SignalR + posting a message to a Hub via an action method

Question

I am using the hub- feature of SignalR (https://github.com/SignalR/SignalR) to publish messages to all subscribed clients:

public class NewsFeedHub : Hub
public void Send(string channel, string content)
{
    Clients[channel].addMessage(content);
}

This works fine when calling "Send" via Javascript, but I would also like the web application to publish messages (from within an ASP.NET MVC action method). I already tried instantiating a new object ob NewsFeedHub and calling the Send method, but this results in an error (as the underlying "Connection" of the Hub is not set). Is there a way to use the Hub without a connection?

Answer 1

Please note that the SignalR API has changed multiple times since this question was asked. There is a chance that some answers will become out of date. This does not mean that they should be down-voted as they were correct at the time of writing

There is another updated answer for this, as seen in the SignalR Wiki

c#

Public ActionResult MyControllerMethod()
{
    var context = GlobalHost.ConnectionManager.GetHubContext<MyHub>();
    context.Clients.All.methodInJavascript("hello world");
    // or
    context.Clients.Group("groupname").methodInJavascript("hello world");
}

vb.net

Public Function MyControllerMethod() As ActionResult
    Dim context = GlobalHost.ConnectionManager.GetHubContext(Of MyHub)()
    context.Clients.All.methodInJavascript("hello world")
    '' or
    context.Clients.Group("groupname").methodInJavascript("hello world")
End Function

Update

This code has been updated. Follow http://www.asp.net/signalr/overview/signalr-20/hubs-api/hubs-api-guide-server for changes.

If you are using DI container

If you are using a DI container to wire up your hubs, get IConnectionManager from your container, and call GetHubContext on that connectionManager.