BUILDING 3D Tic-Tac-Toe with Blazor

Building 3D Tic-Tac-Toe with Blazor

1. A Practical Guide to .NET 10, C# 14, and Interactive Web Development

Copyright

Author’s Note

Book Introduction

1. 🎯 What Makes This Book Different

🧰 Tools of the Trade: Setting Up Your .NET 10 Workshop

1. ✅ What You’ll Need
2. 🧱 Step-by-Step Installation
3. 🧯 Cross-Platform Development
4. 📦 Companion Repository
5. ✅ Pre-Flight Checklist

Chapter 1: The Engine

1. 1.1 Thinking in Cubes (The .NET 10 Perspective)
2. 1.2 Setting the Scene (The Modern Way)
3. 1.3 Modern Validation and Error Handling
4. 1.4 GetPlayer Implementation
5. 1.5 Additional Features in GameBoard
6. 1.6 Modern Testing
7. 📋 What We’ve Modernized
8. 📋 Recap: Chapter 1 Goals Achieved
9. 🔜 Coming Up Next: Chapter 2 — Enhanced Win Detection

Chapter 2: The Rules of Engagement

1. 2.1 The Concept: 26 Directions
2. 2.2 Generating the Vectors
3. 2.3 The Scanning Algorithm
4. 2.4 The Draw Condition
5. 2.5 Integrating with MakeMove
6. 2.6 Checkpoint: Verifying Victory
7. 🧭 Recap: What We Built in Chapter 2
8. 📦 Up Next: Chapter 3 — The Headless Game

Chapter 3: The Headless Game

1. 3.1 Visualizing the Invisible
2. 3.2 Design Decision: Slicing the Cube
3. 3.3 The Input Parser
4. 3.4 The Game Loop
5. 3.5 Game Result Display
6. 3.6 Testing Edge Cases
7. 🧭 Recap: What We Built in Chapter 3
8. 📦 Up Next: Chapter 4 — The View from the Glass

Chapter 4: The View from the Glass

1. 4.1 The Architecture Decision
2. 4.2 What is MVVM in Blazor?
3. 4.3 The Grid System
4. 4.4 The Reusable Component — BoardDisplay.razor
5. 4.5 The Page Controller — Play.razor
6. 4.6 Responsive Design Considerations
7. 🧭 Recap: What We Built in Chapter 4
8. 📦 Up Next: Chapter 5 — Managing the State

Chapter 5: Managing the State

1. 5.1 The Great Refresh Disaster
2. 5.2 Why This Happens (Blazor Server 101)
3. 5.3 Creating the Game Session Service
4. 5.4 Registering the Service in Program.cs
5. 5.5 Refactoring the UI to Use the Service
6. 5.6 Testing the New Architecture
7. 5.7 Understanding SignalR Connection Lifecycle
8. 5.8 Extending the Service for Future Features
9. 🧭 Recap: What We Built in Chapter 5
10. 📦 Up Next: Chapter 6 — Scaling Up

Chapter 6: Scaling Up (Dynamic UI)

1. 6.1 Feature Creep, in Three Dimensions
2. 6.2 What Should “Dynamic” Actually Mean?
3. 6.3 Adding the Size Selector UI
4. 6.4 Ensuring CSS Adapts Dynamically
5. 6.5 Responsive Adjustments for Larger Boards
6. 6.6 Dynamic Cell Sizing with Switch Expression
7. 6.7 Testing the Dynamic Layout
8. 6.8 Edge Case: What If Someone Tries to Resize Mid-Game?
9. 6.9 Performance Considerations
10. 6.10 Future Extensibility
11. 📋 Final Thoughts from the Devs:
12. 📚 Recap: What We Built in Chapter 6
13. 🚀 Up Next: Chapter 7 — Freezing Time

Chapter 7: Freezing Time (Serialization)

1. 7.1 Memory Is a Feature
2. 7.2 What Are We Actually Storing?
3. 7.3 Defining the Move Record
4. 7.4 Recording Moves in the Engine
5. 7.5 AOT-Compatible Serialization
6. 7.6 Integrating with GameSession
7. 7.7 Real-World Applications
8. 📚 Recap: What We Built in Chapter 7
9. 🚀 Up Next: Chapter 8 — The Database Connection

Chapter 8: The Database Connection

1. 8.1 The Words No Dev Wants to Hear
2. 8.2 Why Session State Is Not Enough
3. 8.3 Completing the Save/Load Loop
4. 8.4 Choosing the Smallest Useful Database
5. 8.5 Modeling a Saved Game
6. 8.6 Defining the EF Core Context
7. 8.7 Building the Persistence Service
8. 8.8 Adding Save/Load to Play.razor
9. 8.9 Why Player Name Instead of Full Accounts?
10. 8.10 SQL Server Later
11. 8.11 What We Completed
12. Recap
13. Up Next: Chapter 9 - The Ghost in the Machine

Chapter 9: The Ghost in the Machine (AI)

1. 9.1 When No One Wants to Play With You
2. 9.2 The AI Strategy
3. 9.3 Difficulty Levels Enum
4. 9.4 The AI Engine with Pattern Matching
5. 9.5 Updating GameSession for AI Play
6. 9.6 Adding Single-Player Mode Toggle and Difficulty Selection
7. 9.7 Testing the AI
8. 📚 Recap: What We Built in Chapter 9
9. 🚀 Up Next: Chapter 10 — The View from the Cube

Chapter 10: The View from the Cube (Play3D)

1. 10.1 Day 16 at DimenSoft
2. 10.2 What We Are Building
3. 10.3 Key Features of Play3D
4. 10.4 The Play3D Page Structure
5. 10.5 Move Confirmation System
6. 10.6 AI Integration in 3D Mode
7. 10.7 Board Size Management
8. 10.8 Camera Controls
9. 10.9 Auto-Rotation and Speed Control
10. 10.10 Slice/Isolate Layer Controls
11. 10.11 Syncing the 3D Board
12. 10.12 3D Click Handling
13. 10.13 JavaScript Initialization and Cleanup
14. 10.14 New Game Confirmation
15. 10.15 .NET 10 Blazor Server Features Used
16. 10.16 Architecture Principles
17. 10.17 Build and Run
18. 📚 Recap: What We Built in Chapter 10
19. 🚀 Closing Thoughts
20. 🎯 Complete Project Summary

Appendix A: C# and .NET 10 Platform Features

1. 🧠 Modern C# Features We’ll Use
2. 🚀 .NET 10 Runtime Improvements
3. 🎯 Blazor in .NET 10
4. 🆚 What’s New Since .NET 8 LTS

Appendix B: Professional Development Practices

1. 🐳 Container-First Development
2. 🔬 Modern Development Workflow
3. 🎓 Learning Resources for .NET 10

About the Author

Companion Resources