🎬 Cinema-NLayer-MVC

🎟️ Online Movie Ticket Booking System

Cinema-NLayer-MVC is a web application built using ASP.NET Core MVC with N-layer architecture, allowing users to browse movie listings, select films, and purchase tickets online.

📌 Tech Stack

• Backend: ASP.NET Core 8 (MVC), Entity Framework Core, Identity, AutoMapper, FluentValidation
• Frontend: Razor Views, Bootstrap
• Database: SQL Server
• Architecture: N-layer (WebApp, BusinessLogic(BLL), DataAccess(DAL)

📂 Project Architecture

The project follows an N-layer architecture to ensure separation of concerns and maintainability.

📂 Cinema-NLayer-MVC  
 ├── 📂 Cinema.WebApp                # Presentation Layer (MVC, UI)
 │   ├── wwwroot                     # Static files (CSS, JS, images)
 │   ├── Controllers                 # MVC controllers handling requests
 │   ├── ViewModels                  # View-specific data models
 │   ├── Views                       # Razor views for the UI
 │   ├── appsettings.json            # Configuration file
 │   └── Program.cs                  # Application entry point
 │
 ├── 📂 Cinema.BLL                   # Business Logic Layer
 │   ├── Helpers                     # Utility classes and helper methods
 │   │ └── ApplicationProfile.cs     # Mapping or custom application logic
 │   ├── Services                    # Core business services
 │   ├── Interfaces                  # Abstractions for business services
 │   ├── Validators                  # Contains classes that validate models and DTOs
 │   ├── ServiceExtensions.cs        # Extension methods for business logic services
 │   └── DTOs                        # Data Transfer Objects
 │
 └── 📂 Cinema.DAL                   # Data Access Layer
     ├── Dependencies                # Additional dependencies or third-party integrations
     ├── Analyzers                   # Code analyzers and diagnostics
     ├── Repositories                # Repository pattern implementations
     ├── Packages                    # NuGet or package references
     ├── Configurations              # Entity Framework configurations
     ├── Data                        # EF Core DbContext
     │ ├── CinemaDbContext.cs        # Main EF Core DbContext
     │ └── SeedDataExtensions.cs     # Database seeding logic
     ├── Entities                    # Database entity models
     ├── Interfaces                  # Abstractions for IRepository and IEntity
     ├── Migrations                  # EF Core migrations
     └── ServiceExtensions.cs        # Extension methods for data access services

---

🛠️ Installation & Setup

1️⃣ Clone the repository

Clone the project to your local machine using Git:

git clone https://github.com/KobMiles/Cinema-Nlayer-MVC.git
cd Cinema-NLayer-MVC

2️⃣ Set up the database

✅ Install SQL Server

Ensure that SQL Server is installed on your system. You can use SQL Server Express or SQL Server LocalDB.

You can download and install it from the official Microsoft documentation: Install LocalDB – Microsoft Docs

✅ Configure the Database Connection String

Your project requires a connection string to establish a connection with the database. You have two options for storing it:

1️⃣Using appsettings.json (for general use)

1. Open or create your appsettings.json file.

2. Under ConnectionStrings, add your connection string. For a local database in Visual Studio, you can use the example below:

   {
     "ConnectionStrings": {
       "DefaultConnection": "Server=(localdb)\\MSSQLLocalDB;Database=CinemaDB;Trusted_Connection=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=true"
     }
   }

3. Ensure your project is set up to read DefaultConnection from this section (for instance, by referencing Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection") in your code).

4. Optional: If you already have your own database, replace the above connection string with your own.

2️⃣Using UserSecrets (recommended for security 🔐)

To protect connection strings and other credentials, store them in **UserSecrets** instead of appsettings.json. Here’s how:

Option🅰️: Via Visual Studio GUI

1. Right-click WebApp project in Solution Explorer and select Manage User Secrets.

2. A secrets.json file will open. Add your connection string there:

   {
     "ConnectionStrings": {
       "DefaultConnection": "Server=(localdb)\\MSSQLLocalDB;Database=CinemaDB;Trusted_Connection=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=true"
     }
   }

3. This file is kept out of source control automatically.

Option🅱️: Via .NET CLI

1. Open a terminal in your project folder.

2. Initialize user secrets (if not done already):

   dotnet user-secrets init

3. Add your connection string using:

   dotnet user-secrets set "ConnectionStrings:DefaultConnection" "Server=(localdb)\\MSSQLLocalDB;Database=CinemaDB;Trusted_Connection=True;MultipleActiveResultSets=true"

4. The secrets.json file is updated accordingly (but not committed to source control).

⚡ Important: Automatic Local Database Creation

The provided connection strings are designed to automatically create a local database using SQL Server LocalDB. To use this feature, ensure that LocalDB is installed on your system. You can download and install it from the official Microsoft documentation:

🔗 Install LocalDB – Microsoft Docs

🛠️ Using a Custom Database Connection

If you prefer to connect to an existing database instead of creating a local one, replace the default connection string with your own. Here’s an example of a custom connection string:

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=YOUR_SERVER;Database=YOUR_DATABASE;User Id=YOUR_USER;Password=YOUR_PASSWORD;MultipleActiveResultSets=true"
  }
}

Replace YOUR_SERVER, YOUR_DATABASE, YOUR_USER, and YOUR_PASSWORD with your actual database credentials.
By configuring your connection string correctly, you ensure seamless integration with your chosen SQL Server instance. 🚀

3️⃣ Apply database migrations

Run the following command to apply migrations and create the database schema:

dotnet ef database update --project Cinema.DAL --startup-project Cinema.WebApp

If migrations are missing, create one:

dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate --project Cinema.DAL --startup-project Cinema.WebApp
dotnet ef database update --project Cinema.DAL --startup-project Cinema.WebApp

4️⃣ Run the application

Start the ASP.NET Core MVC application:

dotnet run --project Cinema.WebApp

Alternatively, if using Visual Studio:

1. Open the Cinema-NLayer-MVC.sln solution.
2. Set Cinema.WebApp as the startup project.
3. Press F5 to run in debug mode.

Once started, the app will be accessible at:

• http://localhost:5145 (For HTTP)
• https://localhost:7129 (For HTTPS)

🧩 Dependencies

This project uses the following dependencies:

Package	Purpose
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore	ORM for database interactions
Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.SqlServer	SQL Server provider for EF Core
Microsoft.AspNetCore.Identity	Authentication & Identity management
AutoMapper	Object-to-object mapping
FluentValidation	Model validation

✅ Restore dependencies:

If any dependencies are missing, install them with:

dotnet restore