🎮 GameRatingApp

A full-stack web application for browsing and rating video games, built with Blazor WebAssembly, ASP.NET Core Web API, and MySQL. The solution follows a clean three-project architecture: a shared class library, a REST API backend, and a Blazor frontend client.

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Table of Contents

• Overview
• Tech Stack
• Architecture
• Project Structure
• Getting Started
  • Prerequisites
  • Database Setup
  • Running the API
  • Running the Blazor Client
• Docker
• API Overview
• Contributing
• License

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Overview

GameRatingApp allows users to browse a catalog of games and submit ratings. The frontend is a Blazor WebAssembly SPA communicating with a RESTful ASP.NET Core API, which reads and writes to a MySQL database. Shared data models and DTOs live in a separate ClassLibrary project referenced by both the API and the client.

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	Blazor WebAssembly (.NET)
Backend	ASP.NET Core Web API (.NET)
Database	MySQL
Shared Models	C# Class Library
Containerization	Docker
IDE	Visual Studio 2022

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Architecture

┌─────────────────────┐        HTTP/REST        ┌──────────────────────┐
│   MyBlazorClient    │ ──────────────────────► │    DatabaseApi       │
│  (Blazor WASM SPA)  │ ◄────────────────────── │  (ASP.NET Core API)  │
└─────────────────────┘       JSON responses     └──────────┬───────────┘
           │                                                │
           └──────────────┐                    ┌───────────┘
                          ▼                    ▼
                   ┌─────────────────────────────┐
                   │       ClassLibrary           │
                   │  (Shared Models & DTOs)      │
                   └──────────────┬──────────────┘
                                  │
                                  ▼
                          ┌───────────────┐
                          │     MySQL     │
                          │   Database    │
                          └───────────────┘

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Project Structure

GameRatingApp/
├── MyBlazorClient/          # Blazor WebAssembly frontend
│   ├── Pages/               # Razor pages & components
│   ├── wwwroot/             # Static assets
│   └── MyBlazorClient.csproj
│
├── DatabaseApi/             # ASP.NET Core REST API
│   ├── Controllers/         # API controllers
│   ├── Services/            # Business logic / data access
│   ├── Dockerfile           # Container definition for the API
│   └── DatabaseApi.csproj
│
├── ClassLibrary/            # Shared models and DTOs
│   └── ClassLibrary.csproj
│
├── MyBlazorClient.sln       # Visual Studio solution file
├── .gitignore
└── .gitattributes

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• .NET SDK 8.0+
• MySQL Server 8.0+
• Visual Studio 2022 or VS Code with C# extension
• (Optional) Docker for containerized deployment

Database Setup

1. Create a MySQL database:

CREATE DATABASE GameRatingDb;

2. Update the connection string in DatabaseApi/appsettings.json:

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=localhost;Database=GameRatingDb;User=root;Password=yourpassword;"
  }
}

3. Apply any migrations or seed scripts located in the DatabaseApi project:

cd DatabaseApi
dotnet ef database update

Running the API

cd DatabaseApi
dotnet run

The API will start at https://localhost:7XXX (check your terminal output for the exact port).

Running the Blazor Client

Open a new terminal:

cd MyBlazorClient
dotnet run

Then open your browser and navigate to https://localhost:5XXX. The client will connect to the API automatically.

Tip: You can also open MyBlazorClient.sln in Visual Studio 2022 and run both projects simultaneously using the Multiple Startup Projects setting.

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Docker

The DatabaseApi project includes a Dockerfile for containerized deployment.

Build and run the API container

cd DatabaseApi
docker build -t gameratingapp-api .
docker run -p 8080:80 \
  -e ConnectionStrings__DefaultConnection="Server=host.docker.internal;Database=GameRatingDb;User=root;Password=yourpassword;" \
  gameratingapp-api

Make sure your MySQL server is accessible from within the container. Use host.docker.internal to reach the host machine's MySQL from Docker on Windows/macOS, or 172.17.0.1 on Linux.

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API Overview

The DatabaseApi exposes a RESTful API consumed by the Blazor client. Typical endpoints include:

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/games	Get all games
GET	/api/games/{id}	Get a game by ID
POST	/api/games	Add a new game
POST	/api/ratings	Submit a rating for a game
GET	/api/ratings/{gameId}	Get ratings for a game

These are inferred from the project structure. Verify against the actual controller files for exact routes.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature
3. Commit your changes: git commit -m "Add your feature"
4. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/your-feature
5. Open a Pull Request

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License

This project does not currently specify a license. Please contact the author before using or distributing this work.

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Built with ❤️ using Blazor, ASP.NET Core, and MySQL.