Web Technology Development Basic Workshop

Instructor: Suriya Sonphu

Install Visual Studio for Building APIs

A Windows-only setup guide for the purple Visual Studio IDE. Complete this guide before Backend Lab Step 0 if you prefer Visual Studio over VS Code for creating and running a .NET API.

PlatformWindows
IDEVisual Studio
WorkloadASP.NET and web development
ScopeInstall and verify only
BEFORE STEP 0

Choose the purple Visual Studio IDE

Visual Studio is Microsoft's full Windows IDE. Its purple icon is different from the blue Visual Studio Code editor used in the main lab. This page is only for students who choose the purple Visual Studio application on Windows.

Download Visual Studio Community from the official Visual Studio downloads page. Community is suitable for individual learning and classroom work.

Do not install Visual Studio Code for this path. VS Code remains a valid option in the Backend Lab; it is simply a different tool.
INSTALL

Select the API development workload

  1. Run the Visual Studio installer you downloaded.
  2. On the Workloads screen, find Web & Cloud.
  3. Check ASP.NET and web development.
  4. Select Install and wait for the installer to finish.

This workload installs the templates and tooling used to create ASP.NET Core web APIs. You do not need mobile, game, desktop, or data-science workloads for this API-only setup.

Checkpoint: the installer shows ASP.NET and web development as selected before you start installation.
FIRST LAUNCH

Open Visual Studio

Start Visual Studio from the Windows Start menu after installation. Signing in with a Microsoft account is optional for this workshop; choose the option to continue without an account if it is shown.

On the start window, choose Create a new project. This only confirms that the IDE is ready; do not create the Todo project yet. Continue to the Backend Lab for its project steps.

VERIFY

Confirm that API templates are available

  1. In the project-template search box, type web api.
  2. Confirm that an ASP.NET Core Web API template appears.
  3. Select Cancel to return to the start window.

If the template does not appear, open Visual Studio Installer, choose Modify for your installation, select ASP.NET and web development, then apply the change.

Checkpoint: you can find the ASP.NET Core Web API template by searching for web api.
READY

Return to Backend Lab Step 0

Visual Studio is now installed and configured for API work. Return to Backend Lab Step 0 and continue with the workshop's existing instructions. This guide deliberately does not replace or change any later lab step.