Receiving chat messages with SignalR

Question

I tested the SignalR solution in Xamarin Forms and .net core backend and it works great:
https://montemagno.com/real-time-communication-for-mobile-with-signalr/

However, I am wondering how to keep receiving the messages when the app is in background mode, as this solution (in the link) only works when you have the app open on the chat page....
Do I need to implement my own push notifications? If that is the case it defeats the purpose of SignalR so I hope there is another way that I haven't found yet :)

Thanks

Answer 1

There is a solution to address this problem:

Since signalR disconnects when the app goes to the background and some time passes. The OnResume and OnSleep events are where you have to do all the magic. When it goes to OnSleep it disconnects SignalR and when you return to OnResume you reconnect it and check the new messages.

Answer 2

Hi Stesvis-5434,

in fact it is possible to receive messages in background mode, all you need is whether a Background Worker for UWP apps :
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.componentmodel.backgroundworker?view=net-5.0

or another example is Service Workers in PWA :
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/progressive-web-apps-chromium/serviceworker

it depend more on the platform you are using, for example here is an article about creating an Android service using xamarin:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/android/app-fundamentals/services/creating-a-service/

Hope it helps!

Best Regards.