DatingApp-net8

Full-stack dating app portfolio project built with .NET 8 Web API and Angular.

The project demonstrates a typical authenticated web application with user profiles, likes, messaging, role-based admin functionality, SQL Server persistence, and real-time features powered by SignalR.

Features

• User registration and login with JWT authentication
• Role-based authorization for admin functionality
• Member profiles with filtering, sorting and pagination
• Like/favorite users flow
• Private messaging between users
• Real-time presence and messaging with SignalR
• Photo upload support
• Global API error handling middleware
• Angular frontend with route guards, interceptors and reusable components
• SQL Server database with EF Core migrations
• Docker Compose setup for local SQL Server development

Tech Stack

Backend

• .NET 8
• ASP.NET Core Web API
• Entity Framework Core
• SQL Server
• ASP.NET Core Identity
• JWT authentication
• SignalR
• AutoMapper
• Cloudinary integration

Frontend

• Angular
• TypeScript
• RxJS
• Bootstrap / Bootswatch
• ngx-bootstrap
• ngx-toastr
• ngx-spinner
• SignalR client

Infrastructure

• Docker Compose
• SQL Server container
• .NET user-secrets for local development secrets

Project Structure

DatingApp-net8/
  API/                  # ASP.NET Core Web API
  client/               # Angular frontend
  DatingApp.sln         # .NET solution
  docker-compose.yaml   # Local SQL Server setup
  .env.example          # Example local environment variables

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• .NET 8 SDK
• Node.js and npm
• Docker Desktop
• Angular CLI

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/Stellce/DatingApp-net8.git
cd DatingApp-net8

2. Configure local environment variables

Create a local .env file in the repository root:

MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=your-password

The .env file is used only for local Docker Compose configuration and should not be committed.

3. Start SQL Server

docker compose up -d

4. Configure .NET user-secrets

The API uses .NET user-secrets for local development configuration.

Initialize user-secrets for the API project:

dotnet user-secrets init --project API

Set the JWT token key:

dotnet user-secrets set "TokenKey" "replace-with-a-long-local-development-secret" --project API

Set the SQL Server connection string:

dotnet user-secrets set "ConnectionStrings:DefaultConnection" "Server=localhost,1433;Database=DatingDB;User Id=sa;Password=your-password;TrustServerCertificate=True" --project API

Set Cloudinary credentials for photo upload functionality:

dotnet user-secrets set "CloudinarySettings:CloudName" "your-cloud-name" --project API
dotnet user-secrets set "CloudinarySettings:ApiKey" "your-api-key" --project API
dotnet user-secrets set "CloudinarySettings:ApiSecret" "your-api-secret" --project API

5. Run the backend

dotnet run --project API

The API applies EF Core migrations on startup for local development.

6. Run the frontend

cd client
npm install
npm start

Open the Angular app in the browser at:

https://localhost:4200

Build

Backend:

dotnet build DatingApp.sln

Frontend:

cd client
npm run build

The Angular production build is generated into API/wwwroot so the ASP.NET Core backend can serve the frontend. Generated build output is intentionally ignored by Git.

Status

This is a portfolio project created to demonstrate full-stack development with .NET 8, Angular, SQL Server, JWT authentication and SignalR. It is intended for learning and portfolio presentation, not as a production dating platform.

Screenshots

Home

Members

Profile

Messaging

Edit-profile

Photo upload

Admin Role Management