Hello Again

Hello again! 👋🏽😊 It has been a while since I have posted any updates here. 

Originally I left off with the hope of creating another tutorial -- specifically written for utilization of the Blogger API with Blazor Server. And start it, I did! But as you have probably noticed, it was never published. Not to make any excuses (if I may be honest, I am rather disappointed in myself), but life just got so out of hand.

First, I made the transition from Symetra to Blizzard Entertainment in November 2022. It had been a long-standing career goal of mine to enter the gaming industry and what a massive blessing to have made that leap with the Blizzard. I was (and still am) so incredibly grateful. Unfortunately, after the Microsoft acquisition last year, some roles had to be cut and mine was on the list; I was laid off this past January. The experience though, was immeasurable. I had so much fun and got to do a deep dive into Python, APIs, hardware, data manipulation, etc. I also, of course, met so many incredible people that I will be sure to carry with me moving forward. I am eternally thankful for all of it!

My personal life, though, has been a bit more difficult to process. Since my last post here, there has been so much loss in my family. In such a short time we have lost two aunts, two uncles, a cousin, and a grandmother. It felt like every other month someone was gone; I don't think I have ever been through so much heartbreak. 

Because of this, I can't say I have spent as much time updating my blog/website as I should have. A lot of things in my life have been put on hold (like house repairs, going back to school for a master's, etc.) I know there is a new Blazor Server bug introduced to my website (now updated to Blazor WebAssembly, but am still tinkering), for example, that I need to work on (it is a SignalR disconnection issue that forces the user to reload the page -- I deeply apologize if you have experienced this). Now that my schedule is a bit more open, I can try to fix that and restart my personal life again. Searching and applying for a new position is indeed a bit stressful, but I will make sure to keep my head up and use this extra bit of time wisely.

As for any more tutorials, I suppose I should remove the option from the "blog menu," so to speak, haha. I would love to post more of them, but I must be more honest with myself when it comes to my time going forward; I have so many plans and goals I want to achieve both in my career and personal life. I do, however, want to push myself to create more general posts here and keep this line of communication open (even if no one is actually reading this and I am just talking to myself 😂).

Here's hoping for a healthier year moving forward for all of us!

Create: ReactJS Project

This is an ultra simple tutorial on how to create a .NET Core + ReactJS project using Visual Studio Community 2017. It is for beginner-beginners (unlike my just plain beginner self 😆). It should help anyone who is unfamiliar with Visual Studio or with web applications in general. If this is far too simple for you, don't worry! There is more to come; as I learn, I'll help you learn too! 

Before beginning, install:
Visual Studio Community 2017 available here.
.NET Core 2.2 available here (using .NET Core Installer: x64)
NodeJS available here (using the Recommended for Most Users option)

Creating a project:
1) Install the above programs/packages starting with Visual Studio Community (the order installed after finishing Visual Studio doesn't really matter). Downloading Visual Studio Community might take a bit of time; this is normal. After the initial installer finishes loading, a pop-up will be displayed that will need you to select what type of projects you want to use Visual Studio for. I happened to select a bunch, but all you will need for web applications, specifically, is ASP.NET and Web Development under Web & Cloud. You can install as many workloads as you want, but keep in mind that the more you select, the longer the download/installation will take (if you ever want to change these, just look for the Visual Studio Installer in your programs and click Modify under Visual Studio Community 2017): 

2) After everything is completely installed, open up Visual Studio (Visual Studio will probably prompt you to sign in with a Microsoft account, feel free to follow the prompts) and create a new project by going to File >> New Project in the top left corner. A pop-up with more selections should then appear. In the left column, select Visual C# (by clicking the small arrow) >> .NET Core. In the right column, then select ASP.NET Core Web Application. Fill out the small form on the bottom containing Name, Location, and Solution Name (I set my Visual Studio theme to dark, so if you are entirely new to it, then yours will most likely appear white):

3) Press Ok when you feel that your information is correct. The next screen will prompt you to define what kind of .NET Core project you want to create; this is where we will choose React and specify what version of .NET Core we want to use. At the top, next to .NET Core, make sure the dropdown to the right of it shows ASP.NET Core 2.2 (the most recent version) in the box. Then in the area full of options below it, select React.js. Make sure to leave the Configure for HTTPS box below that checked:

4) Press Ok and your project will be created for you (after a bit of loading) including a sample controller and a few example components.

If you click IIS Express (with a green triangle next to it) at the top of Visual Studio, you can run your project and view it in the browser. You should get a starter page with a top Navbar/menu bar that looks like this:

A bit about your new project:

1) Components are your web page builders or pieces. They are like legos and can be used to build almost any web page. A component can hold many other components or can stand alone; it is your choice!

2) Controllers have many different uses across ASP.NET, but with core and ReactJS, they are mainly used to control incoming and outgoing information. So if you have a database or are using an API (which, if you are unfamiliar, is kind of like a pre-made online database with special features; there is definitely more to it, but let's keep it as simple as we can for now) you can use a controller to pull out, manage, and create the information contained in it.

And that's it:

Make sure to explore your new project! Look at the given controller and experiment with components of your own to get a better feel of a ReactJS project. There is a lot going on with React, but this will at least help you get started. 😁