbot --nginx

Forward requests to our app

Now it's time to forward the requests to our app instead of the NGINX welcome page.

Enter following command to configure this:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Replace the content of that file with following text:

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name ;
    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:5000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection keep-alive;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

Now we need to enable the site by linking it to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default with following command:

sudo ln -sf /etc/nginx/sites-available/default /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

We now need to ensure that the default site is included in the http section of the NGINX config file. Edit the file with the following command:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

And below, where you'll find

include /etc/nginx/conf.d/*.conf;
include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;

Add the following line below:

http{
    ...
    include /etc/nginx/sites-available/default;
}

Now restart NGINX:

sudo service nginx restart

Now start the app by the following command:

dotnet //.dll

In my case this command will be:

dotnet /var/www/driesdeboosere-dev-demo-web/DriesDeboosere.Dev.Demo.Web.dll

Type in your browser your IP address now and you should see your website:

Create service

The next task is to set up our web application to run as a service, so you don't have to be logged in to your server for your application to run. Ubuntu uses systemd by default for managing services. So first we need to create a service file (remember the name of the file as this is what you will reference to control it) by entering following commands:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/.service

In my case:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/driesdeboosere-dev-demo-web.service

Enter the service information:

[Unit]
Description=My application service

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dotnet /var/www//.dll
Restart=always
# Restart service after 10 seconds if the dotnet service crashes:
RestartSec=10
KillSignal=SIGINT
SyslogIdentifier=
User=www-data
Environment=ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production
Environment=DOTNET_PRINT_TELEMETRY_MESSAGE=false

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

In my case:

[Unit]
Description=My application service

[Service]
WorkingDirectory=/var/www/driesdeboosere-dev-demo-web
ExecStart=/usr/bin/dotnet /var/www/driesdeboosere-dev-demo-web/DriesDeboosere.Dev.Demo.Web.dll
Restart=always
# Restart service after 10 seconds if the dotnet service crashes:
RestartSec=10
KillSignal=SIGINT
SyslogIdentifier=driesdeboosere-dev-demo-web
User=www-data
Environment=ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production
Environment=DOTNET_PRINT_TELEMETRY_MESSAGE=false

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Give read, write and execute rights to the folder:

sudo chown -R : /var/www/
sudo setfacl -R -d -m u::rwx,g::rwx,o::r /var/www/

In my case:

sudo chown -R dries:dries /var/www/
sudo setfacl -R -d -m u:dries:rwx,g:dries:rwx,o::r /var/www/

Then start the service with following command:

sudo service start

Or in my case:

sudo service driesdeboosere-dev-demo-web start

Check if it's running:

sudo systemctl | grep

Or in my case:

sudo systemctl | grep driesdeboosere-dev-demo-web

That's it! Now your web server will keep running your ASP.NET Core app, even if you exit the server.