LinkShortener on .NET 10

A modern, high-performance link shortener service built using the latest features of .NET 10 and ASP.NET Core 10. This project serves as a practical example of building lightweight, secure, and efficient web APIs with Minimal APIs, EF Core, and ASP.NET Core Identity.

✨ Key Features

• URL Shortening: Convert long URLs into unique, short codes.
• Redirection & Tracking: Redirects short links to their original destination and increments a view counter.
• User-Specific Links: Securely manage links on a per-user basis using JWT authentication.
• Paginated Link Listing: Efficiently retrieve a user's created links with pagination.
• Validation: Robust request validation using FluentValidation.
• API Documentation: Interactive API documentation powered by Swagger (OpenAPI).

🛠️ Technology Stack

• .NET 10: The core platform, utilizing the latest performance improvements and language features.
• ASP.NET Core 10:
  • Minimal APIs: For creating concise, high-performance HTTP endpoints.
  • ASP.NET Core Identity: For handling user registration, login, and JWT-based authentication.
• Entity Framework Core 10: For data access, using an in-memory database for this example.
• FluentValidation: A modern library for building strongly-typed validation rules.
• Swagger (OpenAPI): For generating beautiful and interactive API documentation.

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• .NET 10 SDK (or a newer preview version).
• A REST client like Postman or the dotnet-httprepl tool.

Running the Application

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/LinkShortener.git
   cd LinkShortener

2. Run the project:

   dotnet run --project LinkShortener/LinkShortener.csproj

3. Access the API documentation: The application will start, and you can access the Swagger UI to explore and test the endpoints at: http://localhost:<port>/swagger (e.g., http://localhost:5123/swagger)

🔐 API Endpoints

The API is secured with JWT. You must first register a user and log in to get a bearer token. Add this token to the Authorization header for protected endpoints (e.g., Authorization: Bearer <your_token>).

Method	Path	Description	Auth Required
POST	/register	Creates a new user account.	No
POST	/login	Authenticates a user and returns a JWT.	No
POST	/links	Creates a new shortened link for the current user.	Yes
GET	/links/{shortUrl}	Redirects to the original URL.	No
GET	/links	Gets a paginated list of the user's links.	Yes
GET	/links/info/{id}	Gets detailed information about a specific link.	Yes

🏛️ Architectural Highlights

This project demonstrates several modern .NET best practices:

• Minimal APIs: Endpoints are defined concisely in LinkEndpoints.cs, promoting a clean and functional approach.
• Global Exception Handling: A custom IExceptionHandler (GlobalExceptionHandler.cs) is implemented to centralize error handling and provide consistent JSON error responses.
• Endpoint Filters: The ValidationFilter.cs acts as an AOP (Aspect-Oriented Programming) component, intercepting requests to validate them before the endpoint handler is executed. This keeps the endpoint logic clean and focused.
• Service Layer Abstraction: Business logic is encapsulated within services (ILinkService) which are injected via Dependency Injection, promoting testability and separation of concerns.
• Modern C# Features: The project uses record types for immutable DTOs and primary constructors for cleaner class definitions.

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.