📋 Detailed Course Syllabus
🟢 Foundations & Architecture
- Overview of ASP.NET Core — what it is and why it matters
- Evolution: .NET Framework → .NET Core → .NET 8 → .NET 10
- Cross-platform support, performance improvements, and Kestrel web server
- MVC architecture basics — Model, View, Controller explained
- Setting up environment: Visual Studio 2022 / VS Code + .NET 10 SDK
- Creating your first ASP.NET Core MVC project — folder structure walkthrough
- Running and debugging the app locally
- MVC design pattern in detail — separation of concerns
- Role of Model, View, and Controller — responsibilities and boundaries
- Full HTTP request lifecycle in ASP.NET Core (middleware → routing → controller → view)
- Routing fundamentals: conventional routing and route templates
- Attribute routing:
[Route], [HttpGet], [HttpPost]
- Route constraints, route parameters, and optional segments
- Creating Controllers — naming conventions and base class
- Action methods — parameters, return types
IActionResult and ActionResult<T> types- Returning Views, JSON (
Ok(), BadRequest()), content, files, and redirects
- Model Binding — from route, query string, form, and body
- Validation basics:
[Required], [Range], ModelState.IsValid
- Razor syntax:
@ expressions, code blocks, loops, conditionals
- Layouts (
_Layout.cshtml), Partial Views, and @RenderSection
- ViewData, ViewBag, and TempData — when to use each
- Strongly-typed Views with
@model
- Tag Helpers:
<form>, <input asp-for>, <a asp-action>, <validation>
- HTML Helpers vs Tag Helpers — comparison and migration
- Client-side and server-side form validation
- Creating domain models and POCO classes
- Data Annotations:
[Required], [StringLength], [EmailAddress], [Display]
- Server-side model validation and custom validation attributes
- ViewModels vs Domain Models — why and when to separate them
- Binding complex and nested objects from forms
- Flattening and mapping with AutoMapper
🗄 Data Access
- Introduction to ORM — how EF Core works behind the scenes
DbContext and DbSet<T > — configuring and registering- Code First approach — defining models and relationships in C#
- Migrations:
Add-Migration, Update-Database, rollback strategies
- CRUD operations: Add, Find, Update, Remove with
SaveChangesAsync()
- LINQ queries — filtering, ordering, grouping, projections
- Relationships: One-to-Many, Many-to-Many, One-to-One
- Eager loading (
Include) vs Lazy loading — performance considerations
⚙️ Core Services & Infrastructure
- Built-in DI container in ASP.NET Core — why DI matters
- Service lifetimes:
Scoped, Singleton, Transient — choosing the right one
- Registering services in
Program.cs (builder.Services.Add...())
- Constructor injection in Controllers, Services, and Middleware
appsettings.json and appsettings.{Environment}.json- Strongly-typed configuration with
IOptions<T>
- Environment-based configuration: Development / Staging / Production
- Secrets management:
dotnet user-secrets and Azure Key Vault
- What is middleware? — the pipeline model explained
- Built-in middleware: static files, HTTPS redirect, routing, auth, CORS
- Ordering matters — correct sequence in
Program.cs
- Writing custom middleware with
IMiddleware and Use/Run/Map
- Short-circuit middleware for health checks and maintenance pages
- Terminal middleware vs pass-through middleware
🔒 Security & Identity
- ASP.NET Core Identity — user registration, login, password hashing
- Cookie-based authentication — how sessions work
- JWT (JSON Web Token) authentication for APIs
- Role-based authorization:
[Authorize(Roles="Admin")]
- Claims-based authorization: policies and requirements
- OAuth 2.0 and external providers (Google, Microsoft, GitHub)
- Protecting specific actions and entire controllers
- Refresh tokens and secure token storage best practices
- HTTP is stateless — how ASP.NET Core manages state
- Session — configuring, storing, and reading session data
- Cookies — reading, writing, and securing cookies
- TempData — cross-request flash messages
- In-memory caching with
IMemoryCache
- Distributed caching with Redis and SQL Server
- HTTPS enforcement:
UseHttpsRedirection and HSTS
- ASP.NET Core Data Protection APIs — key management and encryption
- Preventing SQL Injection — parameterised queries and EF Core
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) — output encoding in Razor
- CSRF protection — Anti-Forgery tokens with
[ValidateAntiForgeryToken]
- Secure headers: Content-Security-Policy, X-Frame-Options, HSTS
- Sensitive data exposure — never expose stack traces in production
🌐 APIs & Frontend Integration
- Building RESTful APIs using ASP.NET Core MVC controllers
- JSON serialization with
System.Text.Json and formatting options
- HTTP status codes — 200, 201, 400, 401, 404, 500 and when to use them
- API versioning strategies: URL path, query string, header
- Swagger/OpenAPI integration with Swashbuckle — live documentation
- Testing APIs with Postman — collections, environments, and assertions
[ApiController] attribute — automatic model validation and problem details
- Integrating Bootstrap 5 with MVC — layouts, grids, components
- Bundling and minification —
LibMan and npm in MVC projects
- JavaScript and jQuery integration in Razor views
- AJAX calls with
$.ajax() and fetch() — calling MVC actions asynchronously
- Partial page updates without full reload using jQuery / AJAX
- Client-side validation with jQuery Validate and Unobtrusive Validation
🛡️ Quality, Validation & Error Handling
- Server-side model validation —
ModelState and validation summary in views
- Custom validation attributes —
IValidatableObject and ValidationAttribute
- FluentValidation library — clean, testable validation rules
- Global exception handling middleware — catching unhandled exceptions
- Problem Details (
ProblemDetails) standard for API errors (RFC 7807)
- Structured logging with Serilog — log to console, file, and Seq
- Built-in
ILogger<T> — logging levels and scopes
🚀 Advanced Topics
- Filters: Authorization, Resource, Action, Result, Exception filters
- Custom Action Filters — logging, performance monitoring, caching
- Custom Tag Helpers — building reusable UI components
- View Components — self-contained, testable UI widgets
- Areas in MVC — organising large applications into feature areas
- Background services —
IHostedService and BackgroundService
- SignalR basics — real-time notifications and live dashboards
- Async/await patterns — non-blocking I/O throughout the stack
- Output caching and response caching middleware (.NET 7+)
- In-memory and distributed caching strategies (Redis)
- Response compression — Gzip/Brotli middleware
- Minimising database calls — batching, projections, compiled queries
- Connection pooling and
DbContext lifetime management
- Profiling with
MiniProfiler and dotnet diagnostic tools
🧪 Testing & Deployment
- Unit testing with xUnit — Arrange-Act-Assert pattern
- Mocking dependencies with Moq — testing Controllers and Services in isolation
- Integration testing with
WebApplicationFactory<T> — in-process HTTP testing
- Testing EF Core with in-memory provider and SQLite
- Testing Controllers: action results, redirects, and model state
- Code coverage with Coverlet and report generation
- Publishing an ASP.NET Core app:
dotnet publish — self-contained vs framework-dependent
- Hosting on IIS —
web.config, ASP.NET Core Module (ANCM)
- Hosting on Azure App Service — deployment slots, scaling, and monitoring
- Containerising with Docker — writing a
Dockerfile, multi-stage builds
- Docker Compose — running MVC app + SQL Server together
- CI/CD with GitHub Actions — build, test, and deploy pipeline
- Environment-specific configuration:
ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT, Azure App Settings
- Health checks endpoint —
/health for load balancer integration
🎯 Module 19: Real-World Project (Must Do)
📦 Project Options (pick one):
- Admin Panel — Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), user management
- E-Commerce System — product catalogue, cart, orders, payment gateway
- Inventory / Asset Management — CRUD, barcode, reports, dashboards
✅ Features to Implement:
- Authentication & role-based authorization
- Full CRUD with EF Core & SQL Server
- REST API integration (consume external API)
- Structured logging & global error handling
- Unit & integration tests
- Docker containerisation + Azure deployment
- Responsive UI with Bootstrap 5
🏆 Key Learning Outcomes
🧱
MVC Mastery: Build and structure scalable ASP.NET Core MVC applications following clean architecture principles.
🗄
Data Access: Design and query relational databases with Entity Framework Core, LINQ, and Code First migrations.
🔒
Security: Implement authentication (Identity, JWT, OAuth), role/claims authorization, and protect against CSRF/XSS/SQL Injection.
🌐
REST APIs: Build and document RESTful APIs with Swagger, versioning, and proper HTTP semantics.
🧪
Testing: Write unit and integration tests with xUnit, Moq, and WebApplicationFactory.
🐳
Deployment: Deploy to IIS, Azure App Service, and Docker containers — with a CI/CD pipeline.
🎯
Real Project: Deliver a complete, deployable full-stack application with authentication, APIs, logging, and tests.
💻 Ready to Master ASP.NET Core MVC?
Join our expert-led training covering .NET 10, EF Core, Security, Testing, Docker and real-world projects —
and land your next .NET developer role.
Book FREE Demo Class
WhatsApp Us
