📋Job Application Tracker API

A simple ASP.NET Core Web API to track job applications.
Supports two types of data storage repositories:

• Entity Framework Core with SQL Server
• JSON file persistence

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✨Features

• CRUD operations for job applications
• Repository pattern with EF Core and JSON file implementations
• Swagger UI for API testing
• Asynchronous programming for better scalability

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📦Prerequisites

• .NET 8 SDK
• SQL Server Express (or any SQL Server instance)
• Visual Studio 2022 or Visual Studio Code
• SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) for database management

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📚Required NuGet Packages

Make sure your project has the following NuGet packages installed:

• Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore
• Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer
• Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools
• Swashbuckle.AspNetCore (for Swagger)

You can install them via the Package Manager Console in Visual Studio:

Install-Package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore
Install-Package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer
Install-Package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools
Install-Package Swashbuckle.AspNetCore

Or via the .NET CLI

• dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore
• dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer
• dotnet add package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools
• dotnet add package Swashbuckle.AspNetCore

⚙️Configuration

Connection String

Update your appsettings.json with your SQL Server connection string.

"ConnectionStrings": {
  "DefaultConnection": "Server=localhost\\SQLEXPRESS01;Database=JobApplicationDb;Trusted_Connection=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=true"
}

🗄️Database Setup

Run the following commands in your project root directory (where your .csproj is):

• dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate creates the initial migration scripts based on your DbContext and models.
• dotnet ef database update applies the migration and creates the database with the required tables.

▶️Running the Application

Run your API project using Visual Studio or from the command line:

dotnet run

By default, Swagger UI will be available at: https://localhost:{port}/swagger

Use Swagger to test the API endpoints like GET, POST, PUT, DELETE for job applications.

📌Dependency Injection Setup (Program.cs)

builder.Services.AddScoped<IJobApplicationRepository, JobApplicationEfRepository>();
builder.Services.AddScoped<IJobApplicationService, JobApplicationService>();
builder.Services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options =>
    options.UseSqlServer(builder.Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection")));

builder.Services.AddControllers();
builder.Services.AddEndpointsApiExplorer();
builder.Services.AddSwaggerGen();

📖Notes

• Use Entity Framework repository for production and SQL Server.
• Use JSON file repository for quick testing or if you want to persist data without a database.
• The repository interface is async to support scalability and efficient IO.

🛠️Troubleshooting

If you get errors running EF commands:

• Make sure your terminal's current directory is the folder containing the .csproj file.
• Ensure Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools is installed.
• If your database doesn't update after POSTing new data, check if the repository calls SaveChanges() correctly.