Oqtane Event System — Hooking into the Framework

Oqtane Event System — Hooking into the Framework

OK, I’m still blocked from GitHub Copilot, so I still have more things to write about.
In this article, the topic that we’re going to see is the event system of Oqtane.For example, usually in most systems you want to hook up something when the application starts.
In XAF from Developer Express, which is my specialty (I mean, that’s the framework I really know well),
you have the DB Updater, which you can use to set up some initial data.
In Oqtane, you have the Module Manager, but there are also other types of events that you might need —
for example, when the user is created or when the user signs in for the first time.

So again, using the method that I explained in my previous article — the “OK, I have a doubt” method —
I basically let the guide of Copilot hike over my installation folder or even the Oqtane source code itself, and try to figure out how to do it.
That’s how I ended up using event subscribers.

In one of my prototypes, what I needed to do was detect when the user is created and then create some records in a different system
using that user’s information. So I’ll show an example of that type of subscriber, and I’ll actually share the
Oqtane Event Handling Guide here, which explains how you can hook up to system events.

I’m sure there are more events available, but this is what I’ve found so far and what I’ve tested.
I guess I’ll make a video about all these articles at some point, but right now, I’m kind of vibing with other systems.
Whenever I get blocked, I write something about my research with Oqtane.


Oqtane Event Handling Guide

Comprehensive guide to capturing and responding to system events in Oqtane

This guide explains how to handle events in Oqtane, particularly focusing on user authentication events (login, logout, creation)
and other system events. Learn to build modules that respond to framework events and create custom event-driven functionality.

Version: 1.0.0
Last Updated: October 3, 2025
Oqtane Version: 6.0+
Framework: .NET 9.0


1. Overview of Oqtane Event System

Oqtane uses a centralized event system based on the SyncManager that broadcasts events throughout the application when entities change.
This enables loose coupling between components and allows modules to respond to framework events without tight integration.

Key Components

  • SyncManager — Central event hub that broadcasts entity changes
  • SyncEvent — Event data containing entity information and action type
  • IEventSubscriber — Interface for objects that want to receive events
  • EventDistributorHostedService — Background service that distributes events to subscribers
Entity Changes → SyncManager → EventDistributorHostedService → IEventSubscriber Implementations
                     ↓
               SyncEvent Created → Distributed to All Event Subscribers
  

2. Event Types and Actions

SyncEvent Model


public class SyncEvent : EventArgs
{
    public int TenantId { get; set; }
    public int SiteId { get; set; }
    public string EntityName { get; set; }
    public int EntityId { get; set; }
    public string Action { get; set; }
    public DateTime ModifiedOn { get; set; }
}
  

Available Actions


public class SyncEventActions
{
    public const string Refresh = "Refresh";
    public const string Reload = "Reload";
    public const string Create = "Create";
    public const string Update = "Update";
    public const string Delete = "Delete";
}
  

Common Entity Names


public class EntityNames
{
    public const string User = "User";
    public const string Site = "Site";
    public const string Page = "Page";
    public const string Module = "Module";
    public const string File = "File";
    public const string Folder = "Folder";
    public const string Notification = "Notification";
}
  

3. Creating Event Subscribers

To handle events, implement IEventSubscriber and filter for the entities and actions you care about.
Subscribers are automatically discovered by Oqtane and injected with dependencies.


public class UserActivityEventSubscriber : IEventSubscriber
{
    private readonly ILogger<UserActivityEventSubscriber> _logger;

    public UserActivityEventSubscriber(ILogger<UserActivityEventSubscriber> logger)
    {
        _logger = logger;
    }

    public void EntityChanged(SyncEvent syncEvent)
    {
        if (syncEvent.EntityName != EntityNames.User)
            return;

        switch (syncEvent.Action)
        {
            case SyncEventActions.Create:
                _logger.LogInformation("User created: {UserId}", syncEvent.EntityId);
                break;
            case "Login":
                _logger.LogInformation("User logged in: {UserId}", syncEvent.EntityId);
                break;
        }
    }
}
  

4. User Authentication Events

Login, logout, and registration trigger SyncEvent notifications that you can capture to send notifications,
track user activity, or integrate with external systems.


public class LoginActivityTracker : IEventSubscriber
{
    private readonly ILogger<LoginActivityTracker> _logger;

    public LoginActivityTracker(ILogger<LoginActivityTracker> logger)
    {
        _logger = logger;
    }

    public void EntityChanged(SyncEvent syncEvent)
    {
        if (syncEvent.EntityName == EntityNames.User && syncEvent.Action == "Login")
        {
            _logger.LogInformation("User {UserId} logged in at {Time}", syncEvent.EntityId, syncEvent.ModifiedOn);
        }
    }
}
  

5. System Entity Events

Besides user events, you can track changes in entities like Pages, Files, and Modules.


public class PageAuditTracker : IEventSubscriber
{
    private readonly ILogger<PageAuditTracker> _logger;

    public PageAuditTracker(ILogger<PageAuditTracker> logger)
    {
        _logger = logger;
    }

    public void EntityChanged(SyncEvent syncEvent)
    {
        if (syncEvent.EntityName == EntityNames.Page && syncEvent.Action == SyncEventActions.Create)
        {
            _logger.LogInformation("Page created: {PageId}", syncEvent.EntityId);
        }
    }
}
  

6. Custom Module Events

You can create custom events in your own modules using ISyncManager.


public class BlogManager
{
    private readonly ISyncManager _syncManager;

    public BlogManager(ISyncManager syncManager)
    {
        _syncManager = syncManager;
    }

    public void PublishBlog(int blogId)
    {
        _syncManager.AddSyncEvent(
            new Alias { TenantId = 1, SiteId = 1 },
            "Blog",
            blogId,
            "Published"
        );
    }
}
  

7. Best Practices

  • Filter early — Always check the entity and action before processing.
  • Handle exceptions — Never throw unhandled exceptions inside EntityChanged.
  • Log properly — Use structured logging with context placeholders.
  • Keep it simple — Extract complex logic to testable services.

public void EntityChanged(SyncEvent syncEvent)
{
    try
    {
        if (syncEvent.EntityName == EntityNames.User && syncEvent.Action == "Login")
        {
            _logger.LogInformation("User {UserId} logged in", syncEvent.EntityId);
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        _logger.LogError(ex, "Error processing event {Action}", syncEvent.Action);
    }
}
  

8. Summary

Oqtane’s event system provides a clean, decoupled way to respond to system changes.
It’s perfect for audit logs, notifications, custom workflows, and integrations.

  • Automatic discovery of subscribers
  • Centralized event distribution
  • Supports custom and system events
  • Integrates naturally with dependency injection
Oqtane Silent Installation Guide

Oqtane Silent Installation Guide

OK, I’ve been wanting to write this article for a few days now, but I’ve been vibing a lot — writing tons of prototypes and working on my Oqtane research. This morning I got blocked by GitHub Copilot because I hit the rate limit, so I can’t use it for a few hours. I figured that’s a sign to take a break and write some articles instead.

Actually, I’m not really “writing” — I’m using the Windows dictation feature (Windows key + H). So right now, I’m just having coffee and talking to my computer. I’m still in El Salvador with my family, and it’s like 5:00 AM here. My mom probably thinks I’ve gone crazy because I’ve been talking to my computer a lot lately. Even when I’m coding, I use dictation instead of typing, because sometimes it’s just easier to express yourself when you talk. When you type, you tend to shorten things, but when you talk, you can go on forever, right?

Anyway, this article is about Oqtane, specifically something that’s been super useful for me — how to set up a silent installation. Usually, when you download the Oqtane source or use the templates to create a new project or solution, and then run the server project, you’ll see the setup wizard first. That’s where you configure the database, email, host password, default theme, and all that.

Since I’ve been doing tons of prototypes, I’ve seen that setup screen thousands of times per day. So I downloaded the Oqtane source and started digging through it — using Copilot to generate guides whenever I got stuck. Honestly, the best way to learn is always by looking at the source code. I learned that the hard way years ago with XAF from DevExpress — there was no documentation back then, so I had to figure everything out manually and even assemble the projects myself because they weren’t in one solution. With Oqtane, it’s way simpler: everything’s in one place, just a few main projects.

Now, when I run into a problem, I just open the source code and tell Copilot, “OK, this is what I want to do. Help me figure it out.” Sometimes it goes completely wrong (as all AI tools do), but sometimes it nails it and produces a really good guide.

So the guide below was generated with Copilot, and it’s been super useful. I’ve been using it a lot lately, and I think it’ll save you a ton of time if you’re doing automated deployment with Oqtane.

I don’t want to take more of your time, so here it goes — I hope it helps you as much as it helped me.


Oqtane Installation Configuration Guide

This guide explains the configuration options available in the appsettings.json file under the Installation section for automated installation and default site settings.

Overview

The Installation section in appsettings.json controls the automated installation process and default settings for new sites in Oqtane. These settings are particularly useful for:

  • Automated installations – Deploy Oqtane without manual configuration
  • Development environments – Quickly spin up new instances
  • Multi-tenant deployments – Standardize new site creation
  • CI/CD pipelines – Automate deployment processes

Configuration Structure

{
  "Installation": {
    "DefaultAlias": "",
    "HostPassword": "",
    "HostEmail": "",
    "SiteTemplate": "",
    "DefaultTheme": "",
    "DefaultContainer": ""
  }
}
  
Key Purpose Required
DefaultAlias Initial site URL(s)
HostPassword Super admin password
HostEmail Super admin email
SiteTemplate Initial site structure Optional
DefaultTheme Site appearance Optional
DefaultContainer Module wrapper style Optional

SiteTemplate

A Site Template defines the initial structure and content of a new site, including pages, modules, folders, and navigation.

"SiteTemplate": "Oqtane.Infrastructure.SiteTemplates.DefaultSiteTemplate, Oqtane.Server"

Default options:

  • DefaultSiteTemplate – Home, Privacy, example content
  • EmptySiteTemplate – Minimal, clean slate
  • AdminSiteTemplate – Internal use

If empty, Oqtane uses the default template automatically.


DefaultTheme

A Theme controls the visual appearance and layout of your site (page structure, navigation, header/footer, and styling).

"DefaultTheme": "Oqtane.Themes.OqtaneTheme.Default, Oqtane.Client"

Built-in themes:

  • Oqtane Theme (default) – clean and responsive
  • Blazor Theme – Blazor-branded styling
  • Bootswatch variants – Cerulean, Cosmo, Darkly, Flatly, Lux, etc.
  • Corporate Theme – business layout

If left blank, it defaults to the Oqtane Theme.


DefaultContainer

A Container is the wrapper around each module, controlling how titles, buttons, and borders look.

"DefaultContainer": "Oqtane.Themes.OqtaneTheme.Container, Oqtane.Client"

Common containers:

  • OqtaneTheme.Container – standard and responsive
  • AdminContainer – management modules
  • Theme-specific containers – match the chosen theme

Defaults automatically if left empty.


Example Configurations

Minimal Configuration

{
  "Installation": {
    "DefaultAlias": "localhost",
    "HostPassword": "YourSecurePassword123!",
    "HostEmail": "admin@example.com"
  }
}
  

Custom Theme and Container

{
  "Installation": {
    "DefaultAlias": "localhost",
    "HostPassword": "YourSecurePassword123!",
    "HostEmail": "admin@example.com",
    "SiteTemplate": "Oqtane.Infrastructure.SiteTemplates.DefaultSiteTemplate, Oqtane.Server",
    "DefaultTheme": "Oqtane.Theme.Bootswatch.Flatly.Default, Oqtane.Theme.Bootswatch.Oqtane",
    "DefaultContainer": "Oqtane.Theme.Bootswatch.Flatly.Container, Oqtane.Theme.Bootswatch.Oqtane"
  }
}
  

Troubleshooting

  • Settings ignored during installation: Ensure all required fields are filled (DefaultAlias, HostPassword, HostEmail).
  • Theme not found: Check assembly reference and type name.
  • Container displays incorrectly: Use a container matching your theme.
  • Site template creates no pages: Ensure your template returns valid page definitions.

Logs can be found in Logs/oqtane-log-YYYYMMDD.txt.


Best Practices

  • Match your theme and container.
  • Leave defaults empty unless customization is needed.
  • Test in development first.
  • Document any custom templates or themes.
  • Use environment-specific appsettings (e.g. appsettings.Development.json).

Summary

The Installation configuration in appsettings.json lets you fully automate your Oqtane setup.

  • SiteTemplate: defines structure
  • DefaultTheme: defines appearance
  • DefaultContainer: defines module layout

Empty values use defaults, and you can override them for automation, branding, or custom scenarios.

My Journey Exploring the Oqtane Framework

My Journey Exploring the Oqtane Framework

Mental notes on architecture, learning by reading source, and what’s next.

OK — so it’s time for a new article. Lately, I’ve been diving deep into the Oqtane framework, and it’s been a beautiful journey. It reminds me of my early days with XAF from Developer Express—when I learned to think in software architecture and modern design patterns by simply reading the code.Back then, documentation was scarce. The advice was: “Look at the code.” I did—and that shaped a big part of my software education. It taught me that good source code is often self-explanatory.

Even though XAF is still our main tool at the office (Xari & BIT Frameworks), we’re expanding. We’re researching new divisions for Flutter and React, since some projects already use those fronts with an XAF backend. I also wanted to explore building client-server apps with a single .NET codebase that includes mobile—another reason Oqtane caught my eye.

Why Oqtane Caught My Attention

The Oqtane team is very responsive on GitHub. You can open a discussion and get thoughtful replies quickly. The source code is clean and educational—perfect for learning by reading. There are plenty of talks and videos on architecture and module development; some are a bit dated, but if you cross-check with the code, you’ll be fine.

I’ve learned there are two steps to mastering a framework: (1) immerse yourself in material (videos, code, docs), and (2) explain it to someone else. These notes do both—part research, part knowledge sharing.

Oqtane Video References

A Missing Clip Worth Finding

There’s one clip I couldn’t locate where Shaun Walker explains that .NET already provides the pieces for modern, multi-platform, server-and-client applications—but the ecosystem is fragmented. Oqtane unifies those pieces into a single .NET codebase. If I find it, I’ll make a highlight and share it.

On Learning and Time

I’m trying to publish as much as I can now because I’m about to start a new chapter: I’ll be joining the University of St. Petersburg to learn Russian as my second language. It’s a tough language—very different from Spanish or Italian—so I’ll likely have less time to write for a while. Better to document these experiments now than let them sit in my notes for months.

That’s it for today. I hope these clips and notes help you understand Oqtane the way they helped me. Stay tuned—and happy coding!

 

Setting Up Hostnames for Multi-Tenant Sites in Oqtane

Setting Up Hostnames for Multi-Tenant Sites in Oqtane

OK, so it’s time for a new article about Oqtane!

In my previous post (or “mental note,” as I like to call them), I covered how to set up
multi-tenancy in Oqtane. Today, I got a really nice surprise —
Shaun Walker just posted an excellent video explaining how multi-tenancy works,
along with its advantages and possible drawbacks.

From my point of view, the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages,
although it depends on your specific scenario.


Extending the Previous Example

I wanted to improve my previous example a bit. So, I created a new GitHub repository using the same base code,
but this time I added hostnames for each tenant.

A hostname is basically the domain that points to one of your tenants in Oqtane.
In a typical setup, you use DNS records for this.
The simplest case is an A record that points to a specific IP address.

When a request arrives, the server reads the hostname from the request and routes it to the correct tenant.

This part isn’t specific to Oqtane — it’s how web servers work in general.
The concept exists in IIS, Apache, and NGINX,
and it’s part of basic networking theory. If you want to learn more,
there are countless articles about how DNS works.


A Small Story from the Past

This actually takes me back — one of the first things I learned as a teenager was how to configure DNS
and run my own Apache web server.

I even started offering web hosting from my home using an old 486 computer (yes, really).
Eventually, my internet provider noticed what I was doing, blocked my connection, and called my parents.
Let’s just say… that Christmas was canceled for me. 😅
Anyway, that’s a story for another time.


Setting Up Local Domains for Tenants

For today’s example, I’m using the same structure as before:

  • One host site
  • Two tenant sites: MyCompany1 and MyCompany2

I want to show you how to assign domain names to each of them.

If you’re running everything locally (for example, through Visual Studio or VS Code),
you can’t use real domain names — but you can simulate them using the Windows hosts file.

If you’ve ever wondered how your computer resolves localhost to 127.0.0.1,
the answer lies in that file. It’s located inside the Windows system folder,
and it maps domain names to IP addresses.

Here’s the cool part: you can add your own domains there, pointing them to any IP you like.
It’s a great trick for local testing.

Below, you’ll see a screenshot of my hosts file.
I’ve mapped my fake domains to my local IP address,
so when I open them in the browser, the requests go straight to my
Kestrel server, which then routes them to the correct tenant.


How to Edit the Windows Hosts File

Editing the hosts file in Windows is simple, but you need administrative permissions.
Here’s how you can do it safely:

  1. Press Start, type Notepad, then right-click it and select
    Run as administrator.
  2. Once Notepad opens, go to File → Open and browse to:
    C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
  3. In the open dialog, change the filter from “Text Documents (*.txt)” to “All Files (*.*)”
    so you can see the hosts file.
  4. Add your entries at the bottom of the file. For example:
    127.0.0.1   mycompany1.xyz
    127.0.0.1   mycompany2.xyz
    

    Each line maps an IP address to a domain name.

  5. Save the file and close Notepad.
  6. Open your browser and visit http://mycompany1.xyz:44398
    (or the port your Oqtane app is running on).
    You should see the tenant corresponding to that domain.

⚠️ Important: If you edit the file without admin rights,
you won’t be able to save it. Also, be careful — if you modify or delete system entries by accident,
your network resolution might stop working.

Here is how my host file actually looks at the moment

 

Set siteURL for :Company 1

Set siteURL for :Company 2

 

Testing with Real Domains

Of course, this same logic applies to real domains too — as long as your Oqtane instance is publicly accessible.

In one of the next parts (maybe part 3 or 4), I’ll show how to configure it using a web server like
Apache. I know that NGINX is more popular these days,
but I’ve used Apache since my teenage years, so I’m more comfortable with it.

Still, I’ll probably demonstrate both.

Most developers today use cloud providers like AWS or Azure,
but honestly, I still prefer spinning up a simple Ubuntu server and doing everything manually.
The best tool is the one you know best — and for me, that’s Apache on Ubuntu.


Demo

As you can see there is a little bit of a different behavior if is a default site or not If it’s a default site it will redirect to that URL if not it’s going to redirect to the default site URL

 

Resources

  • 🧩 GitHub Repository — This project is based on the previous example
    but adds hostname configuration and uses SQLite for simplicity.

egarim/DomainNames

  • 🎥 Shaun Walker’s Video on Multi-Tenancy
    Highly recommended if you want a solid overview of how it all works:


 

Understanding Multi-Tenancy in Oqtane (and How to Set Up Sites)

Understanding Multi-Tenancy in Oqtane (and How to Set Up Sites)

OK — it’s time for today’s Oqtane blog post!

Yesterday, I wrote about changing the runtime mode in Oqtane and how that allows you to switch between
Blazor Server and Blazor WebAssembly functionality.

Today, I decided to explore how multi-tenancy works — specifically, how Oqtane manages multiple sites within the same
installation.

Originally, I wanted to cover the entire administrative panel and all of its modules in one post, but that would’ve been too big.
So, I’m breaking it down into smaller topics. This post focuses only on site functionality and how
multi-tenancy works from the administrative side — basically, how to set up tenants in Oqtane.


Setting Up a Multi-Tenant Oqtane Installation

To make these experiments easy to replicate, I decided to use SQLite as my database.

I created a new .NET Oqtane application using the official templates and added it to a
GitHub repository.

Here’s what I did:

  1. Set up the host configuration directly in appsettings.json.
  2. Ran the app, went to the admin panel, and created two additional sites.

You can see the screenshots below showing the settings for each site.

At first, it was a bit confusing — I thought I could simply use different ports for each site (like 8081,
8082, etc.), but that’s not how Oqtane works. Everything runs in the same process, so all tenants
share the same port.

Instead of changing ports, you configure different URL paths or folders. For example:

  • http://localhost:8080/ → the main host
  • http://localhost:8080/mycompany1 → first tenant
  • http://localhost:8080/mycompany2 → second tenant

Site Managment

Site MyCompany1

 

Site MyCompany2

 

Each tenant can:

  • Use a separate database or share the same one as the host
  • Have its own theme
  • Maintain independent site settings

 

In the short GIF animation I attached to the repository, you can see how each site has its
own unique visual theme — it’s really neat to watch.

When you add a new site, its connection string is also stored automatically in the application settings. So, if you download
the repository and run it locally, you’ll be able to access all the sites and see how the URLs and configurations work.

Here is the repository egarim/OqtaneMultiTenant: an example of how to use multi tenant in oqtane


Why I’m Doing These Posts

These blog entries are like my personal research notes — documenting what I discover while working with Oqtane.
I’m keeping each experiment small and reproducible so I can:

  • Share them with others easily
  • Download them later and reproduce the same setup, including data and configuration

What’s Next

In the next post, I’ll cover virtual hosting — how to use domain names that forward to specific
URLs or tenants. I’ve already done some research on that, but I don’t want to overload this post with too many topics.

For now, I’ll just attach the screenshots showing the different site configurations and URLs, along with a link to the GitHub
repository so you can try it yourself.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out! I’ll keep documenting everything as I go.

One of the great things about Oqtane is that it’s open source — you can always dive into the code, or if you’re
stuck, open a GitHub issue. Shaun Walker and the community are incredibly helpful, so don’t hesitate to ask.

Thanks again to the Oqtane team for building such an amazing framework.