Web Application Development Tutorial - Part 3: Creating, Updating and Deleting Books

About This Tutorial

In this tutorial series, you will build an ABP based web application named Acme.BookStore. This application is used to manage a list of books and their authors. It is developed using the following technologies:

Entity Framework Core as the ORM provider.
MVC / Razor Pages as the UI Framework.

This tutorial is organized as the following parts:

Part 1: Creating the server side
Part 2: The book list page
Part 3: Creating, updating and deleting books (this part)
Part 4: Integration tests
Part 5: Authorization
Part 6: Authors: Domain layer
Part 7: Authors: Database Integration
Part 8: Authors: Application Layer
Part 9: Authors: User Interface
Part 10: Book to Author Relation

Download the Source Code

This tutorial has multiple versions based on your UI and Database preferences. We've prepared a few combinations of the source code to be downloaded:

If you encounter the "filename too long" or "unzip error" on Windows, it's probably related to the Windows maximum file path limitation. Windows has a maximum file path limitation of 250 characters. To solve this, enable the long path option in Windows 10.

If you face long path errors related to Git, try the following command to enable long paths in Windows. See https://github.com/msysgit/msysgit/wiki/Git-cannot-create-a-file-or-directory-with-a-long-path git config --system core.longpaths true

Video Tutorial

This part is also recorded as a video tutorial and published on YouTube.

Creating a New Book

In this section, you will learn how to create a new modal dialog form to create a new book. The modal dialog will look like the image below:

Create the Modal Form

Create a new razor page named CreateModal.cshtml under the Pages/Books folder of the Acme.BookStore.Web project.

CreateModal.cshtml.cs

Open the CreateModal.cshtml.cs file (CreateModalModel class) and replace it with the following code:

using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Acme.BookStore.Books;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

namespace Acme.BookStore.Web.Pages.Books
{
    public class CreateModalModel : BookStorePageModel
    {
        [BindProperty]
        public CreateUpdateBookDto Book { get; set; }

        private readonly IBookAppService _bookAppService;

        public CreateModalModel(IBookAppService bookAppService)
        {
            _bookAppService = bookAppService;
        }

        public void OnGet()
        {
            Book = new CreateUpdateBookDto();
        }

        public async Task<IActionResult> OnPostAsync()
        {
            await _bookAppService.CreateAsync(Book);
            return NoContent();
        }
    }
}

This class is derived from the BookStorePageModel instead of the standard PageModel. BookStorePageModel indirectly inherits the PageModel and adds some common properties & methods that can be shared in your page model classes.
[BindProperty] attribute on the Book property binds post request data to this property.
This class simply injects the IBookAppService in the constructor and calls the CreateAsync method in the OnPostAsync handler.
It creates a new CreateUpdateBookDto object in the OnGet method. ASP.NET Core can work without creating a new instance like that. However, it doesn't create an instance for you and if your class has some default value assignments or code execution in the class constructor, they won't work. For this case, we set default values for some of the CreateUpdateBookDto properties.

CreateModal.cshtml

Open the CreateModal.cshtml file and paste the code below:

@page
@using Acme.BookStore.Localization
@using Acme.BookStore.Web.Pages.Books
@using Microsoft.Extensions.Localization
@using Volo.Abp.AspNetCore.Mvc.UI.Bootstrap.TagHelpers.Modal
@model CreateModalModel
@inject IStringLocalizer<BookStoreResource> L
@{
    Layout = null;
}
<abp-dynamic-form abp-model="Book" asp-page="/Books/CreateModal">
    <abp-modal>
        <abp-modal-header title="@L["NewBook"].Value"></abp-modal-header>
        <abp-modal-body>
            <abp-form-content />
        </abp-modal-body>
        <abp-modal-footer buttons="@(AbpModalButtons.Cancel|AbpModalButtons.Save)"></abp-modal-footer>
    </abp-modal>
</abp-dynamic-form>

This modal uses abp-dynamic-form tag helper to automatically create the form from the CreateUpdateBookDto model class.
abp-model attribute indicates the model object where it's the Book property in this case.
abp-form-content tag helper is a placeholder to render the form controls (it is optional and needed only if you have added some other content in the abp-dynamic-form tag, just like in this page).

Tip: Layout should be null just as done in this example since we don't want to include all the layout for the modals when they are loaded via AJAX.

Add the "New book" Button

Open the Pages/Books/Index.cshtml and set the content of abp-card-header tag as below:

<abp-card-header>
    <abp-row>
        <abp-column size-md="_6">
            <abp-card-title>@L["Books"]</abp-card-title>
        </abp-column>
        <abp-column size-md="_6" class="text-end">
            <abp-button id="NewBookButton"
                        text="@L["NewBook"].Value"
                        icon="plus"
                        button-type="Primary"/>
        </abp-column>
    </abp-row>
</abp-card-header>

The final content of Index.cshtml is shown below:

@page
@using Acme.BookStore.Localization
@using Acme.BookStore.Web.Pages.Books
@using Microsoft.Extensions.Localization
@model IndexModel
@inject IStringLocalizer<BookStoreResource> L
@section scripts
{
    <abp-script src="/Pages/Books/Index.js"/>
}

<abp-card>
    <abp-card-header>
        <abp-row>
            <abp-column size-md="_6">
                <abp-card-title>@L["Books"]</abp-card-title>
            </abp-column>
            <abp-column size-md="_6" class="text-end">
                <abp-button id="NewBookButton"
                            text="@L["NewBook"].Value"
                            icon="plus"
                            button-type="Primary"/>
            </abp-column>
        </abp-row>
    </abp-card-header>
    <abp-card-body>
        <abp-table striped-rows="true" id="BooksTable"></abp-table>
    </abp-card-body>
</abp-card>

This adds a new button called New book to the top-right of the table:

Open the Pages/Books/Index.js file and add the following code right after the Datatable configuration:

var createModal = new abp.ModalManager(abp.appPath + 'Books/CreateModal');

createModal.onResult(function () {
    dataTable.ajax.reload();
});

$('#NewBookButton').click(function (e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    createModal.open();
});

abp.ModalManager is a helper class to manage modals on the client side. It internally uses Twitter Bootstrap's standard modal, but abstracts many details by providing a simple API.
createModal.onResult(...) used to refresh the data table after creating a new book.
createModal.open(); is used to open the model to create a new book.

The final content of the Index.js file should be like this:

$(function () {
    var l = abp.localization.getResource('BookStore');

    var dataTable = $('#BooksTable').DataTable(
        abp.libs.datatables.normalizeConfiguration({
            serverSide: true,
            paging: true,
            order: [[1, "asc"]],
            searching: false,
            scrollX: true,
            ajax: abp.libs.datatables.createAjax(acme.bookStore.books.book.getList),
            columnDefs: [
                {
                    title: l('Name'),
                    data: "name"
                },
                {
                    title: l('Type'),
                    data: "type",
                    render: function (data) {
                        return l('Enum:BookType:' + data);
                    }
                },
                {
                    title: l('PublishDate'),
                    data: "publishDate",
                    render: function (data) {
                        return luxon
                            .DateTime
                            .fromISO(data, {
                                locale: abp.localization.currentCulture.name
                            }).toLocaleString();
                    }
                },
                {
                    title: l('Price'),
                    data: "price"
                },
                {
                    title: l('CreationTime'), data: "creationTime",
                    render: function (data) {
                        return luxon
                            .DateTime
                            .fromISO(data, {
                                locale: abp.localization.currentCulture.name
                            }).toLocaleString(luxon.DateTime.DATETIME_SHORT);
                    }
                }
            ]
        })
    );

    var createModal = new abp.ModalManager(abp.appPath + 'Books/CreateModal');

    createModal.onResult(function () {
        dataTable.ajax.reload();
    });

    $('#NewBookButton').click(function (e) {
        e.preventDefault();
        createModal.open();
    });
});

Now, you can run the application and add some new books using the new modal form.

Updating a Book

Create a new razor page, named EditModal.cshtml under the Pages/Books folder of the Acme.BookStore.Web project:

EditModal.cshtml.cs

Open the EditModal.cshtml.cs file (EditModalModel class) and replace it with the following code:

using System;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Acme.BookStore.Books;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;

namespace Acme.BookStore.Web.Pages.Books
{
    public class EditModalModel : BookStorePageModel
    {
        [HiddenInput]
        [BindProperty(SupportsGet = true)]
        public Guid Id { get; set; }

        [BindProperty]
        public CreateUpdateBookDto Book { get; set; }

        private readonly IBookAppService _bookAppService;

        public EditModalModel(IBookAppService bookAppService)
        {
            _bookAppService = bookAppService;
        }

        public async Task OnGetAsync()
        {
            var bookDto = await _bookAppService.GetAsync(Id);
            Book = ObjectMapper.Map<BookDto, CreateUpdateBookDto>(bookDto);
        }

        public async Task<IActionResult> OnPostAsync()
        {
            await _bookAppService.UpdateAsync(Id, Book);
            return NoContent();
        }
    }
}

[HiddenInput] and [BindProperty] are standard ASP.NET Core MVC attributes. SupportsGet is used to be able to get the Id value from the query string parameter of the request.
In the OnGetAsync method, we get the BookDto from the BookAppService and this is being mapped to the DTO object CreateUpdateBookDto.
The OnPostAsync uses BookAppService.UpdateAsync(...) to update the entity.

Mapping from BookDto to CreateUpdateBookDto

To be able to map the BookDto to CreateUpdateBookDto, configure a new mapping. To do this, open the BookStoreWebAutoMapperProfile.cs file in the Acme.BookStore.Web project and change it as shown below:

using AutoMapper;

namespace Acme.BookStore.Web
{
    public class BookStoreWebAutoMapperProfile : Profile
    {
        public BookStoreWebAutoMapperProfile()
        {
            CreateMap<BookDto, CreateUpdateBookDto>();
        }
    }
}

We have just added CreateMap<BookDto, CreateUpdateBookDto>(); to define this mapping.

Notice that we do the mapping definition in the web layer as a best practice since it is only needed in this layer.

EditModal.cshtml

Replace EditModal.cshtml content with the following content:

@page
@using Acme.BookStore.Localization
@using Acme.BookStore.Web.Pages.Books
@using Microsoft.Extensions.Localization
@using Volo.Abp.AspNetCore.Mvc.UI.Bootstrap.TagHelpers.Modal
@model EditModalModel
@inject IStringLocalizer<BookStoreResource> L
@{
    Layout = null;
}
<abp-dynamic-form abp-model="Book" asp-page="/Books/EditModal">
    <abp-modal>
        <abp-modal-header title="@L["Update"].Value"></abp-modal-header>
        <abp-modal-body>
            <abp-input asp-for="Id" />
            <abp-form-content />
        </abp-modal-body>
        <abp-modal-footer buttons="@(AbpModalButtons.Cancel|AbpModalButtons.Save)"></abp-modal-footer>
    </abp-modal>
</abp-dynamic-form>

This page is very similar to CreateModal.cshtml, except:

It includes an abp-input for the Id property to store the Id of the editing book (which is a hidden input).
It uses Books/EditModal as the post URL.

Add "Actions" Dropdown to the Table

We will add a dropdown button to the table named Actions.

Open the Pages/Books/Index.js file and replace the content as below:

$(function () {
    var l = abp.localization.getResource('BookStore');
    var createModal = new abp.ModalManager(abp.appPath + 'Books/CreateModal');
    var editModal = new abp.ModalManager(abp.appPath + 'Books/EditModal');

    var dataTable = $('#BooksTable').DataTable(
        abp.libs.datatables.normalizeConfiguration({
            serverSide: true,
            paging: true,
            order: [[1, "asc"]],
            searching: false,
            scrollX: true,
            ajax: abp.libs.datatables.createAjax(acme.bookStore.books.book.getList),
            columnDefs: [
                {
                    title: l('Actions'),
                    rowAction: {
                        items:
                            [
                                {
                                    text: l('Edit'),
                                    action: function (data) {
                                        editModal.open({ id: data.record.id });
                                    }
                                }
                            ]
                    }
                },
                {
                    title: l('Name'),
                    data: "name"
                },
                {
                    title: l('Type'),
                    data: "type",
                    render: function (data) {
                        return l('Enum:BookType:' + data);
                    }
                },
                {
                    title: l('PublishDate'),
                    data: "publishDate",
                    render: function (data) {
                        return luxon
                            .DateTime
                            .fromISO(data, {
                                locale: abp.localization.currentCulture.name
                            }).toLocaleString();
                    }
                },
                {
                    title: l('Price'),
                    data: "price"
                },
                {
                    title: l('CreationTime'), data: "creationTime",
                    render: function (data) {
                        return luxon
                            .DateTime
                            .fromISO(data, {
                                locale: abp.localization.currentCulture.name
                            }).toLocaleString(luxon.DateTime.DATETIME_SHORT);
                    }
                }
            ]
        })
    );

    createModal.onResult(function () {
        dataTable.ajax.reload();
    });

    editModal.onResult(function () {
        dataTable.ajax.reload();
    });

    $('#NewBookButton').click(function (e) {
        e.preventDefault();
        createModal.open();
    });
});

Added a new ModalManager named editModal to open the edit modal dialog.
Added a new column at the beginning of the columnDefs section. This column is used for the "Actions" dropdown button.
The "Edit" action simply calls editModal.open() to open the edit dialog.
The editModal.onResult(...) callback refreshes the data table when you close the edit modal.

You can run the application and edit any book by selecting the edit action on a book.

The final UI looks as below:

Deleting a Book

Open the Pages/Books/Index.js file and add a new item to the rowAction items:

{
    text: l('Delete'),
    confirmMessage: function (data) {
        return l('BookDeletionConfirmationMessage', data.record.name);
    },
    action: function (data) {
        acme.bookStore.books.book
            .delete(data.record.id)
            .then(function() {
                abp.notify.info(l('SuccessfullyDeleted'));
                dataTable.ajax.reload();
            });
    }
}

The confirmMessage option is used to ask a confirmation question before executing the action.
The acme.bookStore.books.book.delete(...) method makes an AJAX request to the server to delete a book.
abp.notify.info() shows a notification after the delete operation.

Since we've used two new localization texts (BookDeletionConfirmationMessage and SuccessfullyDeleted) you need to add these to the localization file (en.json under the Localization/BookStore folder of the Acme.BookStore.Domain.Shared project):

"BookDeletionConfirmationMessage": "Are you sure to delete the book '{0}'?",
"SuccessfullyDeleted": "Successfully deleted!"

The final Index.js content is shown below:

$(function () {
    var l = abp.localization.getResource('BookStore');
    var createModal = new abp.ModalManager(abp.appPath + 'Books/CreateModal');
    var editModal = new abp.ModalManager(abp.appPath + 'Books/EditModal');

    var dataTable = $('#BooksTable').DataTable(
        abp.libs.datatables.normalizeConfiguration({
            serverSide: true,
            paging: true,
            order: [[1, "asc"]],
            searching: false,
            scrollX: true,
            ajax: abp.libs.datatables.createAjax(acme.bookStore.books.book.getList),
            columnDefs: [
                {
                    title: l('Actions'),
                    rowAction: {
                        items:
                            [
                                {
                                    text: l('Edit'),
                                    action: function (data) {
                                        editModal.open({ id: data.record.id });
                                    }
                                },
                                {
                                    text: l('Delete'),
                                    confirmMessage: function (data) {
                                        return l(
                                            'BookDeletionConfirmationMessage',
                                            data.record.name
                                        );
                                    },
                                    action: function (data) {
                                        acme.bookStore.books.book
                                            .delete(data.record.id)
                                            .then(function() {
                                                abp.notify.info(
                                                    l('SuccessfullyDeleted')
                                                );
                                                dataTable.ajax.reload();
                                            });
                                    }
                                }
                            ]
                    }
                },
                {
                    title: l('Name'),
                    data: "name"
                },
                {
                    title: l('Type'),
                    data: "type",
                    render: function (data) {
                        return l('Enum:BookType:' + data);
                    }
                },
                {
                    title: l('PublishDate'),
                    data: "publishDate",
                    render: function (data) {
                        return luxon
                            .DateTime
                            .fromISO(data, {
                                locale: abp.localization.currentCulture.name
                            }).toLocaleString();
                    }
                },
                {
                    title: l('Price'),
                    data: "price"
                },
                {
                    title: l('CreationTime'), data: "creationTime",
                    render: function (data) {
                        return luxon
                            .DateTime
                            .fromISO(data, {
                                locale: abp.localization.currentCulture.name
                            }).toLocaleString(luxon.DateTime.DATETIME_SHORT);
                    }
                }
            ]
        })
    );

    createModal.onResult(function () {
        dataTable.ajax.reload();
    });

    editModal.onResult(function () {
        dataTable.ajax.reload();
    });

    $('#NewBookButton').click(function (e) {
        e.preventDefault();
        createModal.open();
    });
});

You can run the application and try to delete a book.

The Next Part

Check out the next part of this tutorial.