Hostel Management System - Fee Tracking Module

A clean architecture ASP.NET Core 8 Web API for managing hostel fee tracking, payments, and reminders.

Architecture

Controllers → Services → Repositories → Entity Framework → SQL Server

The solution follows Clean Architecture with 4 projects:

Project	Type	Responsibility
HostelManagement.API	ASP.NET Core 8 Web API	Controllers, Services, Middleware, Mapping
HostelManagement.Core	Class Library	Entities, Enums, DTOs, Interfaces
HostelManagement.Infrastructure	Class Library	DbContext, Migrations, Repositories, Seed Data
HostelManagement.Tests	xUnit Test Project	Unit Tests, Integration Tests

Folder Structure

HostelManagementSystem/
├── HostelManagement.API/
│   ├── Controllers/          # API endpoints
│   │   ├── FeeController.cs
│   │   ├── PaymentController.cs
│   │   ├── ReminderController.cs
│   │   └── StudentController.cs
│   ├── Mappings/             # AutoMapper profiles
│   │   └── MappingProfile.cs
│   ├── Middleware/           # Global exception handling
│   │   └── ExceptionMiddleware.cs
│   ├── Services/             # Business logic layer
│   │   ├── FeeService.cs
│   │   └── StudentService.cs
│   ├── Program.cs
│   └── appsettings.json
├── HostelManagement.Core/
│   ├── DTOs/                 # Data Transfer Objects
│   ├── Entities/             # Domain models
│   ├── Enums/                # Enumerations
│   └── Interfaces/           # Contract definitions
├── HostelManagement.Infrastructure/
│   ├── Data/
│   │   ├── HostelDbContext.cs
│   │   └── SeedData.cs
│   ├── Migrations/
│   └── Repositories/         # Data access implementations
└── HostelManagement.Tests/
    ├── FeeServiceTests.cs
    └── FeeRepositoryIntegrationTests.cs

Technologies

• .NET 8 - Cross-platform framework
• ASP.NET Core 8 Web API - REST API framework
• Entity Framework Core 8 - ORM (Code First)
• SQL Server LocalDB - Database
• AutoMapper - Object mapping
• Swagger / Swashbuckle - API documentation
• xUnit - Unit testing
• Moq - Mocking framework
• FluentAssertions - Test assertions
• Clean Architecture - Separation of concerns
• Repository Pattern - Data abstraction
• Dependency Injection - IoC container

Installation

Prerequisites

• .NET 8 SDK
• SQL Server LocalDB

Steps

# Clone the repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd HostelManagementSystem

# Restore dependencies
dotnet restore

# Apply migrations (Database will be created automatically)
dotnet ef database update --project HostelManagement.Infrastructure --startup-project HostelManagement.API

# Run the application
dotnet run --project HostelManagement.API

The API will be available at https://localhost:7254 or http://localhost:5041.

Database

• Provider: SQL Server LocalDB
• Database Name: HostelManagementDB
• Connection String: Server=(localdb)\MSSQLLocalDB;Database=HostelManagementDB;Trusted_Connection=True;TrustServerCertificate=True;

Schema

• Students - Student registration information
• Fees - Fee records linked to students
• Payments - Payment transactions linked to fees
• ReminderLogs - Reminder history linked to students

Seed Data

The application automatically seeds:

• 5 Students
• 10 Fee Records
• 15 Payments
• 3 Reminder Logs

API Endpoints

Fees

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/fees	Get all fees
GET	/api/fees/{id}	Get fee by ID
POST	/api/fees	Create a new fee
PUT	/api/fees/{id}	Update a fee
DELETE	/api/fees/{id}	Delete a fee

Payments

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/api/payments	Record a payment
GET	/api/payments/student/{studentId}	Get payments by student

Reminders

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/reminders	Get all reminders
POST	/api/reminders/send	Send a reminder (query: ?studentId=N)

Students

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/students	Get all students
POST	/api/students	Create a new student

Swagger

Swagger UI is available at /swagger when running in Development mode.

Business Logic

Fee Status Calculation

When a payment is recorded:

• RemainingAmount = TotalFee - Sum(All Payments)
• If RemainingAmount == 0 → Status = Paid
• If RemainingAmount > 0 and future due date → Status = Partial
• If DueDate < Today → Status = Overdue

Reminders

A reminder is automatically generated when a fee becomes overdue and a payment is made.

Validation

• Fee amount must be greater than zero
• Payment amount must be greater than zero
• Payment cannot exceed remaining balance
• Student must exist when creating a fee
• Valid payment methods: Cash, BankTransfer, JazzCash, EasyPaisa, CreditCard

Testing

# Run all tests
dotnet test

# Run with verbose output
dotnet test --verbosity detailed

The test project includes:

• Unit Tests: Service layer tests with Moq (17 tests)
• Integration Tests: Repository tests with InMemory database (3 tests)