ASP.NET Core 6: Using Sessions to Create Dynamic Menus in Layout Pages

This article demonstrates how you leverage session management in ASP.NET Core 6. 1 to save and display dynamic menus on the layout page, allowing each user to have a personalized navigation experience. Session Enablement in Program.cs

Configuring the session in the Program.cs file in ASP.NET Core 6 requires adding the AddSession and UseSession methods to the pipeline. The following code will activate the session.

builder.Services.AddSession(options =>
{
    options.IdleTimeout = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(30);
    options.Cookie.HttpOnly = true;
});

builder.Services.AddSession();

2. Define the Menu Model

To show the menu's structure, you require a model. This is a simple model that includes Submodule and ModuleSubmoduleRolePermission.

public class ModuleSubmoduleRolePermission
{
    public int ModuleId { get; set; }
    public string ModuleName { get; set; }
    public string Action { get; set; }
    public bool IsChecked { get; set; }
    public List<SubmodulePermission> Submodules { get; set; }
}

public class SubmodulePermission
{
    public int? SubmoduleId { get; set; }
    public string SubmoduleName { get; set; }
    public string Controller { get; set; }
    public string subAction { get; set; }
    public string RoleName { get; set; }
    public int? RoleId { get; set; }
    public bool IsChecked { get; set; }
}

3. Store Menu Data in Session

Serialize the menu data in your controller and save it in the session. This is an example of an action method.

[HttpPost]
public async Task<ActionResult> Login(LoginModel model)
{
    if (ModelState.IsValid)
    {
        var response = await _authService.LoginAsync(model);
        if (response.Success == true) // Assuming "1" indicates success
        {
            var token = response.Token;
            Response.Cookies.Append("authToken", token, new CookieOptions
            {
                HttpOnly = true, // Prevent JavaScript access to the cookie
                Secure = true,   // Only send cookie over HTTPS
                SameSite = SameSiteMode.Strict // Prevent CSRF attacks

            });
            var handler = new JwtSecurityTokenHandler();
            var jsonToken = handler.ReadToken(token) as JwtSecurityToken;
            var userRole = jsonToken?.Claims.FirstOrDefault(c => c.Type == "role")?.Value;
            var Module = await _authService.GetModulesByRoleAsync(token,userRole);
            HttpContext.Session.SetString("Modules", JsonConvert.SerializeObject(Module));
            // If login is successful, redirect to another action (e.g., Dashboard)
            return RedirectToAction("Dashboard", "Dashboard");
        }
        else
        {
            // If login failed, show the error message from StatusDesc
            ViewBag.ErrorMessage= response.Message;
        }
    }

    // If we got this far, something failed; redisplay the form
    return View(model);
}

4. Retrieve and Display Menu in _Layout.cshtml

You can dynamically render the menu and access the session data on the layout page. To retrieve session values, use IHttpContextAccessor; to deserialize the data, use JsonConvert.

@inject IHttpContextAccessor HttpContextAccessor
@using ModelsLibrary.ADOModel
@using Newtonsoft.Json

@{
    var modulesJson = HttpContextAccessor.HttpContext?.Session.GetString("Modules");
    var UserName = HttpContextAccessor.HttpContext?.Session.GetString("username");
    List<ModuleSubmoduleRolePermission> modules = new();

    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(modulesJson))
    {
        modules = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<List<ModuleSubmoduleRolePermission>>(modulesJson);
    }
}

5. Retrieve Menu Data

<div class="sidebar-nav">
    <!--navigation-->
   <ul class="hflmenu" id="sidenav">

        @if (modules != null)
        {
            @foreach (var module in modules)
            {
                <li>
                    <a href="@(string.IsNullOrEmpty(module.Action) ? "javascript:;" : GetUrl(module.Action))"
                       class="@(module.Submodules != null ? "has-arrow" : "")">
                        <div class="parent-icon">
                            <i class="material-icons-outlined">@GetIconForModule(module.ModuleName)</i>
                        </div>
                        <div class="menu-title">@module.ModuleName</div>
                    </a>

                    @if (module.Submodules != null)
                    {
                        <ul>
                            @foreach (var submodule in module.Submodules)
                            {
                                <li>
                                    <a href="@GetUrl(submodule.subAction)">
                                        <i class="material-icons-outlined">arrow_right</i>
                                        @submodule.SubmoduleName
                                    </a>
                                </li>
                            }
                        </ul>
                    }
                </li>
            }

        }
        else
        {
            <p>No modules available</p>

        }

    </ul>
    <!--end navigation-->
</div>

Output

Conclusion
The user experience in web applications can be enhanced by using this method to dynamically create a customized navigation menu based on session data in ASP.NET Core 6. You can do this by storing menu items in the session and using them in your layout to render dynamic menus that reflect the user's role or context.

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