If you’re a .NET developer, you may have heard the name Blazor, which is one of the hot technologies for building interactive web applications. Where does that fall, and how will it help you as a developer? A high-level overview of this would be that Blazor is a compelling framework allowing .NET developers to create dynamic, interactive, and modern web applications, but using C# instead of JavaScript. Whether you are working on a small project or building an enterprise-level application, Blazor could be your new best friend!
Here we will look into the basics of Blazor, when to use it, and have a simple example to see how to get started with this.
Significance of C# in Web Development
Blazor is part of ASP.NETÂ which makes it a natural fit for .NET developers who wish to expand their skills into web development. Up until now, creating web apps with interactivity had at least required a good understanding of either JavaScript itself or frameworks like React and Angular. Blazor changes that by letting you create web apps using your existing C# knowledge.
Blazor is designed to work seamlessly with .NET and allows sharing code between the client and the server. This can speed up development, reduce extra JavaScript code, and in general, make the process easier. Using C# top to bottom makes for a much more cohesive experience when developing, and it helps to make applications maintainable and scalable over time.
When to Use Blazor
Blazor is a great fit when highly interactive client-side applications running in the browser are required in scenarios like the following. Following are some common scenarios where Blazor shines:
Real-World Scenarios
Enterprise Applications: Blazor enables developers to create sophisticated internal applications for businesses, such as dashboards, admin portals, or reporting tools, without leaning much toward JavaScript frameworks.
Real-Time Data Applications: Whether you are developing applications requiring real-time updates, such as chat applications, live monitoring tools, or financial dashboards, Blazor provides easy integration for this feature. SPAs (Single-Page Applications): SPAs offer a dynamic user experience without frequent page reloads. Blazor is great with SPAs. Generally speaking, Blazor will be applicable as an alternative to SPAs with heavy JavaScript, maintaining everything in C#.
Cross-platform compatibility: Blazor applications can run in any modern web browser, and using Blazor Hybrid, you can also build cross-platform desktop and mobile applications that take advantage of the native capabilities of each platform.
Blazor Server vs Blazor WebAssembly: Which One to Choose?
Blazor comes in two flavors called Blazor Server and Blazor WebAssembly. Let us now look into high-level differences between them.
Blazor Server
The application code runs on a server, while the browser communicates with the server over a SignalR connection. This will mean less weight on the client side and quick loading time, but definitely requires a stable Internet connection.
Here is a general overview of how Blazor Server works:
Component-based architecture: Generally speaking, applications using Blazor Server will be composed by piecing together a hierarchy of components, which are reusable parts, typically .NET classes coupled with HTML markup to represent portions of the user interface. This encapsulates HTML markup, C# code, and event-handling logic for simplified construction and maintenance of complex user interfaces.
The biggest difference is that while the Blazor WebAssembly runs completely in the browser, the Blazor Server runs all application logic on the server, sending and receiving only UI events and updates.
Real-Time UI Updates with SignalR: Blazor Server employs a real-time communication library called SignalR, which maintains the channel open between the client and server. This way, Blazor Server can be very efficient in handling UI updates without doing a full reload of the page to ensure that your application is responsive and interactive.
Thin Client Model: Since the client receives just the necessary UI updates, not the entire application, it has a tiny footprint on the client and therefore works well on lower-powered devices or slower Internet connections.
Blazor WebAssembly
This is an application that, running inside a browser using WebAssembly, is capable of running the C# code on the client side. For some kinds of web apps, this makes it possible to work offline, reducing server round trips, which are typical for such apps.
If that’s the kind of application you’re building, one that requires a constant connectivity with low latency, then Blazor Server is likely a better fit. If the client needs to be more independent, Blazor WebAssembly offers an option suitable for offline capability.
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