Microsoft has not released any new version of ASP.NET MVC for years and it is effectively obsolete and is replaced by ASP.NET Core which only runs on .NET Core.

.NET Framework and .NET Core will be merged into .NET 5 soon, which will also unify Mono, Xamarin etc. platforms, which we think is a good idea.

We are also planning to stop releasing new versions of ASP.NET MVC based Serenity templates and NuGet packages soon.

Please perform following steps in order to migrate your Existing Project into ASP.NET Core so that you may keep updating your project.

This document is still a work in progress. You might have to perform some other changes not covered here, depending on the size of your project and any custom code/libraries you have.

Please let us know in Serenity GitHub issues so we update this document accordingly.

We also offer migration services, in case you would like us to migrate your existing project handling any issues thay may arise. Please contact us at support@serenity.is to get a quote.

Existing Project

We assume your project name is MyProject, we'll refer to it as existing project from now on.

Update Serenity/StartSharp/Serene to Latest Version for existing project

Visit following document to update StartSharp/Serene and Serenity to latest versions.

https://serenity.is/docs/startsharp/updating-startsharp
This will reduce the potential of having migration problems.
After updating and testing that there are no problems, close Visual Studio for existing project

Backing up existing project

Take a full backup of your solution (ZIP etc) just in case something goes wrong.

Creating Template Project

Create a new project using StartSharp/Serene ASPNET.CORE version with the same name (MyProject) as your existing project in a different directory.
We'll use this project to transfer files / code to your existing project. Let's refer it to as template project from now on.

Renaming Files and Folders

Open your existing project folder and do following renames:
- MyProject.Web.csproj to Old.MyProject.Web.csproj.bak
- MyProject.Web.csproj.user to Old.MyProject.Web.csproj.user.bak
- Web.config to Old.Web.Debug.config.bak
- Web.Debug.config to Old.Web.Debug.config.bak
- Global.asax to Old.Global.asax.bak
- Global.asax.cs to Old.Global.asax.cs.bak
- tsconfig.json to Old.tsconfig.json
- package.json to Old.package.json
- package-lock.json to Old.package-lock.json (if exists)
- packages.config to Old.packages.config
- Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs to Properties/Old.AssemblyInfo.cs.bak
- Imports/CodeGenerationHelpers.ttinclude to Imports/Old.CodeGenerationHelpers.ttinclude.bak
- Imports/MultipleOutputHelper.ttinclude to Imports/Old.MultipleOutputHelper.ttinclude.bak
- Imports/Web.config to Imports/Old.Web.config.bak
- Imports/ClientTypes/ClientTypes.tt to Imports/ClientTypes/Old.ClientTypes.tt.bak
- Imports/ClientTypes/ClientTypes.log to Imports/ClientTypes/Old.ClientTypes.log.bak
- Imports/ServerTypings/ServerTypings.tt to Imports/ServerTypings/Old.ServerTypings.tt.bak
- Imports/ServerTypings/ServerTypings.log to Imports/ServerTypings/Old.ServerTypings.log.bak
- Imports/MVC/MVC.tt to Imports/MVC/Old.MVC.tt.bak
- Migrations/Web.config to Migrations/Old.Web.config.bak
- Modules/Web.config to Modules/Old.Web.config.bak
- Modules/Administration/User/Authentication/LdapDirectoryService.cs to Modules/Administration/User/Authentication/Old.LdapDirectoryService.cs.bak
- Modules/Common/Helpers/RequireHttpsWithConfig.cs to Modules/Common/Helpers/Old.RequireHttpsWithConfig.cs.bak
- Modules/Northwind/Order/OrderDetailSampleTask.cs to Modules/Northwind/Order/Old.OrderDetailSampleTask.cs.bak
- Views/Web.config to Views/Old.Web.config.bak
- App_Start/****.cs to App_Start/Old.****.cs.bak (for all files there)
- App_Start/ to Old.App_Start/
- Scripts/ to Old.Scripts/
- Content/ to Old.Content/
- fonts/ to Old.fonts/
- tools/ to Old.tools/
- Delete folder Modules/AdvancedSamples/Grids/LongRunningAction/
- Delete folder Modules/AdvancedSamples/Grids/VSGalleryQA/

Copying Files from Template Project

Open template project folder and copy following files/folders to existing project directory to the same folder as the ones in source:
- appsettings.json
- MyProject.Web.csproj
- sergen.json
- web.config
- tsconfig.json
- package.json
- package-lock.json (if exists)
- .config (might be hidden folder, check explorer settings)
- Initialization/ folder with all files and sub folders
- typings/ folder with all files and sub folders
- Views/_ViewImports.cshtml
- Modules/_ViewImports.cshtml
- Modules/Common/Helpers/XPagedList/ (only available in StartSharp)
Copy following files from template project only if they are also available in your project (they are just samples)
- Modules/BasicSamples/BasicSamplesHelper.cs
- Modules/Northwind/Reports/CustomerGrossSalesReport.cs
- Modules/AdvancedSamples/Forms/AdvancedSamplesPage.Forms.cs (only available in StartSharp)
- Modules/AdvancedSamples/Forms/BootstrapForm/BootstrapFormEdit.cshtml (only available in StartSharp)
- Modules/AdvancedSamples/DataTables/DataTables.cs (only available in StartSharp)
- Modules/AdvancedSamples/DataTables/BasicInit.cshtml (only available in StartSharp)
- Modules/AdvancedSamples/DataTables/ServerSide.cshtml (only available in StartSharp)
- Modules/AdvancedSamples/-MyProject-Helper.cs (only available in StartSharp)

Creating and Populating wwwroot folder

Create a wwwroot folder under existing project folder.
Create a wwwroot/Scripts/ folder under existing project folder
Copy all files and folders under Old.Scripts/ to wwwroot/Scripts/
Copy all files and folders except site/ subfolder under wwwroot/Scripts/ of template project to wwwroot/Scripts/ folder of existing project overwriting any files there.
If you copied site/ subfolder by mistake, you may restore it from Old.Scripts/ again. It's better to use Scripts/site/ folder from your existing project just in case you made some modifications to ScriptBundles.json or local text files there.
If you did modify any other script in your project under Scripts/ directory or had a newer version of a script in existing project, you may again restore them from Old.Scripts.
Create a wwwroot/Content/ folder under existing project folder
Copy all files and folders under Old.Content/ to wwwroot/Content/
Copy all files and folders except site/ subfolder under wwwroot/Content/ of template project to wwwroot/Content/ folder of existing project overwriting any files there.
If you copied site/ subfolder by mistake, you may restore it from Old.Content/ again. It's better to use Content/site/ folder from your existing project just in case you made some modifications to CssBundles.json or local text files there.
If you did modify any other css/less file in your project under Content/ directory or had a newer version of a css/less file in existing project, you may again restore them from Old.Content.
Create a wwwroot/fonts/ under existing project folder
Copy all files and folders under Old.fonts/ to wwwroot/fonts/
Copy all files and folders under wwwroot/fonts/ of template project to wwwroot/fonts/ folder of existing project overwriting any files there.
If you did modify any other font file in your project under fonts/ directory or had a newer version of afont file in existing project, you may again restore them from Old.fonts.
Copy all files and folders under Old.Scripts/typings/ to typings/
Copy all files and folders under typings/ of template project to typings/ folder of existing project overwriting any files there.
Move favicon.ico under existing project folder to wwwroot/

Open existing project in Visual Studio.

You may get lots of errors, we'll resolve them one by one.

Replacing namespaces and routes

Using Find and Replace dialog in Visual Studio (Ctrl+H) find and replace following (make sure to include double quotes and parens etc. for search/replace):

using System.Web.Mvc; with using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc; in *.cs files.
using System.Web.Security; with using Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection;
[RoutePrefix(" with [Route(" in *.cs files.
"), Route("{action}") with /[action]") in *.cs files
"), Route("{action=index}") with /[action]") in *.cs files.
Find all public ActionResult Index() in *.cs files, copy the [Route(".../[action]")] on top of their controller to the action removing the /action] part at the end, and inserting / at the start of all route attributes of any such actions that doesn't have ~/ or / at start, e.g.:

    [Route("MyModule/MyEntity/[action]")]
    public class MyEntityController : Controller
    {
        // currently this action is only accessible at address MyModule/MyEntity/Index
        // not MyModule/MyEntity unlike ASP.NET MVC, you can't set a default for action parameter
        public ActionResult Index() 
        {
          // ...
        }

        [Route("SomeOther")] // add slash to such route attributes
        // or its address will become MyModule/MyEntity/ActionWithRoute/SomeOther       
        // as route on controller is a prefix for routes on actions
        public ActionResult ActionWithRoute() 
        {
          // ...
        }

        [Route("/Test")] // no change needed for this action as it is rooted
        public ActionResult ActionWithRoute() 
        {
          // ...
        }

        // no change is needed for this action, as it can be accessed at MyModule/MyEntity/ActionNoRoute
        public ActionResult ActionNoRoute()
        {
        }
    }

should become:

    [Route("MyModule/MyEntity/[action]")]
    public class MyEntityController : Controller
    {
        [Route("/MyModule/MyEntity")]
        [Route("/MyModule/MyEntity/Index")] // add this only if you want it to be accessed as /MyModule/MyEntity/Index too
        public ActionResult Index()
        {
          // ..
        }

        [Route("/SomeOther")]
        public ActionResult AnotherAction() {
          // ...
        }

        [Route("/Test")] // no change needed for this action as it is rooted
        public ActionResult ActionWithRoute() 
        {
          // ...
        }

        // no change is needed for this action, as it can be accessed at MyModule/MyEntity/ActionNoRoute
        public ActionResult ActionNoRoute()
        {
        }
    }

In ASP.NET Core there is nothing similar to RoutePrefix attribute, so its not possible to determine Index action as default for a controller route.

If this is too complex, you may also remove route attribute from the controller, and use explicit routes for all actions:

Setting Connection Strings

Open Old.Web.config file and copy connection strings there to appsettings.json under Data.

  "Data": {
    "YourConnectionKey1": {
      "ConnectionString": "YourConnectionString1",
      "ProviderName": "YourProviderName1"
    },
    "YourConnectionKey2": {
      "ConnectionString": "YourConnectionString2",
      "ProviderName": "YourProviderName2"
    }
  },

You may remove Northwind connection in appsettings.json if your existing project doesn't have Northwind connection.

Copying AppSettings

Open Old.Web.config file and copy and extra settings or modified settings you have there to AppSettings section in appsettings.json:

  "AppSettings": {
    "YourJsonSetting1": { 
      // json copied from source replacing single quote with double quote 
    },
    "YourStringSetting2": "value copied from source"
  }

Applying your customizations to tsconfig.json

If you modified tsconfig.json file in your project before migration, make sure you apply similar changes to new tsconfig.json that we copied from template project.

Open Old.tsconfig.json file and tsconfig.json file in your existing project directory and compare them to see if you made any changes that should be transferred to the new one.

If you don't remember doing any manual changes there (which is common for Serenity apps), you may skip this step.

Applying your customizations to package.json

If you modified package.json file in your project before migration, e.g. for adding some packages, make sure you apply similar changes to new package.json that we copied from template project.

Open Old.package.json file and package.json file in your existing project directory and compare them, especially dependencies and devDependencies sections to see if you made any changes that should be transferred to the new one.

If you don't remember doing any manual changes there (which is common for Serenity apps), you may skip this step.

Adding third party package references

If you have any third party package references, other than ones that comes default with StartSharp/Serene, you will need to manually add references to them in your project.

Open Old.packages.config file and identify and extra packages that you might have added to your existing project.

For example if you have a package like below:

<package id="Markdig" version="0.17.0" targetFramework="net461" />

You'll need to first search nuget.org for MarkDig package, determine its latest version (also check if it is compatible with .NET Core/Standard)

Then, edit your project file and add a package reference like following:

<PackageReference Include="Markdig" Version="0.18.1" />

You may also use NuGet package manager to add package references but it might be slower sometimes.

Adding System.DirectoryServices for Active Directory Authentication

If you are planning to use Active Directory Authentication in .NET Core you may have to add following packages:

    <PackageReference Include="System.DirectoryServices" Version="4.7.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement" Version="4.7.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="System.DirectoryServices.Protocols" Version="4.7.0" />

If you are not going to use AD authentication, you may simply delete User/Authentication/ActiveDirectoryService.cs.

Applying Changes for Code Files with Errors

After doing changes so far, you may still have some errors in a few files like AccountPage.cs, UserRepository.cs etc. These are due to API compatibility problems between .NET Core/Framework and ASP.NET MVC/Core.

You may resolve most of these problems just by copying newer code from template project into existing project for files with compile errors. But if you made manual changes to these files, applying fixes manually could be useful.

Here we list some of manual changes that should be applied to such files if you don't want to copy them from existing project. Please note that these fixes are only valid for current version of Serene/StartSharp and future versions might require applying different changes. So, its a good idea to check most recent code in template project.

Changes in Modules/Membership/Account/AccountPage.cs

If you didn't make any modifications in AccountPage.cs you may directly copy it from template project, otherwise do following changes in AccountPage.cs:

Replace
(object)(FormsAuthentication.LoginUrl + "?returnUrl=" + Uri.EscapeDataString(returnUrl)));
with
(object)("~/Account/Login?returnUrl=" + Uri.EscapeDataString(returnUrl)));
Replace
var bytes = MachineKey.Unprotect(Convert.FromBase64String(token), "ImpersonateAs");
with
var bytes = HttpContext.RequestServices.GetDataProtector("ImpersonateAs")
.Unprotect(Convert.FromBase64String(token));
Replace
var Request.UserAgent + "|" + Request.UserHostAddress;
with
var currentClientId = Request.Headers["User-Agent"] + "|" + HttpContext.Connection.RemoteIpAddress;
Replace
Session.Abandon();
FormsAuthentication.SignOut();
with
WebSecurityHelper.LogOut();

Changes in Modules/Membership/Account/ChangePassword/AccountPage.ChangePassword.cs

If you didn't make any modifications in AccountPage.ChangePassword.cs you may directly copy it from template project, otherwise do following changes in AccountPage.ChangePassword.cs:

Replace
HttpGet, Authorize]
with
HttpGet, PageAuthorize]
Replace
var salt = Membership.GeneratePassword(5, 1);
var hash = SiteMembershipProvider.ComputeSHA512(request.NewPassword + salt);
with
string salt = null;
var hash = UserRepository.GenerateHash(request.NewPassword, ref salt);

Changes in Modules/Membership/Account/ForgotPassword/AccountPage.ForgotPassword.cs

If you didn't make any modifications in AccountPage.ForgotPassword.cs you may directly copy it from template project, otherwise do following changes in AccountPage.ForgotPassword.cs:

Replace
var token = Convert.ToBase64String(MachineKey.Protect(bytes, "ResetPassword"));
with
var token = Convert.ToBase64String(HttpContext.RequestServices
.GetDataProtector("ResetPassword").Protect(bytes));
Replace
var emailBody = TemplateHelper.RenderTemplate(
with
var emailBody = TemplateHelper.RenderViewToString(HttpContext.RequestServices,

Replace
Request.Url.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Authority) + VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute("~/");
with
Request.GetBaseUri().ToString();

Changes in Modules/Membership/Account/ResetPassword/AccountPage.ResetPassword.cs

If you didn't make any modifications in AccountPage.ResetPassword.cs you may directly copy it from template project, otherwise do following changes in AccountPage.ResetPassword.cs:

Replace
using (var ms = new MemoryStream(MachineKey.Unprotect(Convert.FromBase64String(t), "ResetPassword")))
with
var bytes = HttpContext.RequestServices
.GetDataProtector("ResetPassword").Unprotect(Convert.FromBase64String(t));
using (var ms = new MemoryStream(bytes))
Replace
using (var ms = new MemoryStream(MachineKey.Unprotect(
Convert.FromBase64String(request.Token), "ResetPassword")))
with
using (var ms = new MemoryStream(bytes))
Replace
var salt = Membership.GeneratePassword(5, 1);
var hash = SiteMembershipProvider.ComputeSHA512(request.NewPassword + salt);
with
string salt = null;
var hash = UserRepository.GenerateHash(request.NewPassword, ref salt);

If you didn't make any modifications in AccountPage.Signup.cs you may directly copy it from template project, otherwise do following changes in AccountPage.Signup.cs:

Replace
var token = Convert.ToBase64String(MachineKey.Protect(bytes, "Activate"));
with
var token = Convert.ToBase64String(HttpContext.RequestServices
.GetDataProtector("Activate").Protect(bytes));
Replace
var emailBody = TemplateHelper.RenderTemplate(
with
var emailBody = TemplateHelper.RenderViewToString(HttpContext.RequestServices,
Replace
var bytes = MachineKey.Unprotect(Convert.FromBase64String(t), "Activate");
with
var bytes = HttpContext.RequestServices
.GetDataProtector("Activate").Unprotect(Convert.FromBase64String(t));
Replace
Request.Url.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Authority) + VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute("~/");
with
Request.GetBaseUri().ToString();

Changes in Modules/Administration/User/UserListRequest.cs

Copy this file from template project or modify it to add DataProtector property:

    public class UserListRequest : ListRequest
    {
        [JsonIgnore]
        internal IDataProtector DataProtector;
        [JsonIgnore]
        internal byte[] ClientHash;
    }

Add
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection;

Changes in Modules/Administration/User/UserEndpoint.cs

Copy this file from template project or apply changes below:

Add
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection;
Replace
var clientId = Request.UserAgent + "|" + Request.UserHostAddress;
with
request.DataProtector = HttpContext.RequestServices.GetDataProtector("ImpersonateAs");
var clientId = Request.Headers["User-Agent"] + "|" + HttpContext.Connection.RemoteIpAddress;

Some of these changes might only be valid for StartSharp

Changes in Modules/Administration/User/UserRepository.cs

Copy this file from template project or apply changes below:

Add\ using Serenity.Abstractions;
Replace
isPublicDemo = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["IsPublicDemo"] == "1"
with
isPublicDemo = Dependency.Resolve<IConfigurationManager>()
.AppSetting("IsPublicDemo", typeof(string)) as string == "1";

You may also remove isPublicDemo and any code that uses it. It is only meaningful for Serenity.is Demo
Replace
salt = salt ?? Membership.GeneratePassword(5, 1);
with
salt = salt ?? Serenity.IO.TemporaryFileHelper.RandomFileCode().Substring(0, 5);
Replace
if (Request.ClientHash != null &&
with
if (Request.DataProtector != null && Request.ClientHash != null &&
Replace
entity.ImpersonationToken = GetImpersonationToken(
with
entity.ImpersonationToken = GetImpersonationToken(Request.DataProtector,
Replace
private static string GetImpersonationToken(byte[] clientHash, string username)
with
private static string GetImpersonationToken(IDataProtector dataProtector, byte[] clientHash, string username)
Replace
var token = Convert.ToBase64String(MachineKey.Protect(bytes, "ImpersonateAs"));
with
var token = Convert.ToBase64String(dataProtector.Protect(bytes));

Some of these changes might only be valid for StartSharp

Changes in Modules/Common/Reporting/ReportController.cs

Copy this file from template project or apply changes below:

Add using Serenity.Abstractions;
Add using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.ViewFeatures;
Replace
var viewData = download ? new ViewDataDictionary(data) : ViewData;
with
var viewData = download ? new ViewDataDictionary(this.ViewData) { Model = data } : ViewData;
Replace
var formsCookie = Request.Cookies[FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName];
with
var formsCookieName = ".AspNetAuth";
var formsCookie = Request.Cookies[formsCookieName];
Replace
converter.Cookies[formsCookieName] = formsCookie;
with
converter.Cookies[FormsAuthentication.FormsCookieName] = formsCookie.Value;
Replace
var languageCookie = Request.Cookies["LanguagePreference"];
if (languageCookie != null)
converter.Cookies["LanguagePreference"] = languageCookie.Value;
with
var languageCookieName = "LanguagePreference";
var languageCookie = Request.Cookies[languageCookieName];
if (languageCookie != null)
converter.Cookies[languageCookieName] = languageCookie.Value;\
Replace
Response.AddHeader("Content-Disposition", cd.ToString());
with
Response.Headers["Content-Disposition"] = "inline;filename=" + System.Net.WebUtility.UrlEncode(fileDownloadName);\
Replace
Request.Url.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Authority) + VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute("~/");
with
Request.GetBaseUri().ToString();
Replace
var html = TemplateHelper.RenderViewToString(designAttr.Design, viewData);
with
var html = TemplateHelper.RenderViewToString(HttpContext.RequestServices, designAttr.Design, viewData);

Changes in Modules/Common/File/FilePage.cs

Copy this file from template project or apply changes below:

Add using HttpContextBase = Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http.HttpContext;
Add using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
Replace
return new FilePathResult(filePath, mimeType);
with
if (!((string)Request.Headers["Accept"] ?? "").Contains("json"))
Replace
if (context.Request.Files.Count != 1)
with
if (context.Request.Form.Files.Count != 1)
Replace
HttpPostedFileBase file = context.Request.Files[0];
with
var file = context.Request.Form.Files[0];
Replace
if (processor.ProcessStream(file.InputStream, Path.GetExtension(file.FileName)))
with
if (processor.ProcessStream(file.OpenReadStream(), Path.GetExtension(file.FileName)))
Replace
using (var sw = new StreamWriter(Path.ChangeExtension(
UploadHelper.DbFilePath(temporaryFile), ".orig")))
with
using (var sw = new StreamWriter(System.IO.File.OpenWrite(
Path.ChangeExtension(UploadHelper.DbFilePath(temporaryFile), ".orig"))))
Replace
if (!(Request.Headers["Accept"] ?? "").Contains("json"))
with
if (!((string)Request.Headers["Accept"] ?? "").Contains("json"))

Changes in Modules/Common/EmailClient/EmailPage.cs

Copy this file from template project if it exists.

Changes in Modules/Common/EmailClient/EmailEndpoint.cs

Copy this file from template project if it exists.

Changes in Administration/Translation/TranslationRepository.cs

Copy this file from template project or apply changes below:

Replace
return HostingEnvironment.MapPath("~/App_Data/texts/") + "user.texts." + (languageID.TrimToNull() ?? "invariant") + ".json";
with
return Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(HostingEnvironment.MapPath("~/")),
"App_Data/texts/".Replace('/', Path.DirectorySeparatorChar)) + "user.texts." + (languageID.TrimToNull() ?? "invariant") + ".json";
Remove or comment two lines below: Dependency.Resolve<IDependencyRegistrar>().RegisterInstance<ILocalTextRegistry>(new LocalTextRegistry());
CommonInitialization.InitializeLocalTexts();

Changes in Modules/Common/Navigation/NavigationModel.cs

Copy this file from template project or apply changes below:

Add
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http.Extensions;
Replace
if (HttpContext.Current != null)
with
var httpContext = Dependency.Resolve<IHttpContextAccessor>().HttpContext;
if (httpContext != null)
Replace
var requestUrl = HttpContext.Current.Request.Url;
with
var requestUrl = httpContext.Request.GetDisplayUrl();
Replace
String.Compare(requestUrl.AbsolutePath, HostingEnvironment.ApplicationVirtualPath,
, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) == 0)
with
String.Compare(httpContext.Request.Path,
HostingEnvironment.ApplicationVirtualPath, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) == 0)

Changes in Modules/Common/Reporting/ExcelReportGenerator.cs

Copy this file from template project then manually apply your changes if any.

Changes in Modules/Common/Reporting/ReportPage.cshtml

Copy this file from template project then manually apply your changes if any.

Changes in Views/Shared/LeftNavigation.cshtml

Copy this file from template project then manually apply your changes if any.

Changes in Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml

Replace all occurences of
@UICulture
with
@System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.Name
Replace
VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute("~/upload/") + user.UserImage
with
System.Web.VirtualPathUtility.ToAbsolute("~/upload/") + user.UserImage
Replace
Func<string, IHtmlString> json = x => new HtmlString(Serenity.JSON.Stringify(x));
with
Func<string, HtmlString> json = x => new HtmlString(Serenity.JSON.Stringify(x));
Replace
themeCookie = Request.Cookies["...Theme"]...
var theme = ...
with
var themeCookie = Context.Request.Cookies["...Theme"];
var theme = themeCookie != null && !themeCookie.IsEmptyOrNull() ? themeCookie : "azure-light";
Replace var hideNav = Request["hideNav"] == "1"; with
var hideNav = (string)Context.Request.Query["hideNav"] == "1";
Replace
@{Html.RenderPartial(MVC.Views.Shared._LayoutHead);}
with
<partial name="@MVC.Views.Shared._LayoutHead" />
Replace
@{Html.RenderPartial(MVC.Views.Shared.LeftNavigation, new MyProject.Navigation.NavigationModel()); } with
<partial name="@MVC.Views.Shared.LeftNavigation" model="new MyProject.Navigation.NavigationModel()" />

Changes in Views/Shared/_LayoutNoNavigation.cshtml

Replace all occurences of @UICulture
with
@System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.Name

Changes in Modules/Membership/Account/AccountLogin.chtml

Replace
@if (SiteInitialization.SkippedMigrations)
with
@if (DataMigrations.SkippedMigrations)
Replace
@{Html.RenderPartial(MVC.Views.Shared._LayoutHead);}
with
<partial name="@MVC.Views.Shared._LayoutHead" />

Applying Your Manual Changes to Startup.cs from SiteInitialization.cs

If you made any changes in SiteInitialization.cs, you will have to apply them to Startup.cs.
This might include registering background tasks, setting authorization services like permission service etc.
This part is a bit tedious work as there are lots of differences between .NET Core and MVC registration process.
Please take existing code in Startup.cs as a sample, and try to identify how you can apply your manual changes there.
If stuck, please ask in Serenity GitHub repository for community help and we'll add useful solutions to this document.

Migrating to ASP.NET Core

Existing Project

Update Serenity/StartSharp/Serene to Latest Version for existing project

Backing up existing project

Creating Template Project

Renaming Files and Folders

Copying Files from Template Project

Creating and Populating wwwroot folder

Open existing project in Visual Studio.

Replacing namespaces and routes

Setting Connection Strings

Copying AppSettings

Applying your customizations to tsconfig.json

Applying your customizations to package.json

Adding third party package references

Adding System.DirectoryServices for Active Directory Authentication

Applying Changes for Code Files with Errors

Changes in Modules/Membership/Account/AccountPage.cs

Changes in Modules/Membership/Account/ChangePassword/AccountPage.ChangePassword.cs

Changes in Modules/Membership/Account/ForgotPassword/AccountPage.ForgotPassword.cs

Changes in Modules/Membership/Account/ResetPassword/AccountPage.ResetPassword.cs

Changes in Modules/Membership/Account/SignUp/AccountPage.Signup.cs

Changes in Modules/Administration/User/UserListRequest.cs

Changes in Modules/Administration/User/UserEndpoint.cs

Changes in Modules/Administration/User/UserRepository.cs

Changes in Modules/Common/Reporting/ReportController.cs

Changes in Modules/Common/File/FilePage.cs

Changes in Modules/Common/EmailClient/EmailPage.cs

Changes in Modules/Common/EmailClient/EmailEndpoint.cs

Changes in Administration/Translation/TranslationRepository.cs

Changes in Modules/Common/Navigation/NavigationModel.cs

Changes in Modules/Common/Reporting/ExcelReportGenerator.cs

Changes in Modules/Common/Reporting/ReportPage.cshtml

Changes in Views/Shared/LeftNavigation.cshtml

Changes in Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml

Changes in Views/Shared/_LayoutNoNavigation.cshtml

Changes in Modules/Membership/Account/AccountLogin.chtml

Applying Your Manual Changes to Startup.cs from SiteInitialization.cs