Fake Survey Generator - Project Foundation

Project Overview

Fake Survey Generator is a modern distributed application built with .NET 10.0 and Aspire orchestration. It demonstrates a microservice architecture with a React frontend, multiple backend services, and enterprise infrastructure patterns (Dapr, SQL Server, Redis, Azure deployment).

Architecture Overview

Frontend

• Framework: React 19 + Vite + TypeScript

• Location: src/client/ui/

• Authentication: Auth0

• Styling: Tailwind CSS 4.1

• Build: npm run build (TypeScript checking + Vite bundling)

• Dev Server: Runs on port 3000 (managed by Aspire)

Backend Services

Api Service (FakeSurveyGenerator.Api)

• Main REST API for survey operations (create, retrieve, list surveys)

• User management endpoints

• Admin endpoints (health checks, version info, secret retrieval)

• Connected to: SQL Server database, Redis cache

• Health checks: /health/live and /health/ready

• Dapr sidecar enabled for distributed capabilities

Worker Service (FakeSurveyGenerator.Worker)

• Background job processing service

• Connected to: SQL Server database, Redis cache

• Runs alongside API service

Supporting Services

SQL Server (sql-server)

• Persistent data volume

• Database: "database"

• Both API and Worker depend on it

Redis Cache (cache)

• Cache layer for performance

• RedisInsight UI enabled (port 6379)

• Both API and Worker depend on it

Dapr Sidecar (on Api service)

• Components path: ../../../dapr/components

• Local file-based secret store for development

• Configurable for Azure Key Vault in production

Aspire Orchestration

Resource Dependencies (from AppHost.cs)

sql-server (base) ↓ cache (base) ↓ api (depends on sql-server + cache) ↓ worker (depends on sql-server + cache) ↓ ui (depends on api)

All resources use WaitFor() to ensure dependency chain completion before starting.

Running Aspire

aspire run

This starts all resources in order and makes them available via:

• Aspire Dashboard: http://localhost:19888

• SQL Server: localhost:1433

• Redis: localhost:6379

• API: http://localhost:17623 (internal), exposed via proxy

• UI: https://localhost:3000

• RedisInsight: http://localhost:8001

Project Structure

Backend Solution

• FakeSurveyGenerator.Api - Main REST API service

• FakeSurveyGenerator.Worker - Background worker service

• FakeSurveyGenerator.Application - Business logic & application services

• FakeSurveyGenerator.ServiceDefaults - Aspire service configuration defaults

• FakeSurveyGenerator.Proxy - Proxy service for UI/API communication

• FakeSurveyGenerator.AppHost - Aspire orchestration & resource definitions

Test Projects

FakeSurveyGenerator.Application.Tests - Unit tests for business logic (TUnit)

• Uses: AutoFixture, NSubstitute (mocking), InMemory EF Core

FakeSurveyGenerator.Api.Tests.Integration - Integration tests (TUnit)

• Uses: Testcontainers (real SQL Server & Redis), Respawn (DB cleanup), AutoFixture

FakeSurveyGenerator.Acceptance.Tests - E2E tests (TUnit + Playwright)

• Uses: Aspire Hosting Testing library, Playwright for .NET, TUnit.Playwright

TestTests - Utility test project

All tests use TrxReport for result reporting and CodeCoverage analysis.

Build System

.NET Backend

• Target Framework: net10.0

• Package Management: Centralized in Directory.Packages.props

• Version Management: Nerdbank.GitVersioning

• Key Dependencies:

• Aspire 13.1.0 (hosting, testing)

• EF Core 10.0

• AutoMapper

• MediatR

• FluentValidation

Frontend (Node.js)

• Build Tool: Vite

• Scripts:

• npm run dev

• Dev server with hot reload

• npm run build

• Production build (TypeScript check + Vite bundle)

• npm run lint

• Biome formatter

• Key Dependencies: React 19, Auth0 SDK, FontAwesome, Tailwind CSS 4.1

Build Commands

Backend (from repository root)

Build all backend projects

dotnet build

Run all tests with coverage

dotnet test

Run specific test project

dotnet test src/server/FakeSurveyGenerator.Application.Tests/ dotnet test src/server/FakeSurveyGenerator.Api.Tests.Integration/

Frontend (from src/client/ui/)

Install dependencies

npm install

Development server

npm run dev

Production build

npm run build

Lint/format

npm run lint

Dapr Integration

Development Setup

• Secret Store: Local file-based (dapr/components/local-file.yml )

• Configuration: dapr/components/secrets.json

• Sidecar: Auto-managed by Aspire on API service

Production Setup

• Secret Store: Azure Key Vault

• Configuration: Via bicep deployments in infra/ folder

Key Patterns & Conventions

API Endpoints

• User Registration: POST /api/users/register (Auth0 token required)

• Survey Creation: POST /api/surveys (creates survey for current user)

• Survey Retrieval: GET /api/surveys/{id} (retrieve specific survey)

• Survey List: GET /api/surveys (list all surveys for current user)

• Health Checks: GET /health/live , GET /health/ready

Database & ORM

• ORM: Entity Framework Core 10.0 (code-first)

• Migrations: Managed via EF Core tooling

• Strategy: Application layer abstracts data access via repositories

Testing Patterns

• Unit Tests: Async/await patterns, arrange-act-assert structure

• Integration Tests: Real database/cache via Testcontainers, Respawn for cleanup

• Acceptance Tests: Aspire orchestration + Playwright for UI interaction

Common Development Tasks

Adding a New API Endpoint

• Create DTO/Command in Application layer

• Create handler in Application layer

• Register in Application DI setup

• Create controller action in Api project

• Add unit tests in Application.Tests

• Add integration tests in Api.Tests.Integration

Modifying Frontend Component

• Update React component in src/client/ui/src/

• Run npm run build to validate TypeScript

• Add UI assertions to E2E skill validation

Adding Feature End-to-End

• Implement backend logic (Application + Api layers)

• Update frontend (React component)

• Create unit tests

• Create integration tests

• Create acceptance test (Playwright)

• Validate with aspire run

• UI inspection