OpenTable Clone

A simplified clone of OpenTable built with ASP.NET Core MVC and SQLite. This project demonstrates a restaurant listing and reservation system with an admin area for managing restaurants and reservations.

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Table of contents

• Features
• Tech stack
• Getting started
• Configuration
• Database
• Project structure
• Running locally
• Tests
• Contributing
• License

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Features

• Restaurant listing and detail pages
• Reservation creation (date/time, party size)
• Admin area for managing restaurants and reservations
• Persistent storage using SQLite (included DB file)
• Razor Views (server-side rendered UI)
• Basic validation and server-side checks
• Seed/sample data included in SQLite DB (if present)

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Tech stack

• .NET (ASP.NET Core MVC)
• C#
• Razor views (HTML/CSS)
• SQLite (file OpenTableAppDatabase.sqlite included in repo)
• Optional: client-side JS for progressive UI improvements

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Getting started

Prerequisites

• .NET 7 SDK (or .NET 6) — use the version referenced in OpenTable.csproj if different.
• A command-line terminal (Windows PowerShell / macOS / Linux).
• Optional: Visual Studio / VS Code for development and debugging.

Clone

git clone https://github.com/im-sg/OpenTable_Clone.git
cd OpenTable_Clone

Restore & run

dotnet restore
dotnet run

By default the app will run on https://localhost:5001 or http://localhost:5000. Check the console output after dotnet run for the exact URL.

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Configuration

Check appsettings.json for configuration options (logging, connection strings, etc.). If the repository includes an SQLite file (OpenTableAppDatabase.sqlite) the project likely uses a relative connection string like:

"ConnectionStrings": {
  "DefaultConnection": "Data Source=OpenTableAppDatabase.sqlite"
}

If you want to use your own database, update appsettings.json or the DB context registration in Program.cs.

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Database

• This project ships (based on the repo) with a file OpenTableAppDatabase.sqlite.
• If migrations are used, run (if EF Core is configured):

dotnet ef database update

(Install the dotnet-ef tool and EF Core packages if needed.)

If the project seeds data on first run, the seed routine will populate restaurants and sample reservations automatically.

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Project structure (high level)

/Areas/Admin/        - Admin controllers and views
/Controllers/        - Main MVC controllers (Home, Restaurants, Reservations, etc.)
/Models/             - Domain models (Restaurant, Reservation, User, etc.)
/Views/              - Razor views for the public-facing site
/wwwroot/            - Static files (css, js, images)
Program.cs           - App startup (DI, middlewares, routing)
appsettings.json     - App configuration & connection strings
OpenTableAppDatabase.sqlite - SQLite DB (if included)

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Common tasks

Add a new restaurant (developer)

1. Add a new model property in Models/Restaurant.cs (if needed).
2. Update the EF Core DbContext and create a migration:

   dotnet ef migrations add AddNewFieldToRestaurant
   dotnet ef database update

3. Update the admin view to show/edit the new field.

Run in development with hot reload

dotnet watch run

Debug in Visual Studio / VS Code

• Open the .sln file (OpenTable.sln) in Visual Studio or the folder in VS Code and use the debugger.

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Tests

If there are no test projects included, consider adding an xUnit/NUnit project for:

• Unit tests for services and controllers
• Integration tests for key flows (reservation CRUD)

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Contributing

1. Fork the repo
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feat/awesome
3. Make your changes and commit: git commit -m "Add X"
4. Push and open a Pull Request

Please include descriptive commit messages and migration files if you modify the DB schema.

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Troubleshooting

• Port in use: the app will fail to start. Kill the process using that port or change the port in launchSettings.json (or via command-line environment variables).
• SQLite locked: ensure no other process (e.g., DB browser) has a lock on the file. Close other tools, or copy the DB to a new file for testing.

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License

Add your license file (e.g., LICENSE — MIT recommended if you want permissive open-source licensing).

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Contact / Maintainer

Author: im-sg
Project link: https://github.com/im-sg/OpenTable_Clone

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Short Description (for GitHub "About" section)

OpenTable clone — an ASP.NET Core MVC restaurant listing and reservation system backed by SQLite. Includes admin area and sample database.

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Longer Project Summary (for portfolio / README top)

OpenTable Clone is a small, educational ASP.NET Core MVC application that mimics the core features of a reservation platform. Built with C#, Razor views, and SQLite, the project demonstrates routing and controller patterns, CRUD operations for restaurants and reservations, and a lightweight admin area for content management. It’s useful as a learning project for developers who want to explore building server-rendered web apps with .NET and practice working with EF Core and SQLite.