Mechanic Manager for Dr. Sillystringz's Factory

A C# MVC web application made for the factory of Dr. Sillystringz. This web application can manage a database of the factory's engineers and the machines they are licensed to repair.

By Jonathan Cheng

Technologies Used

• C#
• HTML
• CSS
• Bootstrap
• .NET 6
• ASP.NET Core MVC
• Razor View Engine
• MySQL Workbench
• MySQL Community Server
• Entity Framework Core

Description

• Upon landing at the home page, the user is presented with lists of both existing engineers and machines in the database. If either of the lists are empty, placeholder text will be there instead. Here, the user can choose to populate either list -- engineer or machine. Clicking the engineers or machines listed allows the user to see their/its details. From here, the user may choose to edit details or delete the entry.

• The user can link objects from one class to another. For instance:

  • For a specified engineer, a specified machine can be added to their list, noting that the engineer is able to repair said machine.
  • The relationship is mirrored in that an engineer is able to be added to a machine's list.

• The above mentioned join relationship can be removed from either perspective -- engineer or machine -- and it will be reflected upon viewing details from the other's direction.

• Additional Details:

  • This web application was written using C#, run using .NET framework, its ability to run in a browser enabled using the ASP.NET Core MVC framework, and database query and relationships handled using Entity Framework Core.
  • Utilizes a many-to-many relationship between the two classes -- engineer and machine.
  • Data annotations and conditionals are in place to validate user input.
  • Full CRUD functionality works for both classes.
  • Styling uses CSS and Bootstrap.
  • Data storage is managed using MySQL. Entity Framework Core .NET Command-line Tools (or dotnet ef) is used for database version control -- migrations are created to tell MySQL how the database is structured and updated as needed.

• Key objectives for this project include:

  • using Entity Framework Core for database communication,
  • practicing database naming conventions,
  • implementing a many-to-many database relationship,
  • being able to view both sides of the many-to-many relationship,
  • CRUD functionality (create, read, update, and delete) for at least one of the classes,
  • and setting up the project as well as providing instruction to any users so that build files and sensitive information are not tracked by Git (i.e. .gitignore, appsettings.json, bin, obj).

• Below: Schema depicting the many-to-many database relationship.

Setup/Installation Requirements

Required Technology

• Verify that you have the required technology installed for MySQL (https://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql-installation-excerpt/5.7/en/) and MySQL Workbench (https://dev.mysql.com/doc/workbench/en/).
• Also check that Entity Framework Core's dotnet-ef tool is installed on your system so that it can perform database migrations and updates. Run the following command in your terminal:

  $ dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef --version 6.0.0

Setting Up the Project

1. Open your terminal (e.g., Terminal or GitBash).

2. Navigate to where you want to place the cloned directory.

3. Clone the repository from the GitHub link by entering in this command:

$ git clone https://github.com/joncheng-dev/MechanicManager.Solution

4. Navigate to the project's production directory Factory, and create a new file called appsettings.json.

5. Within appsettings.json, add the following code, replacing the uid, and pwd values with your username and password for MySQL. Under database, add any name that you deem fit -- although mechanic_manager_db is suggested for organization sake and clarity of purpose.

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=localhost;Port=3306;database=[YOUR-DATABASE-NAME-HERE];uid=[YOUR-USERNAME-HERE];pwd=[YOUR-PASSWORD-HERE];"
  }
}

6. In the terminal, while in the project's production directory Factory, run the following command. It will utilize the repository's migrations to create and update the database. You may opt to verify that the database has been created successfully in MySQL Workbench.

$ dotnet ef database update

Running the Project

• In the command line, while in the project's production directory Factory, run this command to compile and execute the web application. A new browser window should open, allowing you to interact with it.

$ dotnet watch run

• Alternatively, using the command dotnet run will execute the application. Manually open a browser window and navigate to the application url (ex: https://localhost:5001 or http://localhost:5000)

$ dotnet run

• Optionally, to compile this web app without running it, enter:

$ dotnet build

Known Bugs

• Kindly report any bugs you find with a descriptive message to joncheng.dev@gmail.com

License

MIT License

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Copyright (c) 2023 Jonathan Cheng