Technology is ever-evolving on a day-to-day basis. Businesses need to be on their toes to ensure they embrace technology by upgrading the systems they use to achieve alignment with digital transformation objectives. When it comes to the frameworks to use, businesses are presented with two options from the well-known Microsoft company, the .NET Framework and .NET Core.

Businesses must do proper planning and thinking when it comes to the migration from .NET Framework to the .NET Core. You will always have reasons to support certain migrations. With changes in technology, as years go by, some old frameworks go out of support and may fail to accommodate the new inventions that happen. Microsoft has introduced new dynamics to the .NET Core, which is cross-platform and open source, giving you some important reasons to shift from the classic .NET framework.

Microsoft launched .NET Core in June 2016, and many software developers embraced the change. It has been observed that about 55% of software developers prefer using the .NET core as opposed to .NET Framework since it simplifies and supports the building of software to deploy across various platforms.

Yes, everyone needs to migrate since many benefits are waiting for you. But challenges come in especially shifting an already existing application from the .NET Framework to the latest .NET core. Therefore, it needs full comprehension of what it takes, and this article will focus on how to convert .NET Framework to .NET Core.

Why consider migrating from .NET Framework to .NET Core

Most people have seen .NET Framework around for several years now, for over 19 years. They have used it as the default environment to implement various Windows desktop, web, and server apps. Such a wonderful environment, though not the best fit for all. The biggest challenge it has is confining the projects to Windows only, which limits you from deploying the same application on such platforms as macOS and Linux.

Amid the many benefits a given platform may bring on board, the presence of some core limitations necessitate the change. You may find developers migrating because of such reasons like:

• To enjoy improved performance and robust scalability.
• Having more security on the new framework and adherence to strict compliance measures.
• New platforms bring in new features with added functionalities.
• There is a need to experience the new modernity in the development environment.
• The guarantee of having future-proof for the apps you develop.

In that line, you may consider migrating to .NET Core because of a number of reasons we highlight here:

• High Scalability

It is possible to run your app on a group of computers at the same time. This becomes an important aspect, especially when dealing with apps that call for more computing power or websites that are busy with many visitors. Those who have used cloud-related services such as Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services can relate to this and know how effective the apps are.

The .NET Core allows you to develop such high-power and effective apps with less struggle. You worry less about the load balancers or servers since they can be implemented quickly for you.

• Non-Blocking

Non-blocking codes are essential in making a high-speed application run smoothly without hitches and without overloading the servers or making other applications slow down their running. Such codes will ensure your application doesn’t lock up when tasked with processing data transfers and requests. Such requests are handled independently without interference from others, and resources are released whenever needed.

With the new group of APIs in .NET Core, developers are now capable of structuring and creating non-blocking applications. The same APIs can also be utilized in the older .NET versions.

• Containers & Microservices

Containers allow for the packaging and deployment of your app. The .Net Core is available to use in containers facilitating the easy packaging and deployment of applications. There is also compatibility of microservices with .NET Core. They serve as a software architecture that divides an application into separate smaller, and manageable services. However, such a step may be considered harder as compared to having one bigger program. The smaller bits are considered more manageable than one massive one.

• The Non-Deterministic Finalizers

We use finalizers to clear the memory once objects become deleted. In some instances, finalizers may fail to run smoothly or not at all. Many developers end up fearing to use them since they can’t predict their behavior. With .NET Core, the finalizers are no longer there.

The best choice so far when considering the change to .NET Core from .NET Framework is the ASP.NET development outsourcing.

What Cases Necessitate Migration from .NET Framework to .NET Core?

Many reasons exist that necessitate you migrate your application infrastructure to the amazing .NET Core. Here are some of the reasons.

• The need for performance improvements. The .NET Core has a modular structure making it easier to use certain features without the need to use the complete framework. You only use whatever is needed at that particular moment which enhances the overall performance.
• The need for a smaller footprint. This implies that your app targets devices that have lower or limited storage. The .NET Core is very good at catering for IoT apps or for devices with storage issues.
• When you want to use across multiple platforms. The .NET Core supports cross-platform development, which makes an app run efficiently in Windows, macOS, or Linux. This is simple since development teams won’t have different codes; instead, it is one targeting all three platforms.
• When targeting newer operating systems. Developers take advantage of the additional features in .NET Core libraries to develop apps that are scalable and target the newer versions of operating systems. They worry less about compatibility.
• When you need to support open-source development. The .NET Core allows other developers to contribute to the development. Thus, there is simple and fast fixing of bugs and deployment of upgrades.

How to Convert .NET Framework to .NET Core

You have made an important decision to migrate from .NET Framework to .NET Core. It is bound to improve the performance and maintenance of your applications.

You can use two approaches to achieve this: automatic and manual.

• Automatic Migration

You may decide to use the .NET Upgrade Assistant, which is a brilliant tool that carries out a seamless analysis of the .NET Framework app in existence. It then gives suggestions or recommends the conversion of the projects to the .NET Core. The tool will also track compatibility challenges during the transformation process. It will generate a report that one can use as a reference point when you start the migration to .NET Core.

• Manual Migration

There are core steps you need to follow when migrating from .NET Framework to .NET Core using the manual process.

• Carrying out an analysis of the project dependencies

Before you kickstart the conversion process, analysis is important to understand the system history and background, the architecture in use, the code itself, and identify the system dependencies. You can achieve this by using .NET Portability Analyzer from Microsoft to clearly analyze the app dependencies, project references and single out APIs that are missing in .NET Core. You can use the tool as an extension of Visual Studio or as a NuGet package.

• The conversion from ASP.NET MVC

Many people regard this as the simplest step and opt to start here. And true to the words, it is a quick and easy process enjoying the comprehensive guidance from Microsoft. The process involves the following steps:

• Creating a new ASP.NET project as you use the kind that best describes your project. You may decide to use ASP.NET Core Empty, ASP.NET Core Web App or Web API. Target Framework should be the .NET 5.
• Update the Global.asax.cs code. All custom logic not compatible with .NET 5 should be migrated to your startup class.
• All controllers and classes in existence should be moved to your new project structure.
• API controller classes should be updated and should be deriving from Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ControllerBase. Develop the ApiControllerBase class deriving from ControllerBase and furnished with the [ApiController] attribute. Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Controller supports MVC Views, making it easy for these controllers to derive from this class.
• Nuget and reference errors should be fixed. The .NET 5 has namespaces changes, so you must alter the statements in use.
• Conversion of Handlers to .NET Middleware is necessary.
• Migrate web.config setting to the new appsettings.json.
• All unwanted files and old files should be deled. Such may include app.config, Global.asax, and packages.config

• Migrating from the WebForms

.NET Core does not support WebForms. The migration or moving WebForms adopts a new name we refer to as porting from .NET Framework to .NET Core. It is a tedious process and some developers may prefer rewriting the app from scratch. In short, you need time and effort to carry out this process.

Sometimes, you can do page by page until the whole system is converted to .NET Core. Do a small section of the system, test if it was successful and go to the next one.

• Convert your project file

Use the dotnet migrate command to move the old project to Core project. The command will move project.json and other related files important to the web app. The command updates your project file without altering anything to ensure it can use the new project SDK-style format.

• Carry out a test run of the app on the .NET Core

Now you have converted the app. You should do a test run across the operating systems. If it works, voila! Everything was a success.

You should remember that migrating some apps using automation tools is impossible. For example, enterprise systems are large with huge lines of code. And that is why you need experts to help you out.

If you are planning to Migration from .NET Framework to .NET Core then consider to connect with our web development company : Aalpha information systems and get a complete consultation from our experts at no cost.