ASP.NET Core MVC Full Beginner Roadmap

Here is a FULL Beginner-Friendly ASP.NET Core MVC Roadmap—step-by-step, easy to follow, and exactly what you need to go from zero → job-ready.This roadmap is structured in 7 Levels, each with what to learn, why, and simple examples.

Level 0 — Prerequisites

What You Must Know Before MVC

Topic	Why it’s needed
C# Basics	MVC is written in C#
OOP (Class, Object, Methods, Constructor, Interface, Inheritance)	MVC uses OOP everywhere
SQL Basics	Every MVC project uses a DB
HTML, CSS, Bootstrap	For UI design

Level 1 — Understanding What MVC Is

What is MVC?

• M = Model → Data (Employee.cs)

• V = View → UI (HTML + Razor)

• C = Controller → Logic (EmployeeController.cs)

Why MVC?

• Clean structure

• Easy to maintain

• Decoupled code

Simple Flow

User → Controller → Model/DB → Controller → View

Level 2 — ASP.NET Core Basics

Learn these first:

1. What is ASP.NET Core

2. How to install .NET SDK

3. Create your first MVC project

4. Understand project structure

Important Files

File	Purpose
Program.cs	App starts here
appsettings.json	Connection string & configs
wwwroot	CSS, JS, images
Controllers folder	All controllers
Views folder	All UI pages
Models folder	All data classes

Level 3 — Controllers (The Brain)

What is a Controller?

A class that handles HTTP requests.

public class EmployeeController : Controller
{
    public IActionResult Index()
    {
        return View();
    }
}

Why IActionResult?

Because the controller can return many types:

Return Type	Purpose
View()	Show a page
Redirect()	Go to another page
Json()	Return API data
File()	Download file
Content()	String output

So the method returns IActionResult because it may return different results.

GET Method

public IActionResult Create()
{
    return View();
}

Purpose: Display the form.

POST Method

[HttpPost]
public async Task<IActionResult> Create(Employee employee)
{
    if(ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        _context.Add(employee);
        await _context.SaveChangesAsync();
        return RedirectToAction("Index");
    }
    return View(employee);
}

Why Task?

Because database operations are asynchronous for better performance.

Level 4 — Models (Data Layer)

What is a Model?

public class Employee
{
    public int Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

Why Models?

• Represent your database table

• Used to exchange data between controller and views

Level 5 — Entity Framework Core (Database)

Steps to Learn

1. What is EF Core

2. Create a DbContext

3. Add connection string

4. Perform CRUD

Example DbContext

public class ApplicationDbContext : DbContext
{
    public ApplicationDbContext(DbContextOptions options) : base(options)
    {
    }

    public DbSet<Employee> Employees { get; set; }
}

Level 6 — Views (Razor)

What Is Razor?

HTML + C# combined.

Example

@model IEnumerable<Employee>

<h2>Employee List</h2>

@foreach(var e in Model)
{
    <p>@e.Name</p>
}

Razor Keywords to learn

• @model

• @{ } code block

• @foreach

• @if

• @Html.DisplayFor

• Tag Helpers

Level 7 — CRUD Operation (MOST IMPORTANT)

Steps

1. Create Model

2. Scaffold Controller

3. Auto-generate CRUD views

4. Modify design

5. Connect SQL Server

CRUD Methods

Action	HTTP	Purpose
Index	GET	List data
Create	GET	Show form
Create	POST	Save data
Edit	GET	Show form
Edit	POST	Update data
Delete	GET	Show confirmation
DeleteConfirmed	POST	Delete

Roadmap Summary Image(Text Format)

LEVEL 0: C#, OOP, SQL, HTML, CSS
LEVEL 1: MVC Overview
LEVEL 2: Project Structure
LEVEL 3: Controllers + IActionResult
LEVEL 4: Models + Data Annotations
LEVEL 5: EF Core + DbContext
LEVEL 6: Razor View Engine
LEVEL 7: CRUD Operation (FULL)
ADVANCED: Auth, API, Layouts, AJAX