# Introduction
Starcounter 3.0.0 Alpha 20190701, codenamed Nova, is available for public preview.
Please make sure to read our [End User License Agreement for Starcounter Software](https://starcounter.com/wp-content/themes/starcounter-custom/assets/docs/Starcounter_EULA.pdf).
## Starcounter 3.0 main focus
* Support Linux & Windows operating systems.
* Provide seamless integration with standard .NET Core applications:
* .NET Core Console applications.
* .NET Core Web applications with [Kestrel web server](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/fundamentals/servers/kestrel).
* .NET Core Desktop applications.
* Support development experience with standard `dotnet` CLI tooling.
## Requirements
* [Ubuntu 18.04.02 x64](https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop) or [Windows 10 Pro x64 Build 1903](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10).
* [Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10) is also supported.
* [.NET Core 3.0.100-preview6-012264 SDK](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-core/3.0). Make sure to select the SDK download for your platform, and not the runtime download.
* Enough RAM to load database of targeted size.
* It's recommended to have at least two CPU cores.
**Note**: Due to the preview state of this release we cannot provide any guarantees, but we monitor our [GitHub: Starcounter/Home](https://github.com/Starcounter/Home/issues) issue tracker and stand ready to assist with any potential issues.
## Installation
**Note**: This section assumes that you have required operating system and .NET Core `3.0.100-preview6-012264` SDK installed.
### Binaries
* Create a folder for Starcounter binaries, for example `Starcounter.3.0.0-alpha-20190701`.
* Download [`Starcounter.3.0.0-alpha-20190701.zip`](https://starcounter.io/Starcounter/Starcounter.3.0.0-alpha-20190701.zip) into the folder.
* Unzip downloaded archive into the folder.
#### Ubuntu 18.04
**Install prerequisites.**
```
sudo apt-get install wget unzip
sudo apt-get install libaio1
```
Starcounter relies on a specific version of [SWI-Prolog](https://wwu-pi.github.io/tutorials/lectures/lsp/010_install_swi_prolog.html).
```
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:swi-prolog/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install swi-prolog-nox=7.\*
```
**Download and unpack Starcounter binaries.**
```
cd $HOME
mkdir Starcounter.3.0.0-alpha-20190701
cd Starcounter.3.0.0-alpha-20190701
wget https://starcounter.io/Starcounter/Starcounter.3.0.0-alpha-20190701.zip
unzip Starcounter.3.0.0-alpha-20190701.zip
```
### Application
**Create an application folder and initialize a .NET Core console application.**
```
mkdir StarcounterConsoleSample
cd StarcounterConsoleSample
dotnet new console
```
All the following commands shall be executed from the `StarcounterConsoleSample` folder.
**Setup NuGet to consume Starcounter packages feeds.**
Create `nuget.config` file and add required package sources:
* `local`, points to the Starcounter binaries folder.
* `Starcounter`, points to `https://www.myget.org/F/starcounter/api/v2`.
**NuGet tips**:
* Default `NuGet.config` file can be created with [`dotnet new nugetconfig`](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/tools/dotnet-new) command.
* For more information on how to work with NuGet configurations, see [this post](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/nuget/consume-packages/configuring-nuget-behavior) by Microsoft.
**End file should look similar to this**:
```markup
```
**Visual Studio Setup**:
Visual Studio requires manual NuGet package sources configuration. For this go to the `Tools → Options → NuGet Package Manager → Package Sources` menu then add `local` and `Starcounter` feeds.
**Note**: Replace the `[Starcounter.3.0.0-alpha-20190701]` value with actual path to the folder with unzipped Starcounter binaries.
**Add Starcounter.Nova.App package reference**
```
dotnet add package Starcounter.Nova.App --version 3.0.0-*
```
**Add minimal Starcounter database access**
Replace content of the `Program.cs` file with the following:
```csharp
using System;
using System.Linq;
using Starcounter.Nova;
using Starcounter.Nova.Hosting;
namespace StarcounterConsoleSample
{
[Database]
public abstract class Person
{
public abstract string Name { get; set; }
}
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
using (var host = new AppHostBuilder().Build())
{
host.Start();
string name = Db.Transact(() =>
{
var p = Db.SQL
(
"SELECT p FROM StarcounterConsoleSample.Person p WHERE Name = ?",
"Jane"
).FirstOrDefault();
if (p == null)
{
p = Db.Insert();
p.Name = "Jane";
}
return p.Name;
});
Console.WriteLine(name);
}
}
}
}
```
**For ASP.NET Core application**:
Update `Startup.cs` class with the following:
```csharp
using Starcounter.Nova.Hosting;
using Starcounter.Nova.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
namespace StarcounterMvcSample
{
public class Startup
{
/* Some other code here. */
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
/* Some other service declarations here. */
services.AddStarcounter(new AppHostBuilder());
}
/* Some other code here. */
}
}
```
**Note**: Starcounter works with Kestrel Web Server only. IIS and IIS Express are not yet supported.
**Install Starcounter dotnet CLI tool and create database**
```
dotnet new tool-manifest
dotnet tool install Starcounter.Star.Tool --version 3.0.0-*
dotnet star new
```
Now there will be a Starcounter database located in the `StarcounterConsoleSample/.stardata` folder.
**Start database and application**
Start the database.
```
dotnet star start
```
Run the application.
```
dotnet run
```
## Running with [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/Download)
* Open Visual Studio Code in the application folder (from command line: `code ./`).
* Restore dependencies Visual Studio Code asks for.
* Click `Ctrl + F5` to start the application.
Everything should run out of the box.
## Running with [Visual Studio 2019](https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/)
* Update Visual Studio 2019 to the latest version using Visual Studio Installer.
* We checked version 16.1.5 (as of July 3 2019).
* Open `Tools → Options` and enter "preview" in the search box.
* In `Environment → Preview Features` check `Use previews of the .NET Core SDK` and restart Visual Studio.
* Open `StarcounterConsoleSample.csproj` from Visual Studio.
* Set the debug path in `Project properties → Debug → Working directory` to the path of the project. E.g. `C:\StarcounterSamples\StarcounterConsoleSample`.
* Click `Ctrl + F5` to start the application.
It is also possible to set working directory in the `.csproj` file by adding the following:
```markup
$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)
```
## Extra information
*Before asking questions or reporting issues, please read these few lines, and maybe you will find an answer for your question.*
* Currently there is no database tooling available except the bare minimum of `dotnet star new` and `dotnet star start` commands.
* Currently it is only possible to start the database manually.
* Currently it is only possible to store the database files in the default `.stardata` folder.
* Currently it is not supported to have a dot (`.`) in the application name. For example app may use `CompanyApplication` as it's name, but `Company.Application` is not supported.
* Starting from Starcounter 3.0.0 beta, all required packages will be uploaded to one of the popular providers, such as [NuGet.org](https://www.nuget.org/), [MyGet.org](https://www.myget.org/) or [GitHub Package Registry](https://github.com/features/package-registry).
* Base namespace will be changed from `Starcounter.Nova` to just `Starcounter`.
* It is recommended to define all database classes and properties as `abstract` to reduce memory footprint when compared to `virtual`. Support for `virtual` properties might be removed in the future.
* Packing with [`dotnet pack`](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/tools/dotnet-pack) and publishing with [`dotnet publish`](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/tools/dotnet-publish) are not yet implemented for applications which use Starcounter database.