SignalR as WCF web socket service - signalr

Question

Is it possible to host SignalR as a part of WCF websocket service and not as a part of ASP.net web site. I am aware about pushing mesage from a web service to signalR clients but is it also possible tht when the socket connection is opened from browser it maps to a web serivce contract?

Answer 1

You can self-host the SignalR server:
Taken from (https://github.com/SignalR/SignalR/wiki/QuickStart-Hubs):
Getting Started
To get started, Install the following packages:
Install-Package Microsoft.Owin.Hosting -pre
Install-Package Microsoft.Owin.Host.HttpListener -pre
Install-Package Microsoft.AspNet.SignalR.Owin -pre
using System;
using Microsoft.AspNet.SignalR;
using Microsoft.Owin.Hosting;
using Owin;
namespace SignalR.Hosting.Self.Samples
{
class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string url = "http://172.0.0.01:8080";
using (WebApplication.Start<Startup>(url))
{
Console.WriteLine("Server running on {0}", url);
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}
class Startup
{
public void Configuration(IAppBuilder app)
{
// This will map out to http://localhost:8080/signalr by default
// This means a difference in the client connection.
app.MapHubs();
}
}
public class MyHub : Hub
{
public void Send(string message)
{
Clients.All.addMessage(message);
}
}
}

Answer 2

You can host the SignarR hub in any .Net application, like:
public class Program
{
public static void Main(string[] args)
{
// Connect to the service
var hubConnection = new HubConnection("http://localhost/mysite");
// Create a proxy to the chat service
var chat = hubConnection.CreateProxy("chat");
// Print the message when it comes in
chat.On("addMessage", message => Console.WriteLine(message));
// Start the connection
hubConnection.Start().Wait();
string line = null;
while((line = Console.ReadLine()) != null)
{
// Send a message to the server
chat.Invoke("Send", line).Wait();
}
}
}
Ref: https://github.com/SignalR/SignalR/wiki/QuickStart-Hubs
If there any specific reason you want to use WCF? you can write your service as SignarR hub only.