RazorClassBlog 0.0.4

RazorClassBlog

A lightweight, embeddable blog system for ASP.NET Core Razor Pages, delivered as a Razor Class Library (RCL).

About this project

RazorClassBlog exists to solve a very specific problem:

"I need a simple, SEO-friendly blog inside my existing ASP.NET Core site � not a full CMS, not a headless platform, and not a WordPress clone."

This project provides:

• Public blog pages that search engines can crawl and index
• An optional admin UI for managing posts
• Clean architecture that lets the host application control authentication, identity, and data storage

It is designed to be:

• Embedded, not hosted
• Configurable, not opinionated
• Small, not over-engineered

If you want a full CMS, this probably isn�t it. If you want a blog that �just works� inside your app, it might be.

This was also a practical test to try an use AI (GPT5) to develop as much out of the box without tinkering as possible. So far its about 80% AI written, and 20% cleanup/re-structure.

Features

Public blog

• Blog index with pagination
• Individual post pages
• SEO-friendly URLs (/blog/yyyy/mm/slug)
• Breadcrumb navigation (HTML + JSON-LD)
• Canonical URLs and meta descriptions
• Structured data (BlogPosting / Article)
• Open Graph & Twitter Card metadata

Admin UI (optional)

• Create, edit, and delete posts
• Draft, published, and scheduled posts
• Publish scheduling (future dates)
• Autosave drafts
• Rich text editor (TinyMCE)
• Role-based access using ASP.NET Core Identity

Architecture

• Razor Class Library (RCL)
• Razor Pages UI
• Repository + service abstractions
• Entity Framework Core�based persistence
• Host-controlled database provider (SQL, Cosmos DB, etc.)

Technology

• Target framework: .NET 9
• UI: Razor Pages + Bootstrap
• Data: Entity Framework Core
• Auth: ASP.NET Core Identity
• Editor: TinyMCE (via CDN)

Installation

dotnet add package RazorClassBlog

Or reference the project directly during development.

Basic setup

Database configuration

The library depends on an IBlogDbContext abstraction. The host application supplies the concrete EF Core implementation.

Example (Cosmos DB):

builder.Services.AddDbContext<CosmosBlogDbContext>(options =>
    options.UseCosmos(
        builder.Configuration["Cosmos:ConnectionString"],
        builder.Configuration["Cosmos:DatabaseName"]));

Register services

builder.Services.AddBlogging<CosmosBlogDbContext>(options =>
{
    options.BlogKey = "main";
    options.PublicPageSize = 5;
    options.AdminPageSize = 25;

    options.DefaultOrganizationName = "Acme Aces";        
    options.DefaultOrganizationImageURL = "https://cdn.AcmeAces.com/acme-aces-logo.png"; 

    options.AdminRoles = new[] { "Admin", "BlogAdmin" };
    options.ReaderRoles = new[] { "User", "Customer" };

    // Disable admin UI on public-only sites
    // options.EnableAdminUi = false;
});

Ensure Razor Pages, Identity, and Authorization are enabled:

builder.Services.AddRazorPages();
builder.Services.AddAuthorization();

Middleware:

app.UseRouting();
app.UseAuthentication();
app.UseAuthorization();
app.MapRazorPages();

Admin UI & security

Admin pages

Admin pages live under:

/BlogAdmin

Access is controlled via ASP.NET Core Identity roles configured in BlogOptions.

Disable admin UI entirely

If the admin UI is hosted in a separate site, routes can be removed entirely:

options.EnableAdminUi = false;

When disabled:

• Admin routes are not registered
• /BlogAdmin returns 404
• No admin surface exists to attack

Publishing model

• Draft: not visible publicly
• Published: visible immediately
• Scheduled: visible when PublishedUtc <= UtcNow

Author handling

Posts support an editable display author:

• AuthorId: internal identifier (audit)
• AuthorName: displayed author (person or organization)

Examples:

• "Jane Doe"
• "Acme Marketing Team"

Non-goals

This project intentionally does not attempt to be:

• A full CMS
• A headless content platform
• A page builder
• A replacement for WordPress, Ghost, or similar systems

License

MIT License