An Overview of .NET Core Tools and SDKs

Developing software applications can be a complex process, but with the right set of tools and SDKs, much of the heavy lifting can be automated, making the developer’s life much easier. If you’re learning .NET Core or planning to start your web development training with it, you’ve chosen a framework that provides a rich set of tools and SDKs. In this guide, we’ll explore some of these tools that make building applications, especially ASP.NET Core web applications and microservices, a smoother experience.

1. .NET Core CLI
2. .NET Core SDK
3. ASP.NET Core Libraries
4. Entity Framework Core Tools
5. Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code

The .NET Core Command-Line Interface (CLI) is a powerful tool for creating, building, and managing .NET Core projects. It’s cross-platform, supporting Windows, MacOS, and Linux, and allows developers to perform virtually every task they need from the command line.

Here’s an example of how you can create a new console application using .NET Core CLI:

dotnet new console -o MyApp

Then, navigate into the new directory and run the application:

cd MyApp
dotnet run

The above commands will print Hello World! to the console.

The .NET Core Software Development Kit (SDK) includes everything you need to develop .NET Core applications. The SDK includes the runtime for running applications, the libraries and runtime environment for creating new applications, and the CLI tools for managing .NET Core projects.

You can check the installed .NET Core SDKs on your machine using the following command:

dotnet --list-sdks

ASP.NET Core provides a rich set of libraries for building web applications and APIs. This includes libraries for routing, model binding, model validation, dependency injection, and much more. By using these libraries, you can quickly and efficiently build scalable and performant web applications.

Here’s a small example of defining a simple API controller in an ASP.NET Core application:

[ApiController]
[Route("[controller]")]
public class WeatherForecastController : ControllerBase
{
    private static readonly string[] Summaries = new[]
    {
        "Freezing", "Bracing", "Chilly", "Cool", "Mild", "Warm", "Balmy", "Hot", "Sweltering", "Scorching"
    };

    [HttpGet]
    public IEnumerable<WeatherForecast> Get()
    {
        var rng = new Random();
        return Enumerable.Range(1, 5).Select(index => new WeatherForecast
        {
            Date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(index),
            TemperatureC = rng.Next(-20, 55),
            Summary = Summaries[rng.Next(Summaries.Length)]
        })
        .ToArray();
    }
}

Entity Framework Core (EF Core) includes a set of command-line tools that can be used for developing applications that use EF Core. With these tools, you can perform tasks like managing database migrations and generating code for a DbContext and entity types for your database model.

For instance, to create a new migration, you can use the following command:

dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate

And to update the database with the new migration, you can use:

dotnet ef database update

Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code are two powerful IDEs that provide excellent support for .NET Core development. They provide features like IntelliSense, debugging, testing, Git integration, and many extensions for enhancing the development workflow.

Visual Studio is a full-featured IDE primarily for Windows, but also with a version for MacOS, while Visual Studio Code is a lightweight, cross-platform code editor with powerful developer tooling.

Whether you’re building microservices, learning ASP.NET Core, or working with Entity Framework Core, understanding and effectively using these .NET Core tools and SDKs can significantly enhance your development workflow and productivity. Happy coding!