> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://v0.x-docs.novu.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# .NET

> Learn how to use Novu to quickly send multi-channel (SMS, Email, Chat, Push) notifications with .NET.

Learn how to use Novu to quickly send multi-channel (SMS, Email, Chat, Push) notifications from a .NET app.

## Requirements

To follow the steps in this quickstart, you'll need:

* A Novu account. [Sign up for free](http://web.novu.co/?utm_campaign=docs-gs-quick-dotnet) if you don’t have one yet.
* A working .NET development environment with a .NET version of .NET Core 2.0+ and .NET Framework of 4.6.1+.

You can also [view the completed code](https://github.com/novuhq/novu-dotnet-quickstart) of this quick start in a GitHub repo.

## Install Novu .NET SDK

The [.NET SDK](https://github.com/novuhq/novu-dotnet) provides a fluent and expressive interface for interacting with Novu's API and managing notifications.

Now install the Novu .NET SDK by running the following command in your terminal:

```bash theme={null}
dotnet add package Novu

```

Otherwise, modify your .csproj file add the following to it:

```xml theme={null}
<ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Novu" Version="*" />
</ItemGroup>

```

Next, install the SDK by running the following `dotnet` command:

```bash theme={null}
dotnet restore

```

## Initialize & Configure the Novu SDK

Create a new file, `Program.cs` in your application and add the following code to it:

Program.cs:

```csharp theme={null}
using Novu.DTO;
using Novu.DTO.Topics;
using Novu.Models;
using Novu;

 var novuConfiguration = new NovuClientConfiguration
{
    ApiKey = "<NOVU_API_KEY>",
};

var novu = new NovuClient(novuConfiguration);
```

Replace the `ApiKey`’s value with the authentic key from the **API Key** section of your [Novu Dashboard](https://web.novu.co/settings?utm_campaign=docs-quick-dotnet) and be sure to use your specific Novu instance URL.

<Note>
  Please do not hardcode your credentials in a file in production. Use environment variables instead.
</Note>

## Set Up A Channel Provider

A channel provider is a service that provides one or more notification functionality such as sending an email, SMS, push notification etc. Our [integration store](https://web.novu.co/integrations?utm_campaign=docs-quick-dotnet) includes four channels: Email, SMS, Chat, and Push. These channels have multiple providers associated with them.

| Channel | Providers                                                           |
| ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Email   | MailGun, Mandrill, MailJet, Amazon SES, Sendgrid, Postmark, Netcore |
| SMS     | Twilio, Amazon SNS, Plivo, SMS, SMSCentral, Kannel, Infobip, Termii |
| Chat    | Mattermost, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord                         |
| Push    | FCM, APNS, Expo                                                     |

Only one provider can be **active** per **channel**. Connect any of your favourite providers to get started. The email channel comes with Novu's email provider, which is active by default and includes 300 credits.

## Create A Workflow

A workflow is a blueprint for the notifications that will be sent. It holds the entire flow of messages sent to the subscriber. This is where all the different channels are tied together under a single entity.

The workflow includes the following:

* Workflow name and Identifier
* Channel-tailored content:

| Channel<br /><br /> | Content Style<br /><br /> | Custom Variables<br />`{{handlebars}}` format |
| ------------------- | ------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------: |
| **Email**           | HTML                      |                       ✅                       |
|                     | Visual Editor             |                       ✅                       |
| **SMS**             | Text                      |                       ✅                       |
| **Chat**            | Text                      |                       ✅                       |
| **In-App**          | Text                      |                       ✅                       |
| **Push**            | Text                      |                       ✅                       |

<Note>
  Proper authorization needs to be set for the Chat channel for subscribers.
</Note>

Please proceed to create a workflow.

1. Click **Workflows** on the left sidebar of your Novu dashboard.
2. Click the **Create Workflow** button on the top right.
3. The name of the new workflow is currently **Untitled.** Rename it to a more suitable title.
4. Select **Email** as the channel you want to add.

<Frame caption="Choose email as the channel you want to add">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/novu-v2-docs/vgBgpur1s6gL5HkB/images/email-nodejs.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=vgBgpur1s6gL5HkB&q=85&s=35b0ae40b501a1a0bcd655e8f3acbd28" width="2000" height="1165" data-path="images/email-nodejs.png" />
</Frame>

5. Click on the recently added channel, fill the email subject and click “Update”.

<Frame caption="Fill in email subject">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/novu-v2-docs/vgBgpur1s6gL5HkB/images/email2-nodejs.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=vgBgpur1s6gL5HkB&q=85&s=f8d527b9f48e086932bc85594706659e" width="2000" height="1682" data-path="images/email2-nodejs.png" />
</Frame>

6. Click on the “Test” tab and send a test email to verify your workflow.

<Frame caption="Send test email to verify your workflow">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/novu-v2-docs/vgBgpur1s6gL5HkB/images/email3-nodejs.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=vgBgpur1s6gL5HkB&q=85&s=5b52e54f06c0722fcd0211f2a0f28c3f" width="2000" height="1411" data-path="images/email3-nodejs.png" />
</Frame>

You should get an email within seconds. Yaaay, you have successfully sent your first notification via the Novu dashboard! Now, let’s take it a step further to trigger notifications via code.

## Create A Subscriber

The recipients of a triggered notification are called subscribers.

Click “Subscribers” on the left sidebar of the Novu dashboard to see all subscribers. By default, the dashboard will display a subscriber, as you were added automatically during sign-up.

<Frame caption="Subscribers from the left sidebar shows all the subscriber">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/novu-v2-docs/rGvFx0oDoBLPCuxk/images/quickstarts/common/sub-nodejs.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=rGvFx0oDoBLPCuxk&q=85&s=b9f861bdabce3e746d9181b81e104d21" width="2000" height="933" data-path="images/quickstarts/common/sub-nodejs.png" />
</Frame>

Now, let's create a subscriber on Novu. Copy and paste the following code to do so:

```csharp theme={null}
// Create subscriber

var newSubscriberDto = new SubscriberCreateData
{
  SubscriberId = "77809", //replace with system_internal_user_id
  FirstName = "John",
  LastName = "Doe",
  Email = "benlin1994@gmail.com",
  Data = new List<AdditionalDataDto>{
    new AdditionalDataDto
    {
        Key = "External ID",
        Value = "1122334455"
    },
    new AdditionalDataDto
    {
        Key = "Job Title",
        Value = "Software Engineer"
    }
  }
};

var subscriber = await novu.Subscriber.Create(newSubscriberDto);
```

Run the code in your terminal like so:

```bash theme={null}
dotnet run Program.cs

```

You should see the subscriber on your Novu dashboard.

<Frame caption="You should see the subscriber on your Novu dashboard">
  <img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dxc6bnman/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1685466979/guides/Screenshot_2023-05-14_at_11.06.38_ugvmc0.png" />
</Frame>

I’d like to publicly announce that `abc@gmail.com` is a random unlikely email your users will have. To update this to an alternative email, you can call the `UpdateSubscriber` method like so:

Program.cs:

```csharp theme={null}
// Update subscriber detail
var subscriber7789 = await novu.Subscriber.GetSubscriber("7789");

subscriber7789.Email = "validemail@gmail.com"; // replace with valid email
subscriber7789.FirstName = "<insert-firstname>"; // optional
subscriber7789.LastName = "<insert-lastname>"; // optional

var updatedSubscriber = await novu.Subscriber.Update("7789",subscriber7789);
```

Other valid fields that can be updated are `phone`, `avatar`, and `data` . The `data` field can accept an array of metadata that you want to attach to the subscriber.

<Note>
  To make all of your app users subscribers, you need to programmatically add them to Novu.
</Note>

## Trigger A Notification

Copy and paste the following code into your app to trigger a notification:

OnboardEventPayload.cs:

```csharp theme={null}
// OnboardEventPayload.cs
public class OnboardEventPayload
{
  [JsonProperty("username")]
  public string Username { get; set; }

  [JsonProperty("welcomeMessage")]
  public string WelcomeMessage { get; set; }
}

```

Program.cs:

```csharp theme={null}
var onboardingMessage = new OnboardEventPayload
{
  Username = "jdoe",
  WelcomeMessage = "Welcome to novu-dotnet"
};

var payload = new EventCreateData()
{
  EventName = "onboarding", //make sure you have a trigger named "onboarding"
  To = { SubscriberId = "7789" },
  Payload = onboardingMessage
};

var trigger = await novu.Event.Trigger(payload);

if (trigger.Data.Acknowledged)
{
  Console.WriteLine("Trigger has been created.");
}

```

Before running the code, make sure you understand the following:

* The value of `EventName` should be the workflow’s trigger ID/slug(it's the value all in small caps).

<Frame caption="Make sure your workflow's trigger ID/slug matches the value you'd used">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/novu-v2-docs/rGvFx0oDoBLPCuxk/images/template-nodejs.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=rGvFx0oDoBLPCuxk&q=85&s=2021841772a344d9bd5f87eb4ddaf524" width="2000" height="1059" data-path="images/template-nodejs.png" />
</Frame>

* The value of `Payload` is an array of the data that you want to be dynamically injected into the workflow content.
* The value of `SubscriberId` is the id of the subscriber on Novu. Replace `7789` with your subscriberId.

Run the code to trigger a notification!

```bash theme={null}
dotnet run Program.cs

```

Next, we’ll learn how to send notifications to different groups of subscribers easily via **Topics.**

## Topics

Novu provides a simple API that offers an easy interface for triggering notifications to multiple subscribers at once. This API is called **Topics** and allows users to manage their bulk notifications without having to implement complex loops.

A topic is identified by a custom key and this key will be the identifier used when triggering notifications. You can assign a name to a topic for descriptive purposes. This name does not need to be unique and can be changed programmatically.

<Note>
  The topic key should be unique and can't be changed once chosen. Novu also safeguards for key uniqueness behind the scenes.
</Note>

A topic can have multiple subscribers who will receive a notification whenever a message is sent to the topic.

## Create a Topic

Copy and paste the following code into your app to create a topic:

```csharp theme={null}
// Create Topic
var topicRequest = new TopicCreateData
{
    Key = "frontend-users",
    Name = "All frontend users",

};

var topic = await novu.Topic.Create(topicRequest);
```

Before running the code, make sure you understand the following:

* When creating a `Key`, ensure it is unique and accurately identifies the topic. Document naming conventions and communicate them to team members to avoid confusion and ensure a smooth workflow.
* The value of `Name` should be a descriptive topic name.

## Add Subscribers to a Topic

Copy and paste the following code into your app to add subscribers to a topic:

```csharp theme={null}

// Add Subscriber to Topic
var topicKey = "frontend-users";
var subscriberList = new TopicSubscriberUpdateDto
{
    Keys = new List<string>
    {
        "7789",
        "7790",
    }
};

//Or

var subscriberList = new TopicSubscriberCreateData(new List<string>
{
    "7789",
    "7790"
});

var result = await novu.Topic.AddSubscriber(topicKey, subscriberList);
```

## Sending a Notification to a Topic

Thanks to the topics feature, it is possible to trigger a notification to all subscribers assigned to a topic. This helps avoid listing all subscriber identifiers in the `to` field of the notification trigger.

To trigger a notification to all subscribers of a topic, copy and paste the code below:

Program.cs

```csharp theme={null}
// Send notifications to a topic (all frontend users)

var onboardingMessage = new OnboardEventPayload
{
  WelcomeMessage = "Welcome to novu-dotnet"
};

var payloadTopic = new EventTopicTriggerDto
{
  EventName = "onboarding",
  Payload = onboardingMessage,
  Topic = { Type = "7789", TopicKey = "frontend-users" },

};

var triggerTopic = await novu.Event.TriggerTopicAsync(payloadTopic);

if (triggerTopic.TriggerResponsePayloadDto.Acknowledged);
{
  Console.WriteLine("Trigger has been created.");
}

```

## Conclusion

Great job! If you've reached this point, you should now have successfully created a subscriber, workflow, configured a channel provider and triggered a notification in your application.