@microsoft/signalr

What is @microsoft/signalr?

@microsoft/signalr is a library for ASP.NET developers that simplifies the process of adding real-time web functionality to applications. It allows server-side code to push content to connected clients instantly as it becomes available, rather than having the server wait for a client to request new data.

What are @microsoft/signalr's main functionalities?

Establishing a Connection

This code demonstrates how to establish a connection to a SignalR hub. The `HubConnectionBuilder` is used to configure and create a connection to the specified hub URL.

const signalR = require('@microsoft/signalr');

const connection = new signalR.HubConnectionBuilder()
    .withUrl('/chatHub')
    .build();

connection.start().then(() => console.log('Connection started')).catch(err => console.error(err));

Sending Messages

This code shows how to send a message to the server using the `invoke` method. The first parameter is the name of the server method to call, and the subsequent parameters are the arguments to pass to that method.

connection.invoke('SendMessage', 'Hello, World!').catch(err => console.error(err));

Receiving Messages

This code demonstrates how to set up a client-side handler for messages sent from the server. The `on` method is used to specify the name of the server method to handle and a callback function to execute when the method is called.

connection.on('ReceiveMessage', (user, message) => {
    console.log(`${user}: ${message}`);
});

Other packages similar to @microsoft/signalr

socket.io

Socket.IO is a popular library for real-time web applications. It enables real-time, bidirectional and event-based communication. It works on every platform, browser, or device, focusing equally on reliability and speed. Compared to @microsoft/signalr, Socket.IO is more widely used and has a larger community, but it may require more setup and configuration.

primus

Primus is a flexible and extensible library for real-time communication. It abstracts away the different real-time frameworks and provides a unified API. Primus can work with various real-time engines like WebSockets, Engine.IO, and SockJS. It offers more flexibility compared to @microsoft/signalr but might be more complex to set up.

faye

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README

JavaScript and TypeScript clients for SignalR for ASP.NET Core

Installation

npm install @microsoft/signalr

or

yarn add @microsoft/signalr

Usage

See the SignalR Documentation at docs.microsoft.com for documentation on the latest release. API Reference Documentation is also available on docs.microsoft.com.

Browser

To use the client in a browser, copy *.js files from the dist/browser folder to your script folder include on your page using the <script> tag.

WebWorker

To use the client in a webworker, copy *.js files from the dist/webworker folder to your script folder include on your webworker using the importScripts function. Note that webworker SignalR hub connection supports only absolute path to a SignalR hub.

Node.js

To use the client in a NodeJS application, install the package to your node_modules folder and use require('@microsoft/signalr') to load the module. The object returned by require('@microsoft/signalr') has the same members as the global signalR object (when used in a browser).

Example (Browser)

let connection = new signalR.HubConnectionBuilder()
    .withUrl("/chat")
    .build();

connection.on("send", data => {
    console.log(data);
});

connection.start()
    .then(() => connection.invoke("send", "Hello"));

Example (WebWorker)

importScripts('signalr.js');

let connection = new signalR.HubConnectionBuilder()
    .withUrl("https://example.com/signalr/chat")
    .build();

connection.on("send", data => {
    console.log(data);
});

connection.start()
    .then(() => connection.invoke("send", "Hello"));

Example (NodeJS)

const signalR = require("@microsoft/signalr");

let connection = new signalR.HubConnectionBuilder()
    .withUrl("/chat")
    .build();

connection.on("send", data => {
    console.log(data);
});

connection.start()
    .then(() => connection.invoke("send", "Hello"));