SignalR is a library that simplifies building real-time web applications. It provides a bi-directional communication channel between the client and server, allowing for real-time updates to be sent to clients without the need for the client to make repeated requests.
With SignalR, you can build applications that have features such as live chat, real-time notifications, collaborative document editing, and more. SignalR handles the complexities of managing connections, scaling, and handling reconnections, making it easy to build real-time web applications.
SignalR supports multiple transport protocols, including WebSockets, Server-Sent Events, and Long Polling, ensuring that the application will work in environments where certain protocols may not be available.
To use SignalR, you need to install the SignalR library and configure it in your application. You can then define server-side hub classes that clients can connect to. Clients can then use the SignalR JavaScript client library to connect to the hub and receive real-time updates from the server.
SignalR allows you to send messages from both the server to the client and from the client to the server. Server-side hubs can define methods that clients can call, and clients can define methods that the server can call. This bi-directional communication allows for real-time collaboration and interaction between clients and servers.
Overall, SignalR provides a simple and powerful way to build real-time web applications, enabling developers to easily add real-time functionality to their applications without having to worry about the underlying complexities of real-time communication.