Question

I heard SignalR is a good messaging library. I got some code for SignalR but I am not able to understand how it works.

JS

var hooking;
$(function() {

  hooking = $.connection.hooking;
  hooking.removeLead = function(ref) {
    $("lead" + ref).remove();
  };

  $.connection.hub.start();
});

C#

// Hooking.cs (placed in application root)
public class Hooking : Hub
{
  public void Submit(string jsonString)
  {
    var serializer = new JavaScriptSerializer();
    var json = serializer.Deserialize<HookingLeadResult>(jsonString);
    Clients.removeLead(json.Ref); // Remove lead from client hooking windows
    // update lead gen
  }
}

I have questions about the above code.

• What does hooking mean ins $.connection.hooking;
• Where is removeLead in hooking.removeLead
• What will this do $.connection.hub.start(); ? What does it start? Which method it will invoke at the server side?
• Who & how Submit method will be called at the server side? how to pass data from client side to server side. If possible please give me a url for good start for SignalR library.

Answer 1

The Javascript function hooking.removeLead will be invoked whenever you call Clients.removeLead(). All the bindings are done dynamically, between Javascript to C# and between C# and Javascript.

$.connection.hub.start() is actually the connect function. It will connect your client to the server. No messages can be sent or received until you do. The start function allows you to define a callback to be called when it’s done connecting.

The Submit method at the server will be called whenever you do a hooking.submit(json) call on your client. For instance, as a result of the user filling in some form and clicking a button.

I recommend starting with the SignalR official wiki: http://www.asp.net/signalr