Layout and UI

Goal

This snapshot advances Ironwharf Gazette by teaching you to render Blazor layouts with Bootstrap 5 CDN.

Every numbered folder is a complete app. Run this stage independently, then compare it with the previous folder.

Prerequisites

Use .NET 8 SDK, a terminal, and Docker for Postgres stages. You should recognize C#, HTTP verbs, and basic HTML.

Port 5081 must be free. Copy .env.example and review appsettings.json before database stages.

• .NET 8 SDK
• A code editor and terminal
• Docker from part 4 onward

Concepts

MainLayout wraps pages; App.razor owns the HTML shell. Bootstrap CDN provides readable defaults without a bundler.

Keep components focused: Razor components present data, form handlers and EF Core enforce rules, and Blazor escapes output by default.

Walkthrough

Pass sample posts to Home, extend MainLayout navigation, and load Bootstrap from the CDN.

Read the example, then open the matching snapshot. The repository includes the surrounding setup and error handling.

<link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" />

Run and verify

Enter 03-Layout-And-UI, restore packages, and run on port 5081.

Open http://127.0.0.1:5081. Watch the terminal for validation and database errors.

git clone https://github.com/michaeldunga1/fcc-blazor-blog.git
cd fcc-blazor-blog/03-Layout-And-UI
cp .env.example .env
dotnet restore
dotnet run --urls http://127.0.0.1:5081

Troubleshooting

Layout not applying usually means Routes.razor DefaultLayout is wrong or _Imports.razor is missing the Layout namespace.

Restore errors usually mean the SDK is missing or you opened the wrong folder. For Postgres failures, confirm Docker is running and the ironwharf_NN database name matches the snapshot.

• Read the first error first
• Restart after environment changes
• Never commit .env or production secrets

Try this

Render a friendly empty state when the posts list is empty.

Test a happy path and one invalid or unauthorized request.

• Make one small change
• Test it in the browser
• Compare with the next snapshot only after it works