Imagine having the ability to have your server-side code push data to your web page in real time, without the user needing to refresh the page. As they say, there are many ways to skin a cat, but the ASP.NET SignalR library provides developers with a simplified method to add real-time web functionality to applications.
To showcase the capabilities of SignalR, we'll build a simple ASP.NET Core SignalR chat application. This will include the use of NuGet and Node Package Manager (npm) to add the required package files to the project.
In this chapter, we will look into the following:
- Overall project layout
- Setting up the project
- Adding the SignalR libraries
- Building the server
- Creating a client
- Solution overview
- Running the application
Let's dive in.