CODEWITHSUNDEEP
.net-core
Asif Rehman
Asif Rehman

Reputation: 61

Why all .NET Core applications are console applications?

I have a very basic question about why all .NET Core applications are console applications. I did some google search but don't find any appropriate answer.

Upvotes: 4

Views: 1223

Answers (2)

Greg Gum
Greg Gum

Reputation: 37905

It's an interesting question, and I got here because I had the same thought: Why do I seem to always see a console on asp.net core apps? Are they all now console apps?

But it's a mirage. While you are seeing a console window, it's only because the code is using the console for output. The code that starts the app governs where the output is going to. For example, instead, the output could be ported to the Windows Event Log, which is what happens when the site is published to IIS.

If you create a default .netcore web app, and you look in the output directory, you will see two files:

YourProject.exe YourProject.dll

If you double click the exe, it will start the website. You will see the console window appear and the app will start listening on port 5000.

But now rename YourProject.dll and try to run the exe. It will fail because the exe is just the startup code. Your website is actually in the .dll.

The point is that the console window you see when you start an web app is coming from the exe, not the dll. So the console window has nothing to do with your web app, it's just a convenient way to start up the app in a dev environment. You can also start it from the command line with dotnet YourProject.dll and it will run exactly the same as if you started it from YourProject.exe

If you read @HansPassant's comment, he says it exactly correctly, my answer is just an expansion of it.

Upvotes: 4

b.pell
b.pell

Reputation: 4288

.NET Core provides more than console applications out of the box, it has supported both WPF and WinForms since version 3.x. In the below documentation links from Microsoft you can see .NET 5.0 (which is .NET Core) is listed. If you're using Visual Studio you can chose between ".NET" (which is .NET Core and what it will be referred to going forward) and ".NET Framework" (which won't have any versions past 4.8). It should be noted, WPF and WinForms although on .NET Core are only supported on Windows.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/desktop/wpf/?view=netdesktop-5.0

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/desktop/winforms/?view=netdesktop-5.0

Upvotes: 0

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