As a developer, one of the most important aspects of building a web application is creating a secure and user-friendly login page. In this article, I will guide you through the process of creating a login page using Razor, a powerful markup syntax in ASP.NET.

What is Razor?

Razor is a syntax that allows you to write server-side code in your HTML files. It was introduced by Microsoft as part of ASP.NET Web Pages and later integrated into ASP.NET MVC.

Using Razor, you can seamlessly mix HTML markup with C# code, making it easier to generate dynamic content and handle complex logic within your web application. It provides a clean and intuitive way to create server-side code without sacrificing HTML readability.

Creating the Login Page

To begin, let’s start by setting up a new ASP.NET MVC project. Open Visual Studio and create a new project, selecting the ASP.NET Web Application template. Choose the MVC template and click OK.

Once the project is created, navigate to the Views folder and locate the _Layout.cshtml file. This file contains the layout structure for all pages in the application. We will add our login page here.

Inside the _Layout.cshtml file, find the <body> tag and insert the following code:


@{
Layout = null;
}

This code snippet tells Razor that this particular view does not need to use a layout. We want our login page to have a clean, standalone appearance.

Next, let’s create a new view for our login page. Right-click on the Views folder and select Add > View. Name the view Login.cshtml.

Inside the Login.cshtml file, we can now start building our login page. We’ll start with a simple form that asks for the user’s email and password:


@model LoginPageModel
@{
Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}

Login

@using (Html.BeginForm("Login", "Account", FormMethod.Post))
{

@Html.LabelFor(m => m.Email)
@Html.TextBoxFor(m => m.Email)
@Html.LabelFor(m => m.Password)
@Html.PasswordFor(m => m.Password)

}

In the above code, we first declare the model for our view, LoginPageModel. This model defines the properties we need to capture the user’s email and password. You can create this model in a separate file or within the same file for simplicity.

We then set the layout for our view to _Layout.cshtml using the Layout property. This ensures that our login page will have the necessary styling and structure defined in the layout file.

Inside the form, we use Razor’s HTML helpers to generate the necessary input fields for the email and password. The Html.LabelFor method generates a label for the corresponding property in the model. The Html.TextBoxFor and Html.PasswordFor methods generate input fields with proper validation attributes.

Finally, we have an input of type “submit” to handle the form submission. The form will be submitted to the “Login” action in the “Account” controller, which you can define according to your application’s requirements.

Conclusion

Creating a login page using Razor in ASP.NET MVC offers a flexible and efficient approach. With the power of Razor syntax, you can easily build dynamic and secure login pages that meet your application’s requirements. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can start integrating Razor into your login pages and enhance the overall user experience.

For more information and advanced techniques, refer to the official documentation and explore the various features offered by Razor in ASP.NET MVC.

Check out the Razor login page to see the code in action!