Introducing ASP.NET SignalR, a library for adding real-time capabilities to your web app, easily.

1. SignalR and ASP.NET
Welcome to the Real-Time Web
Tuesday, March 26, 13

2. Who am I?
I am a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and I’ve
been developing software since 1979. Since 2009, I have
been focused on developing mobile applications, for
iPhone, Android, the mobile web, and Windows Phone 7.
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3. Free mobile tutorials with source
code @ therockncoder.blogspot.com
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4. Want more? Follow me, new tutorials are
announced on Twitter first:
@therockncoder
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5. Source code for my tutorials hosted on
GitHub @
https://github.com/Rockncoder
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6. Check out my videos:
www.youtube.com/rockncoder
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7. Our Agenda
• A Brief History of the Web
• What is ASP.NET SignalR?
• Under the Hood
• Building DIRTy Apps
• Debugging
• Handling Success
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8. A Brief History of Web
• 1990’s - The Static Web
• 2000’s - The Age of Ajax
• 2010’s - The Real-Time Web
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9. 1990’s - The Static Web
• HTML versions 2.0 - 4.01
• (There never was a version 1.0)
• Request/Response
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10. 2000’s - The Age of Ajax
• XMLHttpRequest object
• Prototype
• jQuery
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11. 2010’s - The Real-Time
Web
• Comet
• WebSocket
• Real-Time Libraries
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12. Comet
• Holding open an HTTP connection via a
variety of techniques like...
• Hidden IFrame
• Periodic Polling
• Long Polling
• Lots of Plumbing
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13. What is SPDY?
• An open network protocol
• Developed by Google
• Goal is to reduce page load time
• Does not replace HTTP
• Modifies HTTP for performance
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14. WebSocket
• Full-duplex communication over a single
TCP connection
• Port 80 or 443
• A low level protocol
• Great, but no backwards compatibility
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15. Real-Time Libraries
• Cramp
• django-sse
• sse
• Socket.io/Now.js
• SignalR
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16. What is ASP.NET
SignalR?
ASP.NET SignalR is a new library for
ASP.NET developers that makes it incredibly
simple to add real-time web functionality to
your applications.
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17. ASP.NET SignalR
• Create as an open source project by two
Microsoft employees: David Fowler &
Damien Edwards
• Adopted by Microsoft, but remains open
source - source is on GitHub
• Like jQuery for communications
• Distributed via NuGet
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18. Under the Hood
• WebSockets
• Server Sent Events, Event Source
• Forever Frame (IE only)
• Ajax long polling
• Only WebSockets is true full duplex
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19. Installing SignalR
• The project exists on GitHub but
• NuGet is the best way to install it
• Install Microsoft ASP.NET SignalR
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20. What’s in the Package?
• SignalR Core - Server side stuff
• SignalR JS - JavaScript library
• SignalR Owin - An OWIN adapter
• SignalR SystemWeb - To host on IIS
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21. Other Packages
• SignalR Client - .NET client
• SignalR Sample - A fake stock ticker
• LCSK - Live chat app
• SignalR.EventStream - Monitor your site
• ElmahR.Elmah - ELMAH
• and lots more
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22. What is OWIN?
• Open Web Interface for .NET
• A specification for the communication
between .NET Web Server and Web App
• IIS isn’t the only .NET Web Server, there is
HttpListener, server.dll, Kayak, and
potentially others
• SignalR depends on OWIN for hosting
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23. What’s It Good For?
• dashboards
• monitoring
• collaborative anything
• job progress
• real-time forms
• gaming...
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24. http://shootr.signalr.net
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25. https://jabbr.net
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26. Building DIRTy Apps
• Data Intensive Real-Time(y) Apps
• Two main classes:
• PersistentConnections
• Hubs
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27. Connections
• The raw connection in SignalR
• Can connect with 1 - n clients
• Is an IHTTP handler
• Requires route to be defined
• Limited to sending message
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28. Connection Demo
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29. Hubs
• Built on top of PersistentConnection
• Can connect with 1 - n clients
• Routes automatically mapped
• Can send messages and call methods
• SignalR defines the protocol
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30. Hub Demo
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31. Debugging
• With Chrome
• With Fiddler
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32. Clients
• JavaScript (as a jQuery plugin)
• .NET 4.0/4.5
• Silverlight 5
• Windows Store Apps
• iOS (community)
• MonoTouch (community)
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33. Clients
• Windows Phone 8
• MonoTouch (official)
• MonoDroid (official)
• iOS (official)
• .NET Micro Framework
• Java
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34. Handling Success
• Scale-out via the backplane
• Azure ServiceBus
• Redis
• SQL Server
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35. Gotchas
• Documentation is limited
• Documentation may be out of date
• But finally a released product!
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36. Resources
• http://signalr.net/
• https://jabbr.net
• https://github.com/SignalR/SignalR/wiki
• http://www.asp.net/signalr/overview/getting-
started/tutorial-getting-started-with-signalr
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37. Summary
ASP.NET SignalR makes it incredibly easy to
add real-time capabilities to your web app.
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