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Run the .NET Core sample app

Jan Cerman
6 min read
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In this guide, you'll learn how to run an ASP.NET Core MVC sample app and see your project's content in your browser. The sample app will show content from a sample project and you'll also get to change a thing or two in the project.

New to modular content platforms?

If you are new to the world of modular content platforms or headless CMSs, you might want to start by building a Hello world application.

After you grasp the core idea behind these platforms, everything in the sample application will make a lot more sense much faster.

Table of contents

    Sample project for the app

    The sample app displays data from the Sample Project that demonstrates our best practices and features of Kontent.ai. If you don't have it yet, create your own sample project, it only takes a minute.

    This full-featured project contains marketing content for Dancing Goat – an imaginary chain of coffee shops. Once you run the sample app, you'll see content from the Sample Project displayed in your browser.

    A screenshot of a Kontent sample app

    Run the .NET Core MVC sample app

    Before going any further, make sure you have the following:

    1. Download the app

    The source code of the sample application lives in a Github repository.

    If you are used to working with Git, you can clone the repository to your computer by typing the following to your console:

    • shell
    git clone https://github.com/kontent-ai/sample-app-net.git
    git clone https://github.com/kontent-ai/sample-app-net.git

    If you don't have Git installed, you can directly download the sample application as a ZIP file, extract it, and continue from there.

    2. Run the app

    1. Open the solution in your IDE (using the DancingGoat.sln file).
    2. Build the solution.
    3. In the DancingGoat folder, run npm install && npm run build to install the packages and build styles.
    4. Run the application (in Visual Studio, choose Debug > Start Without Debugging or hit CTRL + F5).

    The application will open automatically in your browser at http://localhost:44335.

    A screenshot of the page to configure the sample app

    How the sample app looks on first run

    3. Connect your Kontent.ai project

    When you run the application for the first time, you will see a Configuration page. Use it to connect the app to your Sample Project in Kontent.ai.

    1. Click Get project ID from Kontent.ai. A new browser window will open.
    2. Sign in to your account or create a new one.
    3. From the list of your projects, select the Sample Project.
    4. Click Select project.

    The application now displays content from your Sample Project.

    You can also set the project ID manually in the app settings.

    Now, let's explore the Sample Project and update its content so that you can see the changes reflected in your locally running application.

    Making changes to your project

    After you sign in to Kontent.ai, you'll see your Sample Project to play around with. We recommend you get familiar with content items and how to find your content in your project. It's simple yet powerful.

    Try to edit an article from the sample project:

    1. From the app menu, choose Content & assets.
    2. Open a published article, for example, the Coffee processing techniques one.
      • Look for items with a green Published label and the word Article in the Type column.
    3. Create a new version to edit the article.
    4. Make a change in the article, for example, edit the Title text or some other element.
    5. Publish the changes to see them in the sample app.

    Voila! You have successfully updated content in your Sample Project. Refresh the browser window with your application to see the changes on the website.

    A screenshot of the updated article.

    Looks like someone changed the title of the article.

    Feel free to further explore how the content in your sample project is structured.

    Exploring content structure

    To see details about the opened content item, go back to Kontent.ai and click Content details in the top right. Under Content type, notice that the item is based on the Article content type.

    To open the content type for editing, click Article in the content details.

    The Article content type in the Sample Project

    How the Article content type is modeled

    How content is structured in Kontent.ai

    A content item is any piece of content in your project. It is made up of elements, such as texts, images, files, etc.

    Each content item is based on a single content type. A content type is a template that defines the structure of the content item – which elements it contains, their names, limitations, guidelines, and so on.

    Mix and match the available elements to define your own content types.

    Deploy the .NET Core sample app

    You can deploy the application to Azure or another hosting service:

    Summarized

    Kontent.ai makes no assumptions about how your content is displayed. It simply delivers your content via a RESTful Delivery API to any application that asks for it – be it a website, mobile app, chatbot, electronic billboard, virtual voice assistant, or an internet-enabled toaster.

    We deliver the content, you do whatever you want with it – using the technology of your choice.

    A traditional CMS would force you to put your content into neatly arranged boxes to fit inside a pre-defined template. The power of Kontent.ai comes from not getting in your way. Content structure and content presentation are truly separated and you have the flexibility to define both according to the needs of your project.

    What's next?