In this tutorial, let us look at how to setup ASP.NET Core development environment so that you can get ahead with the developing the solutions with ASP.NET Core.
Setting Up Environment
There are several Pre Requisites you need to install before you build the web application using ASP.NET Core. To start with you need an IDE and Visual Studio 2017 is the best available at the time. The Community Edition is free and you can use it to develop the ASP.NET Core applications. You also need to install the .NET Core SDK.
Installing Visual Studio 2017
Visual Studio is the IDE of choice when it comes to developing Application in Windows OS.
When it comes to ASP.NET Core 2.0 web application, we need to use Visual Studio 2017 Update 15.3.4 or higher.
You can download and install Visual Studio 2017 from the following Link https://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/
You can use any edition of Visual Studio 2017. We will be using Visual Studio Community edition which is free for personal use. You can read the license terms from https://www.visualstudio.com/vs/compare/
While Installing Visual Studio Choose ASP.NET Web development Workload
Upgrading Visual Studio 2017
If Visual Studio is already installed, you may have to Upgrade to the latest Update
You can check the current version of the Visual Studio from the menu option Help >> About Microsoft Visual Studio. in the IDE
To update the Visual Studio to latest version go to Tools -> Extensions and Updates Menu
Choose Updates and click on Update button to update Visual Studio to latest version
Installing DOT NET Core SDK
We need DOT Net Core to develop ASP.NET Core applications. DOT Net Core is installed along with the Visual Studio. In case if it is not installed, then you can download it and install it from the following link https://www.microsoft.com/net/download/core
How to find out which dot net version is installed in your PC
Open the folder C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk or C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet\sdk. You should be able to see all the Dot net Core versions installed in your PC
You can check the version of the Dot net core runtime from the folder C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App
You can also find out the version installed from the command line using the command
dotnet --version
You can find out the location of Dotnet exe by using the command
where dotnet
Installing ASP.NET Core in Visual Studio 2015
Visual Studio 2015 works only if you are using .NET Core version <= 1.1. If you want to move to .NET Core 2.0, then you have no option but use Visual Studio 2017
Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code is another option for the IDE. This is the Ideal option if you are on a Mac or Linux.
You need to install the following
.NET Core 2.0.0 SDK or later from https://www.microsoft.com/net/core
Visual Studio Code from https://code.visualstudio.com
VS Code C# extension from https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode.csharp
Conclusion
In this tutorial, we looked how to install the prerequisites needed for developing Application with ASP.NET Core. In the next tutorial, we will look at the dotnet cli, the new command line interface.
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