ASP.NET Core - Program.cs
ASP.NET Core web application is actually a console project which starts executing from the entry point public static void Main() in Program class where we can create a host for the web application.
Setup Host in ASP.NET Core 2.x
The following is the Program class in ASP.NET Core 2.x:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
namespace MyFirstCoreApp
{
public class Program
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
BuildWebHost(args).Run();
}
public static IWebHost BuildWebHost(string[] args) =>
WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
.UseStartup<Startup>()
.Build();
}
}
As you can see above, the Main() method calls method expression BuildWebHost() to build web host with pre-configured defaults. The BuildWebHost expression can also be written as a method that returns IWebHost as shown below.
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
BuildWebHost(args).Run();
}
public static IWebHost BuildWebHost(string[] args)
{
return WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
.UseStartup<Startup>()
.Build();
}
Let's understand hosting steps.
The WebHost is a static class which can be used for creating an instance of IWebHost and IWebHostBuilder with pre-configured defaults.
The CreateDefaultBuilder() method creates a new instance of WebHostBuilder with pre-configured defaults. Internally, it configures Kestrel, IISIntegration and other configurations.
The following is CreateDefaultBuilder() method.
public static IWebHostBuilder CreateDefaultBuilder(string[] args)
{
var builder = new WebHostBuilder()
.UseKestrel()
.UseContentRoot(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
.ConfigureAppConfiguration((hostingContext, config) =>
{
var env = hostingContext.HostingEnvironment;
config.AddJsonFile("appsettings.json", optional: true, reloadOnChange: true)
.AddJsonFile($"appsettings.{env.EnvironmentName}.json", optional: true, reloadOnChange: true);
if (env.IsDevelopment())
{
var appAssembly = Assembly.Load(new AssemblyName(env.ApplicationName));
if (appAssembly != null)
{
config.AddUserSecrets(appAssembly, optional: true);
}
}
config.AddEnvironmentVariables();
if (args != null)
{
config.AddCommandLine(args);
}
})
.ConfigureLogging((hostingContext, logging) =>
{
logging.AddConfiguration(hostingContext.Configuration.GetSection("Logging"));
logging.AddConsole();
logging.AddDebug();
})
.UseIISIntegration()
.UseDefaultServiceProvider((context, options) =>
{
options.ValidateScopes = context.HostingEnvironment.IsDevelopment();
});
return builder;
}
As you can see above, the CreateDefaultBuilder method creates an instance of WebHostBuilder and sets up Kestrel, content root directory, IIS integration.
Kestrel is an open-source, cross-platform web server for ASP.NET Core. It is designed to be used behind proxy because it has not yet matured to be exposed as a full-fledge web server.
It also calls ConfigureAppConfiguration() to load configurations from appsettings.json files, environment variables and user secrets.
The ConfigureLogging() method setup logging to console and debug window.
Learn about Startup.cs in the next chapter.
