Add Razor Pages support to a .Net Core MVC Project

I wanted to take a default asp.net core MVC project in Visual Studio and then see if I could added Razor pages support and use them both.

I created an MVC project and compared it to a new razor project. Using insight from a stack overflow article "How to extend an ASP.NET Core MVC project by Razor Pages?", I was able to successfully do just that.

Here is how

Using Visual Studio

• [x] Create a new Project
  

• [x] Choose ASP.NET Core Web App
  

• [x] Name the project and solution
  

• [x] Choose the MVC option
  

The folder structure of the result:

Do F5 (or CTRL+F5) and you get the standard MVC rendered web pages and web app.

• [x] Add a new folder to the project and name it Pages
  This is a Razor convention. Other helpful Razor information at the MS Docs site.
  

• [x] Add the line services.AddRazorPages(); in
  

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)

• [x] Add the line endpoints.MapRazorPages(); to

app.UseEndpoints(endpoints => 

in

public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment env)

At this point, a Razor page can be added and can be navigated to:

• [x] Add a new Razor page results in: basic page code: rendered view:

Layout

So now one may wish to use the existing layout options with the new razor pages.

• [x] Copy the _ViewStart.cshtml file from the >Views folder to the >Pages folder.

That will result in the following rendered html:

IF you do not copy the _ViewStart.cshtml file to the >Pages folder, you CAN selectively apply the layout to a individual Razor files by adding the tag to page:

Navigation

MVC

<a class="nav-link text-dark" asp-area="" asp-controller="Home" asp-action="Privacy">Privacy</a>

vs
Razor

<a class="nav-link text-dark" asp-area="" asp-page="/HelloWorld">Hello Razor</a>

github

I create this for my own reference and hopefully others will also find it helpful.