Use streaming in ASP.NET Core SignalR
ASP.NET Core SignalR supports streaming from client to server and from server to client. This is useful for scenarios where fragments of data arrive over time. When streaming, each fragment is sent to the client or server as soon as it becomes available, rather than waiting for all of the data to become available.
View or download sample code (how to download)
Set up a hub for streaming
A hub method automatically becomes a streaming hub method when it returns IAsyncEnumerable<T>, ChannelReader<T>, Task<IAsyncEnumerable<T>>, or Task<ChannelReader<T>>.
Server-to-client streaming
Streaming hub methods can return IAsyncEnumerable<T> in addition to ChannelReader<T>. The simplest way to return IAsyncEnumerable<T> is by making the hub method an async iterator method as the following sample demonstrates. Hub async iterator methods can accept a CancellationToken parameter that's triggered when the client unsubscribes from the stream. Async iterator methods avoid problems common with Channels, such as not returning the ChannelReader early enough or exiting the method without completing the ChannelWriter<T>.
Note
The following sample requires C# 8.0 or later.
public class AsyncEnumerableHub : Hub
{
public async IAsyncEnumerable<int> Counter(
int count,
int delay,
[EnumeratorCancellation]
CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
for (var i = 0; i < count; i++)
{
// Check the cancellation token regularly so that the server will stop
// producing items if the client disconnects.
cancellationToken.ThrowIfCancellationRequested();
yield return i;
// Use the cancellationToken in other APIs that accept cancellation
// tokens so the cancellation can flow down to them.
await Task.Delay(delay, cancellationToken);
}
}
}
The following sample shows the basics of streaming data to the client using Channels. Whenever an object is written to the ChannelWriter<T>, the object is immediately sent to the client. At the end, the ChannelWriter is completed to tell the client the stream is closed.
Note
Write to the ChannelWriter<T> on a background thread and return the ChannelReader as soon as possible. Other hub invocations are blocked until a ChannelReader is returned.
Wrap logic in a try ... catch statement. Complete the Channel in a finally block. If you want to flow an error, capture it inside the catch block and write it in the finally block.
public ChannelReader<int> Counter(
int count,
int delay,
CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
var channel = Channel.CreateUnbounded<int>();
// We don't want to await WriteItemsAsync, otherwise we'd end up waiting
// for all the items to be written before returning the channel back to
// the client.
_ = WriteItemsAsync(channel.Writer, count, delay, cancellationToken);
return channel.Reader;
}
private async Task WriteItemsAsync(
ChannelWriter<int> writer,
int count,
int delay,
CancellationToken cancellationToken)
{
Exception localException = null;
try
{
for (var i = 0; i < count; i++)
{
await writer.WriteAsync(i, cancellationToken);
// Use the cancellationToken in other APIs that accept cancellation
// tokens so the cancellation can flow down to them.
await Task.Delay(delay, cancellationToken);
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
localException = ex;
}
finally
{
writer.Complete(localException);
}
}
Server-to-client streaming hub methods can accept a CancellationToken parameter that's triggered when the client unsubscribes from the stream. Use this token to stop the server operation and release any resources if the client disconnects before the end of the stream.
Client-to-server streaming
A hub method automatically becomes a client-to-server streaming hub method when it accepts one or more objects of type ChannelReader<T> or IAsyncEnumerable<T>. The following sample shows the basics of reading streaming data sent from the client. Whenever the client writes to the ChannelWriter<T>, the data is written into the ChannelReader on the server from which the hub method is reading.
public async Task UploadStream(ChannelReader<string> stream)
{
while (await stream.WaitToReadAsync())
{
while (stream.TryRead(out var item))
{
// do something with the stream item
Console.WriteLine(item);
}
}
}
An IAsyncEnumerable<T> version of the method follows.
Note
The following sample requires C# 8.0 or later.
public async Task UploadStream(IAsyncEnumerable<string> stream)
{
await foreach (var item in stream)
{
Console.WriteLine(item);
}
}
.NET client
Server-to-client streaming
The StreamAsync and StreamAsChannelAsync methods on HubConnection are used to invoke server-to-client streaming methods. Pass the hub method name and arguments defined in the hub method to StreamAsync or StreamAsChannelAsync. The generic parameter on StreamAsync<T> and StreamAsChannelAsync<T> specifies the type of objects returned by the streaming method. An object of type IAsyncEnumerable<T> or ChannelReader<T> is returned from the stream invocation and represents the stream on the client.
A StreamAsync example that returns IAsyncEnumerable<int>:
// Call "Cancel" on this CancellationTokenSource to send a cancellation message to
// the server, which will trigger the corresponding token in the hub method.
var cancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
var stream = hubConnection.StreamAsync<int>(
"Counter", 10, 500, cancellationTokenSource.Token);
await foreach (var count in stream)
{
Console.WriteLine($"{count}");
}
Console.WriteLine("Streaming completed");
A corresponding StreamAsChannelAsync example that returns ChannelReader<int>:
// Call "Cancel" on this CancellationTokenSource to send a cancellation message to
// the server, which will trigger the corresponding token in the hub method.
var cancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
var channel = await hubConnection.StreamAsChannelAsync<int>(
"Counter", 10, 500, cancellationTokenSource.Token);
// Wait asynchronously for data to become available
while (await channel.WaitToReadAsync())
{
// Read all currently available data synchronously, before waiting for more data
while (channel.TryRead(out var count))
{
Console.WriteLine($"{count}");
}
}
Console.WriteLine("Streaming completed");
In the previous code:
- The
StreamAsChannelAsyncmethod onHubConnectionis used to invoke a server-to-client streaming method. Pass the hub method name and arguments defined in the hub method toStreamAsChannelAsync. - The generic parameter on
StreamAsChannelAsync<T>specifies the type of objects returned by the streaming method. - A
ChannelReader<T>is returned from the stream invocation and represents the stream on the client.
Client-to-server streaming
There are two ways to invoke a client-to-server streaming hub method from the .NET client. You can either pass in an IAsyncEnumerable<T> or a ChannelReader as an argument to SendAsync, InvokeAsync, or StreamAsChannelAsync, depending on the hub method invoked.
Whenever data is written to the IAsyncEnumerable or ChannelWriter object, the hub method on the server receives a new item with the data from the client.
If using an IAsyncEnumerable object, the stream ends after the method returning stream items exits.
Note
The following sample requires C# 8.0 or later.
async IAsyncEnumerable<string> clientStreamData()
{
for (var i = 0; i < 5; i++)
{
var data = await FetchSomeData();
yield return data;
}
//After the for loop has completed and the local function exits the stream completion will be sent.
}
await connection.SendAsync("UploadStream", clientStreamData());
Or if you're using a ChannelWriter, you complete the channel with channel.Writer.Complete():
var channel = Channel.CreateBounded<string>(10);
await connection.SendAsync("UploadStream", channel.Reader);
await channel.Writer.WriteAsync("some data");
await channel.Writer.WriteAsync("some more data");
channel.Writer.Complete();
JavaScript client
Server-to-client streaming
JavaScript clients call server-to-client streaming methods on hubs with connection.stream. The stream method accepts two arguments:
- The name of the hub method. In the following example, the hub method name is
Counter. - Arguments defined in the hub method. In the following example, the arguments are a count for the number of stream items to receive and the delay between stream items.
connection.stream returns an IStreamResult, which contains a subscribe method. Pass an IStreamSubscriber to subscribe and set the next, error, and complete callbacks to receive notifications from the stream invocation.
connection.stream("Counter", 10, 500)
.subscribe({
next: (item) => {
var li = document.createElement("li");
li.textContent = item;
document.getElementById("messagesList").appendChild(li);
},
complete: () => {
var li = document.createElement("li");
li.textContent = "Stream completed";
document.getElementById("messagesList").appendChild(li);
},
error: (err) => {
var li = document.createElement("li");
li.textContent = err;
document.getElementById("messagesList").appendChild(li);
},
});
To end the stream from the client, call the dispose method on the ISubscription that's returned from the subscribe method. Calling this method causes cancellation of the CancellationToken parameter of the Hub method, if you provided one.
Client-to-server streaming
JavaScript clients call client-to-server streaming methods on hubs by passing in a Subject as an argument to send, invoke, or stream, depending on the hub method invoked. The Subject is a class that looks like a Subject. For example in RxJS, you can use the Subject class from that library.
const subject = new signalR.Subject();
yield connection.send("UploadStream", subject);
var iteration = 0;
const intervalHandle = setInterval(() => {
iteration++;
subject.next(iteration.toString());
if (iteration === 10) {
clearInterval(intervalHandle);
subject.complete();
}
}, 500);
Calling subject.next(item) with an item writes the item to the stream, and the hub method receives the item on the server.
To end the stream, call subject.complete().
Java client
Server-to-client streaming
The SignalR Java client uses the stream method to invoke streaming methods. stream accepts three or more arguments:
- The expected type of the stream items.
- The name of the hub method.
- Arguments defined in the hub method.
hubConnection.stream(String.class, "ExampleStreamingHubMethod", "Arg1")
.subscribe(
(item) -> {/* Define your onNext handler here. */ },
(error) -> {/* Define your onError handler here. */},
() -> {/* Define your onCompleted handler here. */});
The stream method on HubConnection returns an Observable of the stream item type. The Observable type's subscribe method is where onNext, onError and onCompleted handlers are defined.
Client-to-server streaming
The SignalR Java client can call client-to-server streaming methods on hubs by passing in an Observable as an argument to send, invoke, or stream, depending on the hub method invoked.
ReplaySubject<String> stream = ReplaySubject.create();
hubConnection.send("UploadStream", stream);
stream.onNext("FirstItem");
stream.onNext("SecondItem");
stream.onComplete();
Calling stream.onNext(item) with an item writes the item to the stream, and the hub method receives the item on the server.
To end the stream, call stream.onComplete().
Additional resources
ASP.NET Core
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