ASP.Net

ASP.NET Core Setup

ASP.NET Core remains the recommended approach for complex web applications with ElectronNET.Core, providing all the benefits of the ASP.NET ecosystem along with enhanced Electron integration.

🛠 System Requirements

Required Software

• .NET 8.0 or later
• Node.js 22.x or later (Download here)
• Visual Studio 2022 (recommended) or other .NET IDE

Supported Operating Systems

• Windows 10/11 (x64, ARM64)
• macOS 11+ (Intel, Apple Silicon)
• Linux (most distributions with glibc 2.31+)

Note: For Linux development on Windows, install WSL2 to build and debug Linux packages.

🚀 Quick Start

1. Create ASP.NET Core Project

Create a new ASP.NET Core Web App in Visual Studio:

dotnet new webapp -n MyElectronWebApp
cd MyElectronWebApp

2. Install NuGet Packages

PM> Install-Package ElectronNET.Core
PM> Install-Package ElectronNET.Core.AspNet

Note: ElectronNET.Core.AspNet provides ASP.NET-specific runtime components and should be used alongside ElectronNET.Core.

3. Configure Program.cs

Update your Program.cs to enable Electron.NET:

using ElectronNET.API;
using ElectronNET.API.Entities;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Enable Electron.NET with callback for UI setup
builder.WebHost.UseElectron(args, ElectronAppReady);

// Add services to the container
builder.Services.AddControllersWithViews();

var app = builder.Build();

// Configure the HTTP request pipeline
if (!app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseExceptionHandler("/Home/Error");
    app.UseHsts();
}

app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseStaticFiles();
app.UseRouting();
app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapControllerRoute(
    name: "default",
    pattern: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");

app.Run();

// Electron initialization callback
async Task ElectronAppReady()
{
    var browserWindow = await Electron.WindowManager.CreateWindowAsync(
        new BrowserWindowOptions
        {
            Width = 1200,
            Height = 800,
            Show = false,
            WebPreferences = new WebPreferences
            {
                NodeIntegration = false,
                ContextIsolation = true
            }
        });

    // Load your ASP.NET application
    await browserWindow.WebContents.LoadURLAsync("https://localhost:7001");

    browserWindow.OnReadyToShow += () => browserWindow.Show();
}

4. Alternative: IWebHostBuilder Setup

For projects using the traditional Startup.cs pattern:

public static void Main(string[] args)
{
    CreateWebHostBuilder(args).Build().Run();
}

public static IWebHostBuilder CreateWebHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
    WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
        .UseElectron(args, ElectronAppReady)
        .UseStartup<Startup>();

// Electron callback (same as above)
async Task ElectronAppReady()
{
    var browserWindow = await Electron.WindowManager.CreateWindowAsync(
        new BrowserWindowOptions { Show = false });

    await browserWindow.WebContents.LoadURLAsync("https://localhost:5001");
    browserWindow.OnReadyToShow += () => browserWindow.Show();
}

🔧 Configuration

Project File Settings

Configure Electron.NET through MSBuild properties in your .csproj:

<PropertyGroup>
  <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
  <RuntimeIdentifier>win-x64</RuntimeIdentifier>
  <ElectronNETCoreDescription>My ASP.NET Electron App</ElectronNETCoreDescription>
  <ElectronNETCoreDisplayName>MyApp</ElectronNETCoreDisplayName>
</PropertyGroup>

🎨 Customization

Window Configuration

Customize the main window appearance:

var options = new BrowserWindowOptions
{
    Width = 1400,
    Height = 900,
    MinWidth = 800,
    MinHeight = 600,
    Frame = true,
    TitleBarStyle = TitleBarStyle.Default,
    Icon = "wwwroot/favicon.ico"
};

Multiple Windows

Create additional windows for different parts of your application:

var settingsWindow = await Electron.WindowManager.CreateWindowAsync(
    new BrowserWindowOptions
    {
        Width = 600,
        Height = 400,
        Parent = browserWindow,
        Modal = true
    },
    "https://localhost:7001/settings");

🚀 Next Steps

• Debugging - Learn about ASP.NET debugging features
• Package Building - Create distributable packages
• Startup Methods - Understanding launch scenarios

💡 Benefits of ASP.NET + Electron

✅ Full Web Stack - Use MVC, Razor Pages, Blazor, and all ASP.NET features ✅ Hot Reload - Edit ASP.NET code and see changes instantly ✅ Rich Ecosystem - Access to thousands of ASP.NET packages ✅ Modern Development - Latest C# features and ASP.NET patterns ✅ Scalable Architecture - Build complex, maintainable applications