WebAPI + OWIN + SignalR + Autofac

Question

I have been struggling on this issue for weeks now.

I have an app where i have configured owin backend with web api and autofac DI with background handfire jobs. I have alsmost looked at every question on Stackoveflow regarding this but nothing seems to work. My app regarding OWIN/Hangfire/WebAPI all seems to work okay. Until it comes to SignalR push messages.

If i call any notification hub endpoint from js client push messages go okay and i can receive push messages on any other connected client. But when i wan to send message from my api controller or hangfire job it never reaches to any client.

Startup.cs

public void Configuration(IAppBuilder app)
    {
        //var signalRHelper = new SignalRHelper(GlobalHost.ConnectionManager.GetHubContext<NotificationHub>());
        var constants = new Constants();
        constants.Set(ConstantTypes.AllyHrNoReplyEmailAddress, Util.Constants.AllyHrNoReplyEmailAddress);
        constants.Set(ConstantTypes.SendGridKey, Util.Constants.SendGridKey);
        constants.Set(ConstantTypes.EncryptionKey, Util.Constants.EncryptionKey);
        constants.Set(ConstantTypes.ApiUrl, Util.Constants.ApiUrl);
        constants.Set(ConstantTypes.RootFolder, Util.Constants.RootFolder);
        constants.Set(ConstantTypes.FrontEndUrl, Util.Constants.FrontEndUrl);

        GlobalConfiguration.Configuration
            .UseSqlServerStorage("AllyHrDb");
        var config = System.Web.Http.GlobalConfiguration.Configuration;

        var builder = new ContainerBuilder();
        var jobBuilder = new ContainerBuilder();
        var signalRBuilder = new ContainerBuilder();
        var hubConfig = new HubConfiguration();

        builder.RegisterApiControllers(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly()).PropertiesAutowired();

        builder.Register(x => constants);
        builder.RegisterModule(new ServiceModule());


        jobBuilder.Register(x => constants);
        jobBuilder.RegisterModule(new HangfireServiceModule());


        signalRBuilder.RegisterModule(new SignalRServiceModule());
        signalRBuilder.Register(x => constants);
        signalRBuilder.RegisterType<AutofacDependencyResolver>().As<IDependencyResolver>().SingleInstance();
        signalRBuilder.RegisterType<ConnectionManager>().As<IConnectionManager>().ExternallyOwned().SingleInstance();
        signalRBuilder.RegisterType<NotificationHub>().ExternallyOwned().SingleInstance();
        signalRBuilder.RegisterType<SignalRHelper>().PropertiesAutowired().ExternallyOwned().SingleInstance();
        signalRBuilder.Register(context => context.Resolve<IDependencyResolver>().Resolve<IConnectionManager>().GetHubContext<NotificationHub, INotificationHub>()).ExternallyOwned().SingleInstance();

        var hubContainer = signalRBuilder.Build();

        builder.RegisterInstance(hubContainer.Resolve<IConnectionManager>());
        builder.RegisterInstance(hubContainer.Resolve<IHubContext<INotificationHub>>());
        builder.RegisterInstance(hubContainer.Resolve<NotificationHub>());
        builder.RegisterInstance(hubContainer.Resolve<SignalRHelper>());

        jobBuilder.RegisterInstance(hubContainer.Resolve<IHubContext<INotificationHub>>());
        jobBuilder.RegisterInstance(hubContainer.Resolve<NotificationHub>());
        jobBuilder.RegisterInstance(hubContainer.Resolve<SignalRHelper>());

        var container = builder.Build();
        var jobContainer = jobBuilder.Build();


        var idProvider = new SignalRCustomUserIdProvider();
        hubConfig.Resolver = new AutofacDependencyResolver(hubContainer);
        hubConfig.Resolver.Register(typeof(IUserIdProvider), () => idProvider);
        app.Map("/signalr", map =>
        {
            map.UseCors(CorsOptions.AllowAll);
            map.UseOAuthBearerAuthentication(new OAuthBearerAuthenticationOptions()
            {
                Provider = new QueryStringOAuthBearerProvider()
            });
            map.RunSignalR(hubConfig);
        });
        GlobalConfiguration.Configuration.UseAutofacActivator(jobContainer);

        app.UseAutofacMiddleware(container);
        app.UseAutofacWebApi(config);
        app.UseHangfireServer();
        app.UseHangfireDashboard();
        ConfigureAuth(app);
        app.UseWebApi(config);
    }

I had to use different container because i have db set to InstancePerRequest scope.

All my services are being resolved in notification hub class, no problems there. The only issues is when i try and send message from hangfire service or even from api controller using hub context it never reaches to any client.

NotificationHub.cs

public interface INotificationHub
{
    /// <summary>
    /// 
    /// </summary>
    void pushNotification(string message);
    /// <summary>
    /// 
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="model"></param>
    void getNotification(object model);
    void getMessage(object model);
}
/// <summary>
/// Notification Hub
/// </summary>
[HubName("NotificationHub")]
[Authorize]
public class NotificationHub : Hub<INotificationHub>
{
    /// <summary>
    /// 
    /// </summary>
    public static IHubContext<INotificationHub> GlobalContext { get; private set; }
    private readonly IChatMessagingService _chatMessagingService;
    private readonly IUserService _userService;
    private Guid LoggedInUserId
    {
        get
        {
            var claims = ((ClaimsIdentity)Context.User.Identity).Claims.ToArray();
            var userIdClaim = claims.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Type.Equals("UserId"));
            if (userIdClaim == null) return Guid.Empty;
            return Guid.Parse(userIdClaim.Value);
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Consructor
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="lifetimeScope"></param>
    /// <param name="context"></param>
    public NotificationHub(ILifetimeScope lifetimeScope, IHubContext<INotificationHub> context)
    {
        GlobalContext = context;
        try
        {
            var childScope = lifetimeScope.BeginLifetimeScope();
            _chatMessagingService = childScope.Resolve<IChatMessagingService>();
            _userService = childScope.Resolve<IUserService>();
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(e);
            throw;
        }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Notifications
    /// </summary>
    public void Notifications()
    {
        Clients.All.pushNotification("AllyHr" + LoggedInUserId);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Send Message
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="model"></param>
    public void SendMessage(SendChatMessageBindingModel model)
    {
        var chatMessage = _chatMessagingService.SendMessageToGroup(LoggedInUserId, model.GroupId, model.Message);
        var recipientIds = _chatMessagingService.GetChatMembersByGroupId(LoggedInUserId, model.GroupId);
        var stringUserIds = new List<string>();
        var chatGroup = _chatMessagingService.GetChatGroupById(model.GroupId);
        foreach (var recipientId in recipientIds)
        {
            stringUserIds.Add(recipientId.ToString());
        }
        Clients.Users(stringUserIds).getNotification(new
        {
            message = "A new Message is Recieved in Chat Group: " + chatGroup.Name,
            groupId = chatGroup.Id
        });

        var chatMessageVm = chatMessage.Map<ChatMessage, ChatMessageViewModel>();
        chatMessageVm.Sender = _userService.Get(chatMessageVm.SenderId).Map<User, UserViewModel>();
        stringUserIds.Add(LoggedInUserId.ToString());
        Clients.Users(stringUserIds).getMessage(chatMessageVm);
    }

}

signalRhelper.cs use to call from api or from Hangfire services

public class SignalRHelper
{
    public IConnectionManager ConnectionManager { get; set; }
    public IHubContext<INotificationHub> HubContext { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Send Notifications to Users
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="message"></param>
    /// <param name="userIds"></param>
    public void GetNotification(object message, IList<string> userIds)
    {
        HubContext.Clients.Users(userIds).getNotification(message);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Get LoggedInUser Id for SignalR
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="user"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static Guid GetLoggedInUserId(IPrincipal user)
    {
        var claim = GetLoggedinUserClaim(user);
        if (claim == null) return Guid.Empty;
        return Guid.Parse(claim.Value);
    }
    private static Claim GetLoggedinUserClaim(IPrincipal user)
    {
        var claim = ((ClaimsIdentity)user.Identity).Claims.ToArray();
        return claim.FirstOrDefault(x => x.Type.Equals("UserId"));
    }
}

Answer 1

Could this be related to Autofac creating a new lifetimescope for your call, but you were expecting to continue using the existing scope? Maybe check your autofac registrations for singleinstance / instanceperlifetimescope Just saying, but have you registered any static classes? They can keep your scope alive for far too long.

I see you're using multiple containerbuilders - that's not something we do over here, we have one 'massive' containerbuilder for each app. I'm curious why you're doing that? To satisfy my curiosity, could you try using a single containerbuilder and registering everything on that single builder? (Although it looks like this is a pattern for SignalR and autofac)

The documentation says : " a common error in OWIN integration is the use of GlobalHost."

It looks like you're doing exactly that.