ASP.NET Core MVC Tutorial
Lesson 134/200

Tutorials ASP.NET Core MVC Tutorial

Entity Framework Core in MVC — Complete Guide

Entity Framework Core in MVC — Complete Guide: free step-by-step lesson with examples, common mistakes, and interview tips — part of ASP.NET Core MVC Tutorial on Toolliyo Academy.

8 min read Updated 6/25/2026
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ASP.NET Core MVC Tutorial · Lesson 134 of 200

Entity Framework Core in MVC

Getting Started ✓ → Core MVC ✓ → Data & Security ✓ → Production ✓ → Career ✓

Interview Ready · 10 — Interview Prep · ~10 min · Section 15: Database & EF Core

What is this?

EF Core setup means adding NuGet packages, defining a DbContext class, putting a connection string in appsettings.json, and registering the context in Program.cs.

Why should you care?

ShopNest needs SQL Server to save products and orders. EF Core is how C# objects become database tables.

See it live — copy this example

Create an MVC project (dotnet new mvc), add the code, and run dotnet run.

// appsettings.json
"ConnectionStrings": {
  "DefaultConnection": "Server=(localdb)\mssqllocaldb;Database=ShopNest;Trusted_Connection=True;"
}

// Program.cs
builder.Services.AddDbContext<ShopNestDbContext>(options =>
    options.UseSqlServer(builder.Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection")));

Run Example »

Edit the code and click Run — like W3Schools Try it Yourself.

Code
Result

What happened?

  • DbContext is the gateway to the database.
  • AddDbContext registers it per HTTP request (scoped).
  • Connection string points at SQL Server or LocalDB.

Try it yourself

  1. dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer
  2. Create ShopNestDbContext : DbContext with DbSet.
  3. Add connection string and register in Program.cs.
  4. Change text or labels in the example and run again — watch the browser update.
  5. Break the code on purpose (remove a semicolon), read the error message, then fix it.

Remember

EF Core + SQL Server + DbContext + connection string. Register in Program.cs. Migrations create tables.

ASP.NET Core MVC Tutorial
Course syllabus
Section 1: Introduction & Environment Setup Overview of Microsoft Web Technologies — Complete Guide What is ASP.NET Core MVC? — Complete Guide Why MVC Was Created? — Complete Guide Evolution of ASP.NET — Complete Guide ASP.NET Framework vs ASP.NET Core — Complete Guide Web Application vs Website — Complete Guide MVC vs Razor Pages vs Blazor vs Minimal APIs — Complete Guide Installing Visual Studio 2022 — Complete Guide Installing .NET SDK — Complete Guide Installing Visual Studio Code — Complete Guide Installing SQL Server & SSMS — Complete Guide Installing Postman for API Testing — Complete Guide .NET Core vs Framework Execution Process — Complete Guide ASP.NET Core Environment Setup — Complete Guide Creating Your First MVC Project — Complete Guide
Section 2: ASP.NET Core Basics & Hosting Project Structure — Complete Guide ASP.NET Core Project File csproj — Complete Guide Program.cs and Main Entry Point — Complete Guide appsettings.json — Complete Guide launchSettings.json — Complete Guide Kestrel Web Server — Complete Guide InProcess Hosting — Complete Guide OutOfProcess Hosting — Complete Guide Middleware Pipeline — Complete Guide Request Processing Pipeline — Complete Guide wwwroot Folder — Complete Guide Static Files Middleware — Complete Guide Configuring Default Page — Complete Guide Developer Exception Page — Complete Guide ASP.NET Core CLI and Project Templates — Complete Guide
Section 3: Controllers What is a Controller? — Complete Guide Creating Controllers — Complete Guide Action Methods — Complete Guide AddController vs AddMvc vs AddControllersWithViews — Complete Guide Passing Data to Views — Complete Guide MVC Request Lifecycle — Complete Guide
Section 4: Views & Razor Razor View Engine — Complete Guide ViewData — Complete Guide ViewBag — Complete Guide TempData — Complete Guide Strongly Typed Views — Complete Guide ViewModel Pattern — Complete Guide Layout Pages — Complete Guide Sections in Layout View — Complete Guide ViewStart — Complete Guide ViewImports — Complete Guide Partial Views — Complete Guide Rendering Partial Views — Complete Guide View Components — Complete Guide Installing Bootstrap in MVC — Complete Guide
Section 5: Models & Data Passing Creating Models — Complete Guide Model Binding Overview — Complete Guide Model Validation — Complete Guide Data Annotations — Complete Guide Custom Validation Attributes — Complete Guide Post-Redirect-Get Pattern — Complete Guide Using Bootstrap in MVC Views — Complete Guide Real-World Applications of MVC — Complete Guide
Section 6: Routing Conventional Routing — Complete Guide Custom Routing — Complete Guide Route Constraints — Complete Guide Attribute Routing — Complete Guide Attribute Routing Tokens — Complete Guide Areas — Complete Guide
Section 7: Dependency Injection What is Dependency Injection? — Complete Guide Singleton vs Scoped vs Transient — Complete Guide Constructor Injection — Complete Guide Interface Injection — Complete Guide Options Pattern — Complete Guide
Section 8: Action Results IActionResult Overview — Complete Guide ViewResult — Complete Guide PartialViewResult — Complete Guide JsonResult — Complete Guide ContentResult — Complete Guide FileResult — Complete Guide Redirect Results — Complete Guide Status Results — Complete Guide ObjectResult — Complete Guide EmptyResult — Complete Guide
Section 9: HTML Helpers HTML Helpers Overview — Complete Guide TextBox HTML Helper — Complete Guide TextArea HTML Helper — Complete Guide DropDownList HTML Helper — Complete Guide RadioButton HTML Helper — Complete Guide CheckBox HTML Helper — Complete Guide ListBox HTML Helper — Complete Guide Editor and Password Helpers — Complete Guide Hidden HTML Helper — Complete Guide Custom HTML Helpers — Complete Guide Forms with HTML Helpers — Complete Guide Generating Links with HTML Helpers — Complete Guide
Section 10: Tag Helpers Tag Helpers Overview — Complete Guide Image Tag Helper — Complete Guide Environment Tag Helper — Complete Guide Navigation Menu Tag Helpers — Complete Guide Form Tag Helpers — Complete Guide Partial Tag Helper — Complete Guide Custom Tag Helper — Complete Guide View Component Tag Helper — Complete Guide Cache Tag Helper — Complete Guide HTML Helpers vs Tag Helpers — Complete Guide
Section 11: Model Binding Model Binding in MVC — Complete Guide Model Binding FromForm — Complete Guide Model Binding FromQuery — Complete Guide Model Binding FromRoute — Complete Guide Complex Type Model Binding — Complete Guide Custom Model Binding — Complete Guide
Section 12: Validation Model Validations in MVC — Complete Guide Data Annotation Attributes — Complete Guide Display and DisplayFormat Attributes — Complete Guide Remote Validation — Complete Guide BindNever and BindRequired — Complete Guide Blacklist and Whitelist Validation — Complete Guide Data Annotations Real-Time Examples — Complete Guide FluentValidation Introduction — Complete Guide FluentValidation Examples — Complete Guide FluentValidation Async Validators — Complete Guide FluentValidation Custom Validators — Complete Guide FluentValidation Real-Time Examples — Complete Guide Data Annotations vs FluentValidation — Complete Guide AntiForgery Token — Complete Guide
Section 13: State Management Cookies in ASP.NET Core MVC — Complete Guide Persistent vs Non-Persistent Cookies — Complete Guide Sessions in ASP.NET Core MVC — Complete Guide Cookies vs Sessions — Complete Guide
Section 14: Filters Filters in ASP.NET Core MVC — Complete Guide Exception Filters — Complete Guide Handling HTTP Status Codes — Complete Guide Custom Error Pages — Complete Guide Result Filters — Complete Guide Authorization Filters — Complete Guide Action Filters — Complete Guide TypeFilter vs ServiceFilter — Complete Guide
Section 15: Database & EF Core Entity Framework Core in MVC — Complete Guide DbContext in MVC — Complete Guide Connection Strings — Complete Guide EF Core Migrations — Complete Guide CRUD with EF Core — Complete Guide EF Core Relationships — Complete Guide Repository Pattern — Complete Guide Unit of Work Pattern — Complete Guide
Section 16: Authentication ASP.NET Core Identity — Complete Guide Cookie Authentication — Complete Guide JWT Authentication — Complete Guide Role Authorization — Complete Guide Policy Authorization — Complete Guide
Section 17: File Handling File Handling in MVC — Complete Guide Restricting File Type and Size — Complete Guide Export Data to Excel — Complete Guide Import Excel to Database — Complete Guide Generate PDF in MVC — Complete Guide Password Protected PDF — Complete Guide Upload Multiple Files — Complete Guide File Upload in MVC — Complete Guide
Section 18: Advanced MVC Logging — Complete Guide Exception Handling — Complete Guide Configuration — Complete Guide Response Caching — Complete Guide Localization — Complete Guide Sending Email — Complete Guide MVC with EF Core Database First — Complete Guide Cascading Dropdown List — Complete Guide Single Page CRUD — Complete Guide Razor Pages Application — Complete Guide Dynamic Menus — Complete Guide Real-Time Apps with SignalR — Complete Guide
Section 19: Performance Async in MVC — Complete Guide Response Compression — Complete Guide Output Caching — Complete Guide Bundling & Minification — Complete Guide Performance Best Practices — Complete Guide
Section 20: Deployment Deploy to IIS — Complete Guide SSL on Local IIS — Complete Guide Docker — Complete Guide Azure App Service — Complete Guide Linux Hosting with Nginx — Complete Guide
Section 21: Enterprise Development Clean Architecture — Complete Guide SOLID Principles in MVC — Complete Guide CQRS Pattern — Complete Guide MediatR — Complete Guide Repository Pattern Deep Dive — Complete Guide Structured Logging — Complete Guide Testing MVC Applications — Complete Guide ShopNest Enterprise Architecture — Complete Guide
Section 22: Real-World Projects Student Management System Project — Complete Guide Library Management System Project — Complete Guide Hospital Management System Project — Complete Guide Blog Management Application — Complete Guide Inventory Management Project — Complete Guide CRM Project — Complete Guide E-Commerce Project — Complete Guide Food Delivery App Project — Complete Guide HRMS Employee Portal Project — Complete Guide Gmail Style Registration Project — Complete Guide
Section 23: Interview Preparation MVC Interview Questions — Beginner — Complete Guide MVC Interview Questions — Intermediate — Complete Guide Scenario-Based Interview Questions — Complete Guide Architecture Interview Questions — Complete Guide Hands-on Coding Exercises — Complete Guide MVC Interview Preparation — Complete Guide — Capstone
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