Adding MVC to ASP.NET Core

ASP.NET MVC Core does not work by default in ASP.NET Core applications. You must enable it within the code before using it. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Open the Startup.cs file.
2. Locate the ConfigureServices method and add the highlighted line to it:

    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
    {
        services.AddMvc();
    }

This tells ASP.NET Core to add MVC to the available services. Pay attention — this is not enough for MVC to work, since it needs to be configured first.

1. Locate the Configure method and add the highlighted code to it:

    public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment 
    env)
    {
        app.UseStaticFiles(); 

        app.UseMvcWithDefaultRoute();          
    }

This instructs ASP.NET Core to use the service we added in the ConfigureServices method. In addition, it has a basic configuration for the MVC router. We will discuss ASP.NET Core MVC routing later in this chapter in the Routing section.

By now, you should have ASP.NET MVC configured and ready to run. To see it in action, continue to the next section, Controllers.