It offers many improvements over its predecessor, ASP.NET, and is the latest version of Microsoft’s popular web development framework. Migration to ASP.NET Core offers the benefit of being able to run on multiple platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. Our aim in this post is to demonstrate how you can migrate an existing ASP.NET application to ASP.NET Core.
Prerequisites
The following should be installed on your development machine before you begin:
- Visual Studio 2019 or later
- .NET Core 3.1 or later
Create a new ASP.NET Core project
To migrate your existing ASP.NET application, you need to create a new ASP.NET Core project. You can do this by selecting “File” > “New” > “Project” in Visual Studio. Click “Next” in the “Create a new project” window after selecting “ASP.NET Core Web Application”.
Choose a project template
Click “Create” in the “Create a new ASP.NET Core web application” window and select the “Empty” template. You will be creating a new ASP.NET Core project with no existing code.
Add existing code to the new project
ASP.NET Core projects can be added to existing code. ASP.NET code can be copied from your existing application and pasted into the new one. A few adjustments may need to be made to the code to make it work with ASP.NET Core.
Update dependencies
The next step is to update any dependencies used by your existing ASP.NET application. Any NuGet packages, as well as any custom libraries or frameworks you’ve used, can be included here. Make sure each dependency is compatible with ASP.NET Core by checking the documentation.
Update configuration
Once you have updated your dependencies, you will need to update the configuration of your application. This includes updating any configuration files, such as web.config, to ensure that they are compatible with ASP.NET Core.
Test and debug
Once all of the above steps have been completed, it is time to test and debug your application so that it can run as expected. You should test all the functionality of your application to ensure it works correctly. For any issues you encounter, use the debugging tools in Visual Studio to identify and fix them.
Deployment
Having tested and debugged your application, it is ready for deployment. It is possible to deploy ASP.NET Core applications on a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, and macOS. Make sure your application is installed correctly by consulting the documentation for your chosen platform.
Conclusion
ASP.NET Core offers many benefits to existing ASP.NET applications, including enhanced performance, security, and the ability to run on multiple platforms. The steps discussed in this blog post will help you migrate an existing ASP.NET application to ASP.NET Core without a lot of hassle.