Exercise – Enable automatic updates in a web application using SignalR Service

Completed

To support the new functionality, you need to create a few new functions and update the JavaScript on the client.

Create a SignalR account

You need to add a SignalR account to your sandbox subscription.

  1. The first step is to run the following command in the Cloud Shell to create a new SignalR account in the sandbox resource group. This command can take a couple of minutes to complete, so wait for it to finish before proceeding to the next step.

    SIGNALR_SERVICE_NAME=msl-sigr-signalr$(openssl rand -hex 5)
    az signalr create \
      --name $SIGNALR_SERVICE_NAME \
      --resource-group <rgn>[sandbox resource group name]</rgn> \
      --sku Free_DS2 \
      --unit-count 1
    
  2. For SignalR Service to work properly with Azure Functions, you need to set its service mode to Serverless. Configure the service mode using the following command.

    az resource update \
      --resource-type Microsoft.SignalRService/SignalR \
      --name $SIGNALR_SERVICE_NAME \
      --resource-group <rgn>[sandbox resource group name]</rgn> \
      --set properties.features[flag=ServiceMode].value=Serverless
    

Update local settings

For the app to run, you need to add the SignalR connection string saved to your local settings.

  1. Run the following commands in the Cloud Shell to get the connection strings for the resources we created in this exercise.

    SIGNALR_CONNECTION_STRING=$(az signalr key list \
      --name $(az signalr list \
        --resource-group <rgn>[sandbox resource group name]</rgn> \
        --query [0].name -o tsv) \
      --resource-group <rgn>[sandbox resource group name]</rgn> \
      --query primaryConnectionString -o tsv)
    
    printf "\n\nReplace <SIGNALR_CONNECTION_STRING> with:\n$SIGNALR_CONNECTION_STRING\n\n"
    
  2. Navigate to where you cloned the application and open the start folder in Visual Studio Code. Open local.settings.json in the editor so you can update the file.

  3. In local.settings.json, update the variable AzureSignalRConnectionString with the value listed in the Cloud Shell and save the file.

Manage client connections

The web client uses the SignalR client SDK to establish a connection to the server. The SDK retrieves the connection via a function named negotiate (by convention) to connect to the service.

  1. Open the Visual Studio Code command palette by pressing F1.

  2. Search for and select the Azure Functions: Create Function command.

  3. When prompted, provide the following information.

    Name Value
    Template HTTP Trigger
    Name negotiate
    Authorization level Anonymous

    Refresh the Explorer window in Visual Studio Code to see the updates. A folder named negotiate is now available in your function app.

  4. Open negotiate/function.json and add the following SignalR binding definition to the bindings array.

    {
        "type": "signalRConnectionInfo",
        "name": "connectionInfo",
        "hubName": "stocks",
        "direction": "in",
        "connectionStringSetting": "AzureSignalRConnectionString"
    }
    

    This configuration allows the function to return the connection information to the server, which is used to identify connected clients.

  5. Next, open negotiate/index.js and replace the existing function code with the following code.

    module.exports = async function (context, req, connectionInfo) {
        context.res.body = connectionInfo;
    };
    

    As the function is called, the SignalR connection is returned as the response to the function.

Now that the function to return the SignalR connection info is implemented, you can create a function responsible for pushing changes to the client.

Detect and broadcast database changes

First, you need to create a new function that listens for changes in the database. This function uses an Azure Cosmos DB trigger that connects to the change feed of the database.

  1. Open the Visual Studio Code command palette by pressing F1.

  2. Search for and select the Azure Functions: Create Function command.

  3. When prompted, provide the following information.

    Name Value
    Template Azure Cosmos DB Trigger
    Name stocksChanged
    App setting for your Azure Cosmos DB account AzureCosmosDBConnectionString
    Database name stocksdb
    Collection name stocks
    Collection name for leases leases
    Create lease collection if not exists true

    Now a folder named stocksChanged is created and contains the files for the new function.

  4. Open stocksChanged/function.json in Visual Studio Code.

  5. Append the property "feedPollDelay": 500 to the existing trigger binding definition. This setting tells Azure Cosmos DB how long to wait before checking for changes in the database. The application you're building is built around a push-based architecture. However behind the scenes, Azure Cosmos DB is continually monitoring the change feed to detect changes. The feedPollDelay refers to how the internals of Azure Cosmos DB recognize changes, not how your web application exposes changes to the data.

    The Azure Cosmos DB binding for your function should now look like the following code.

    {
      "type": "cosmosDBTrigger",
      "name": "documents",
      "direction": "in",
      "leaseCollectionName": "leases",
      "connectionStringSetting": "AzureCosmosDBConnectionString",
      "databaseName": "stocksdb",
      "collectionName": "stocks",
      "createLeaseCollectionIfNotExists": "true",
      "feedPollDelay": 500
    }
    
  6. Next, append the following SignalR output binding definition to the bindings array.

    {
      "type": "signalR",
      "name": "signalRMessages",
      "connectionString": "AzureSignalRConnectionString",
      "hubName": "stocks",
      "direction": "out"
    }
    

    This binding allows the function to broadcast changes to clients.

  7. Update the stocksChanged/index.js file to reflect the following code. The beauty of all the configuration is that the function code is simple.

    module.exports = async function (context, documents) {
        const updates = documents.map(stock => ({
            target: 'updated',
            arguments: [stock]
        }));
    
        context.bindings.signalRMessages = updates;
        context.done();
    }
    

    An array of changes is prepared by creating an object that's formatted for SignalR to read. Every updated stock is provided to the arguments array along with a target property set to updated.

    The value of the target property is used on the client when listening for specific messages broadcast by SignalR.

Update the web application

Open public/index.html and paste the following code in place of the current DIV with the ID of app.

<div id="app" class="container">
    <h1 class="title">Stocks</h1>
    <div id="stocks">
        <div v-for="stock in stocks" class="stock">
            <transition name="fade" mode="out-in">
                <div class="list-item" :key="stock.price">
                    <div class="lead">{{ stock.symbol }}: ${{ stock.price }}</div>
                    <div class="change">Change:
                        <span
                            :class="{ 'is-up': stock.changeDirection === '+', 'is-down': stock.changeDirection === '-' }">
                            {{ stock.changeDirection }}{{ stock.change }}
                        </span>
                    </div>
                </div>
            </transition>
        </div>
    </div>
</div>

This markup adds a transition element, which allows Vue.js to run a subtle animation as stock data changes. When a stock is updated, the tile fades out and quickly back in to view. This way if the page is full of stock data, users can easily see which stocks have changed.

Next, add the following script block just above the reference to index.html.js.

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@aspnet/signalr@1.1.0/dist/browser/signalr.js"></script>

This script adds a reference to the SignalR SDK.

Now open public/index.html.js and replace the file with the following code.

const LOCAL_BASE_URL = 'http://localhost:7071';
const REMOTE_BASE_URL = '<FUNCTION_APP_ENDPOINT>';

const getAPIBaseUrl = () => {
    const isLocal = /localhost/.test(window.location.href);
    return isLocal ? LOCAL_BASE_URL : REMOTE_BASE_URL;
}

const app = new Vue({
    el: '#app',
    data() {
        return {
            stocks: []
        }
    },
    methods: {
        async getStocks() {
            try {
                const apiUrl = `${getAPIBaseUrl()}/api/getStocks`;
                const response = await axios.get(apiUrl);
                app.stocks = response.data;
            } catch (ex) {
                console.error(ex);
            }
        }
    },
    created() {
        this.getStocks();
    }
});

const connect = () => {
    const connection = new signalR.HubConnectionBuilder()
                            .withUrl(`${getAPIBaseUrl()}/api`)
                            .build();

    connection.onclose(()  => {
        console.log('SignalR connection disconnected');
        setTimeout(() => connect(), 2000);
    });

    connection.on('updated', updatedStock => {
        const index = app.stocks.findIndex(s => s.id === updatedStock.id);
        app.stocks.splice(index, 1, updatedStock);
    });

    connection.start().then(() => {
        console.log("SignalR connection established");
    });
};

connect();

The changes you just made accomplished two goals: removed all polling logic from the client and added handlers to listen for messages coming from the server.

A new helper function is introduced which makes it easy for the application to work in local and deployed contexts.

const LOCAL_BASE_URL = 'http://localhost:7071';
const REMOTE_BASE_URL = '<FUNCTION_APP_ENDPOINT>';

const getAPIBaseUrl = () => {
    const isLocal = /localhost/.test(window.location.href);
    return isLocal ? LOCAL_BASE_URL : REMOTE_BASE_URL;
}

The getAPIBaseUrl function returns the appropriate URL depending on whether the app is running locally or deployed to Azure. In an upcoming exercise, the storage account endpoint replaces the placeholder <REMOTE_BASE_URL> when you deploy this application to the cloud.

The Vue.js-related code is streamlined now that changes are pushed to the client. Consider this segment of the code you pasted in to the script file:

const app = new Vue({
    el: '#app',
    data() {
        return {
            stocks: []
        }
    },
    methods: {
        async getStocks() {
            try {
                const apiUrl = `${getAPIBaseUrl()}/api/getStocks`;
                const response = await axios.get(apiUrl);
                app.stocks = response.data;
            } catch (ex) {
                console.error(ex);
            }
        }
    },
    created() {
        this.getStocks();
    },
});

The same stocks array is used here as in the previous implementation, but all the polling code is removed and the logic for getStocks remains unchanged. The getStocks function is still called as the component is created.

Next, consider this segment of the client code:

const connect = () => {
    const connection = new signalR.HubConnectionBuilder()
                            .withUrl(`${getAPIBaseUrl()}/api`)
                            .build();

    connection.onclose(()  => {
        console.log('SignalR connection disconnected');
        setTimeout(() => connect(), 2000);
    });

    connection.on('updated', updatedStock => {
        const index = app.stocks.findIndex(s => s.id === updatedStock.id);
        app.stocks.splice(index, 1, updatedStock);
    });

    connection.start().then(() => {
        console.log("SignalR connection established");
    });
};

connect();

When the page loads, the connect function is called. In the body of the connect function, the first action is to use the SignalR SDK to create a connection by calling HubConnectionBuilder. The result is a SignalR connection to the server.

To gracefully recover after the server has timed out, the onclose handler reestablishes a connection two seconds after the connection has closed by calling connect again.

As the client receives messages from the server, it listens for messages via the on('updated',... syntax. Once an update is received, the following actions take place:

  • The changed stock is located in the array.
  • The old version is removed.
  • The new version is inserted at the same index position in the array.

Manipulating the array this way allows Vue to detect changes in the data and trigger animation effects to notify users of changes.

Run the application

Now you can see the new version of the app running locally.

Press F5 to start debugging the functions app.

Next, open a new terminal window in Visual Studio Code and run npm start:

npm start

The script automatically opens the browser and navigates to http://localhost:8080. If the browser fails to open automatically, you can navigate to http://localhost:8080 manually.

Observe automatic updates

Now you can change the application's data and observe how to the UI automatically updates.

  1. Arrange Visual Studio Code on one side of the screen and the web browser on the other. This way you can see the UI update as changes are made to the database.

  2. Return to Visual Studio Code and enter the following command in a new integrated terminal. Again, watch as the application automatically updates the stock ABC.

    npm run update-data
    

After the database is updated, the UI looks something like the following screenshot:

End state of serverless web app.

When you're done, stop the running processes:

  • To stop the web server, select the kill process (trash can icon) on the terminal window that is running the web server.

  • To stop the functions app, select the Stop button or press Shift + F5.