Building a Blog Management System with .NET and Angular

Marvyn Harryson — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 20:38:51 +0000

Introduction

Hey Dev Community! 👋

I’ve been working on an exciting project recently—a blog management system built with .NET for the backend and Angular for the frontend. 🚀 This project has been a great way to explore some powerful features like user authentication, API development, and integrating Azure Blob Storage for handling images.

In this post, I’ll share a bit about my experience, some key learnings, and the challenges I’ve faced along the way.

Why .NET and Angular?

As a Full Stack Developer specializing in .NET and Angular, these two frameworks are my go-to for building scalable and maintainable applications. Here's why:

.NET provides a robust and efficient backend to handle API logic, authentication, and database connections.
Angular offers a powerful structure for creating responsive, dynamic UIs that enhance the user experience.
Azure makes cloud-based storage and deployment simpler with tools like Azure Blob Storage.

Key Features of the Project

User Authentication:
One of the first features I implemented was a user authentication system, allowing users to register, log in, and manage their sessions securely.
API Development:
Using .NET Core Web API, I created endpoints for managing posts, comments, and user profiles. This setup ensures a clean separation of concerns between the frontend and backend.
Frontend with Angular:
The frontend is developed using Angular, which helps in building a modular, reusable, and maintainable codebase for the user interface. I've employed Reactive Forms to make form handling easier and more scalable.
Azure Blob Storage Integration:
A crucial part of the project is handling image uploads for blog posts. I integrated Azure Blob Storage to securely store and serve these images, keeping performance high and the storage secure.

Challenges Faced

One of the main challenges I faced was ensuring smooth interaction between the .NET API and Angular. Handling CORS policies and token-based authentication was a critical part of making the frontend and backend communicate seamlessly.

Another interesting hurdle was managing the Azure Blob Storage authentication and ensuring images were uploaded quickly and served securely to users.

Lessons Learned

CI/CD for Seamless Deployment: Implementing a CI/CD pipeline with Azure DevOps was an essential learning curve to streamline the deployment process.
State Management in Angular: Handling global state across different components and modules made me appreciate the importance of clean architecture.
API Security: Using JWT tokens for secure communication between the frontend and backend is a must for any project with user authentication.

What's Next?

I plan to continue enhancing this project by adding features like:

User Roles and Permissions: To handle different levels of access.
Comment System: To allow interaction on posts.
Enhanced UI: To improve the user experience with animations and real-time updates.

Conclusion

Working on this blog management project has been an incredible journey, allowing me to dive deep into .NET, Angular, and Azure. I’m excited to keep pushing it forward and adding more features. 🎉

If you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, feel free to drop a comment! Let’s connect and learn together. 🤝

I hope this post gives you some insight into my current work and maybe even inspires your next project! 😊

DEV Community: Marvyn Harryson