ASP.NET Core SignalR JavaScript client

By Rachel Appel

The ASP.NET Core SignalR JavaScript client library enables developers to call server-side SignalR hub code.

Install the SignalR client package

The SignalR JavaScript client library is delivered as an npm package. The following sections outline different ways to install the client library.

Install with npm

Visual Studio

Run the following commands from Package Manager Console:

Visual Studio Code

Run the following commands from the Integrated Terminal:

Visual Studio for Mac

Run the following commands from a command window:

npm init -y
npm install @microsoft/signalr

npm installs the package contents in the node_modules\@microsoft\signalr\dist\browser folder. Create the wwwroot/lib/signalr folder. Copy the signalr.js file to the wwwroot/lib/signalr folder.

Reference the SignalR JavaScript client in the <script> element. For example:

<script src="~/lib/signalr/signalr.js"></script>

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

To use the client library without the npm prerequisite, reference a CDN-hosted copy of the client library. For example:

<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/microsoft-signalr/6.0.1/signalr.js"></script>

In the preceding markup, version 6.0.1 is specified. Choose from one of the following CDNs to get the latest client library version:

• cdnjs
• jsDelivr
• unpkg

Install with LibMan

LibMan can be used to install specific client library files from the CDN-hosted client library. For example, only add the minified JavaScript file to the project. For details on that approach, see Add the SignalR client library.

Connect to a hub

The following code creates and starts a connection. The hub's name is case insensitive:

const connection = new signalR.HubConnectionBuilder()
    .withUrl("/chathub")
    .configureLogging(signalR.LogLevel.Information)
    .build();

async function start() {
    try {
        await connection.start();
        console.log("SignalR Connected.");
    } catch (err) {
        console.log(err);
        setTimeout(start, 5000);
    }
};

connection.onclose(async () => {
    await start();
});

// Start the connection.
start();

Cross-origin connections (CORS)

Typically, browsers load connections from the same domain as the requested page. However, there are occasions when a connection to another domain is required.

When making cross domain requests, the client code must use an absolute URL instead of a relative URL. For cross domain requests, change .withUrl("/chathub") to .withUrl("https://{App domain name}/chathub").

To prevent a malicious site from reading sensitive data from another site, cross-origin connections are disabled by default. To allow a cross-origin request, enable CORS:

using SignalRChat.Hubs;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddRazorPages();
builder.Services.AddSignalR();

builder.Services.AddCors(options =>
{
    options.AddDefaultPolicy(
        builder =>
        {
            builder.WithOrigins("https://example.com")
                .AllowAnyHeader()
                .WithMethods("GET", "POST")
                .AllowCredentials();
        });
});

var app = builder.Build();

if (!app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.UseExceptionHandler("/Error");
    app.UseHsts();
}

app.UseHttpsRedirection();
app.UseStaticFiles();

app.UseRouting();

app.UseAuthorization();

// UseCors must be called before MapHub.
app.UseCors();

app.MapRazorPages();
app.MapHub<ChatHub>("/chatHub");

app.Run();

UseCors must be called before calling MapHub.

Call hub methods from the client

JavaScript clients call public methods on hubs via the invoke method of the HubConnection. The invoke method accepts:

• The name of the hub method.
• Any arguments defined in the hub method.

In the following highlighted code, the method name on the hub is SendMessage. The second and third arguments passed to invoke map to the hub method's user and message arguments:

try {
    await connection.invoke("SendMessage", user, message);
} catch (err) {
    console.error(err);
}

Calling hub methods from a client is only supported when using the Azure SignalR Service in Default mode. For more information, see Frequently Asked Questions (azure-signalr GitHub repository).

The invoke method returns a JavaScript Promise. The Promise is resolved with the return value (if any) when the method on the server returns. If the method on the server throws an error, the Promise is rejected with the error message. Use async and await or the Promise's then and catch methods to handle these cases.

JavaScript clients can also call public methods on hubs via the send method of the HubConnection. Unlike the invoke method, the send method doesn't wait for a response from the server. The send method returns a JavaScript Promise. The Promise is resolved when the message has been sent to the server. If there is an error sending the message, the Promise is rejected with the error message. Use async and await or the Promise's then and catch methods to handle these cases.

Using send doesn't wait until the server has received the message. Consequently, it's not possible to return data or errors from the server.

Call client methods from the hub

To receive messages from the hub, define a method using the on method of the HubConnection.

• The name of the JavaScript client method.
• Arguments the hub passes to the method.

In the following example, the method name is ReceiveMessage. The argument names are user and message:

connection.on("ReceiveMessage", (user, message) => {
    const li = document.createElement("li");
    li.textContent = `${user}: ${message}`;
    document.getElementById("messageList").appendChild(li);
});

The preceding code in connection.on runs when server-side code calls it using the SendAsync method:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.SignalR;
namespace SignalRChat.Hubs;

public class ChatHub : Hub
{
    public async Task SendMessage(string user, string message)
    {
        await Clients.All.SendAsync("ReceiveMessage", user, message);
    }
}

SignalR determines which client method to call by matching the method name and arguments defined in SendAsync and connection.on.

A best practice is to call the start method on the HubConnection after on. Doing so ensures the handlers are registered before any messages are received.

Error handling and logging

Use console.error to output errors to the browser's console when the client can't connect or send a message:

try {
    await connection.invoke("SendMessage", user, message);
} catch (err) {
    console.error(err);
}

Set up client-side log tracing by passing a logger and type of event to log when the connection is made. Messages are logged with the specified log level and higher. Available log levels are as follows:

• signalR.LogLevel.Error: Error messages. Logs Error messages only.
• signalR.LogLevel.Warning: Warning messages about potential errors. Logs Warning, and Error messages.
• signalR.LogLevel.Information: Status messages without errors. Logs Information, Warning, and Error messages.
• signalR.LogLevel.Trace: Trace messages. Logs everything, including data transported between hub and client.

Use the configureLogging method on HubConnectionBuilder to configure the log level. Messages are logged to the browser console:

const connection = new signalR.HubConnectionBuilder()
    .withUrl("/chathub")
    .configureLogging(signalR.LogLevel.Information)
    .build();

Reconnect clients

Automatically reconnect

The JavaScript client for SignalR can be configured to automatically reconnect using the WithAutomaticReconnect method on HubConnectionBuilder. It won't automatically reconnect by default.

const connection = new signalR.HubConnectionBuilder()
    .withUrl("/chathub")
    .withAutomaticReconnect()
    .build();

Without any parameters, WithAutomaticReconnect configures the client to wait 0, 2, 10, and 30 seconds respectively before trying each reconnect attempt. After four failed attempts, it stops trying to reconnect.

Before starting any reconnect attempts, the HubConnection:

• Transitions to the HubConnectionState.Reconnecting state and fires its onreconnecting callbacks.
• Doesn't transition to the Disconnected state and trigger its onclose callbacks like a HubConnection without automatic reconnect configured.

The reconnect approach provides an opportunity to:

• Warn users that the connection has been lost.
• Disable UI elements.

connection.onreconnecting(error => {
    console.assert(connection.state === signalR.HubConnectionState.Reconnecting);

    document.getElementById("messageInput").disabled = true;

    const li = document.createElement("li");
    li.textContent = `Connection lost due to error "${error}". Reconnecting.`;
    document.getElementById("messageList").appendChild(li);
});

If the client successfully reconnects within its first four attempts, the HubConnection transitions back to the Connected state and fire its onreconnected callbacks. This provides an opportunity to inform users the connection has been reestablished.

Since the connection looks entirely new to the server, a new connectionId is provided to the onreconnected callback.

The onreconnected callback's connectionId parameter is undefined if the HubConnection is configured to skip negotiation.

connection.onreconnected(connectionId => {
    console.assert(connection.state === signalR.HubConnectionState.Connected);

    document.getElementById("messageInput").disabled = false;

    const li = document.createElement("li");
    li.textContent = `Connection reestablished. Connected with connectionId "${connectionId}".`;
    document.getElementById("messageList").appendChild(li);
});

withAutomaticReconnect won't configure the HubConnection to retry initial start failures, so start failures need to be handled manually:

async function start() {
    try {
        await connection.start();
        console.assert(connection.state === signalR.HubConnectionState.Connected);
        console.log("SignalR Connected.");
    } catch (err) {
        console.assert(connection.state === signalR.HubConnectionState.Disconnected);
        console.log(err);
        setTimeout(() => start(), 5000);
    }
};

If the client doesn't successfully reconnect within its first four attempts, the HubConnection transitions to the Disconnected state and fires its onclose callbacks. This provides an opportunity to inform users:

• The connection has been permanently lost.
• Try refreshing the page:

connection.onclose(error => {
    console.assert(connection.state === signalR.HubConnectionState.Disconnected);

    document.getElementById("messageInput").disabled = true;

    const li = document.createElement("li");
    li.textContent = `Connection closed due to error "${error}". Try refreshing this page to restart the connection.`;
    document.getElementById("messageList").appendChild(li);
});

In order to configure a custom number of reconnect attempts before disconnecting or change the reconnect timing, withAutomaticReconnect accepts an array of numbers representing the delay in milliseconds to wait before starting each reconnect attempt.

const connection = new signalR.HubConnectionBuilder()
    .withUrl("/chathub")
    .withAutomaticReconnect([0, 0, 10000])
    .build();

    // .withAutomaticReconnect([0, 2000, 10000, 30000]) yields the default behavior

The preceding example configures the HubConnection to start attempting reconnects immediately after the connection is lost. The default configuration also waits zero seconds to attempt reconnecting.

If the first reconnect attempt fails, the second reconnect attempt also starts immediately instead of waiting 2 seconds using the default configuration.

If the second reconnect attempt fails, the third reconnect attempt start in 10 seconds which is the same as the default configuration.

The configured reconnection timing differs from the default behavior by stopping after the third reconnect attempt failure instead of trying one more reconnect attempt in another 30 seconds.

For more control over the timing and number of automatic reconnect attempts, withAutomaticReconnect accepts an object implementing the IRetryPolicy interface, which has a single method named nextRetryDelayInMilliseconds.

nextRetryDelayInMilliseconds takes a single argument with the type RetryContext. The RetryContext has three properties: previousRetryCount, elapsedMilliseconds and retryReason which are a number, a number and an Error respectively. Before the first reconnect attempt, both previousRetryCount and elapsedMilliseconds will be zero, and the retryReason will be the Error that caused the connection to be lost. After each failed retry attempt, previousRetryCount will be incremented by one, elapsedMilliseconds will be updated to reflect the amount of time spent reconnecting so far in milliseconds, and the retryReason will be the Error that caused the last reconnect attempt to fail.

nextRetryDelayInMilliseconds must return either a number representing the number of milliseconds to wait before the next reconnect attempt or null if the HubConnection should stop reconnecting.

const connection = new signalR.HubConnectionBuilder()
    .withUrl("/chathub")
    .withAutomaticReconnect({
        nextRetryDelayInMilliseconds: retryContext => {
            if (retryContext.elapsedMilliseconds < 60000) {
                // If we've been reconnecting for less than 60 seconds so far,
                // wait between 0 and 10 seconds before the next reconnect attempt.
                return Math.random() * 10000;
            } else {
                // If we've been reconnecting for more than 60 seconds so far, stop reconnecting.
                return null;
            }
        }
    })
    .build();

Alternatively, code can be written that reconnects the client manually as demonstrated in the following section.

Manually reconnect

The following code demonstrates a typical manual reconnection approach:

1. A function (in this case, the start function) is created to start the connection.
2. Call the start function in the connection's onclose event handler.

async function start() {
    try {
        await connection.start();
        console.log("SignalR Connected.");
    } catch (err) {
        console.log(err);
        setTimeout(start, 5000);
    }
};

connection.onclose(async () => {
    await start();
});

Production implementations typically use an exponential back-off or retry a specified number of times.

Browser sleeping tab

Some browsers have a tab freezing or sleeping feature to reduce computer resource usage for inactive tabs. This can cause SignalR connections to close and may result in an unwanted user experience. Browsers use heuristics to figure out if a tab should be put to sleep, such as:

• Playing audio
• Holding a web lock
• Holding an IndexedDB lock
• Being connected to a USB device
• Capturing video or audio
• Being mirrored
• Capturing a window or display

Browser heuristics may change over time and can differ between browsers. Check the support matrix and figure out what method works best for your scenarios.

To avoid putting an app to sleep, the app should trigger one of the heuristics that the browser uses.

The following code example shows how to use a Web Lock to keep a tab awake and avoid an unexpected connection closure.

var lockResolver;
if (navigator && navigator.locks && navigator.locks.request) {
    const promise = new Promise((res) => {
        lockResolver = res;
    });

    navigator.locks.request('unique_lock_name', { mode: "shared" }, () => {
        return promise;
    });
}

For the preceding code example:

• Web Locks are experimental. The conditional check confirms that the browser supports Web Locks.
• The promise resolver, lockResolver, is stored so that the lock can be released when it's acceptable for the tab to sleep.
• When closing the connection, the lock is released by calling lockResolver(). When the lock is released, the tab is allowed to sleep.

Additional resources

• View or download sample code (how to download)
• JavaScript API reference
• JavaScript tutorial
• WebPack and TypeScript tutorial
• Hubs
• .NET client
• Publish to Azure
• Cross-Origin Requests (CORS)
• Azure SignalR Service serverless documentation
• Troubleshoot connection errors