Blazor on .NET 8 - Ten Reasons why Blazor on .NET 8 is a Game Changer

Summary

Gavin Law's video discusses the transformative impact of .NET 8 on Blazer applications, highlighting 10 key advancements. The introduction of Service Side Rendering (SSR) for faster load times and improved SEO is a significant update. Streaming rendering ensures a smooth user experience even with long-running operations. Enhanced navigation and form handling maintain SPA responsiveness while leveraging SSR benefits. The ability to choose component rendering mode at runtime allows developers to integrate various technologies like WebAssembly and server-rendering into a single project. Quick Grid, a lightweight component for data display, supports pagination and customization. Authentication is streamlined with client-friendly endpoints, and Razor components can now be integrated into different types of applications. The new feature to generate static HTML content broadens use cases, including email generation. Sections in Blazer allow dynamic content changes based on user navigation, and JIT interpreter promises faster rendering and JSON serialization for WebAssembly components. These improvements signify a major leap forward for Blazer applications.

Takeaways

• 🚀 **Service Side Rendering (SSR)**: Introduced in .NET 8, SSR allows for faster load times and improved SEO by rendering web pages on the server before sending them to the client.
• 📡 **Streaming Rendering**: Enhances the SPA experience by loading static parts of a page immediately and streaming dynamic content later, avoiding blank screens during long operations.
• ⚙️ **Enhanced Navigation and Form Handling**: .NET 8 improves navigation by updating only necessary parts of the DOM and maintains scroll position after form submission for a smoother user experience.
• 🔁 **Choose Component Rendering Mode at Runtime**: Developers can select the rendering mode (Blazor WebAssembly or Blazor Server) for components at runtime, providing flexibility and optimizing performance.
• 📊 **Quick Grid Component**: A lightweight, fast grid for displaying data with support for pagination, sorting, filtering, and customization, included with .NET 8.
• 🔐 **Improved Authentication**: .NET 8 simplifies authentication by removing the reliance on third-party components like Identity Server and introduces client-friendly endpoints for identity management.
• 🧩 **Razor Component Result Integration**: Allows for the integration of Razor components into various application types, including MVC, Razor Pages, Angular, or React, through the ability to return a Razor component result.
• ✂️ **Generate Static HTML Content**: Razor components can now be rendered outside of the ASP.NET environment, enabling the generation of static HTML content for scenarios like email generation.
• 𝄞 **Introduction of Sections**: Similar to MVC, sections in Blazor allow for dynamic content changes in specific parts of a web application based on the user's navigation context.
• ⚡ **JIT Interpreter**: .NET 8 includes limited JIT support for Blazor WebAssembly components, resulting in significant runtime speed improvements, including faster UI rendering and JSON serialization.

Q & A

What are the two available technologies for creating and rendering HTML in previous versions of .NET before .NET 8?

The two available technologies for creating and rendering HTML in previous versions of .NET are Blazor WebAssembly and Blazor Server. Blazor WebAssembly runs the application's code logic within the user's browser using WebAssembly technology, while Blazor Server maintains a persistent connection between the client and server through a SignalR connection.

How does Service Side Rendering (SSR) differ from Blazor Server and Blazor WebAssembly?

Service Side Rendering (SSR) does not require the code to run inside the user's browser like Blazor WebAssembly. Instead, the entire webpage is rendered on the server and then streamed to the user's browser via an HTTP response. This means no WebAssembly or SignalR connection is needed, and it can improve SEO and provide faster load times.

What is the advantage of Streaming Rendering in Blazor applications?

Streaming Rendering allows parts of a page to be loaded asynchronously in the user's browser via an HTTP response. This means that static parts of the page can load immediately, while dynamic parts that may take longer to render can be streamed later, maintaining the SPA (Single Page Application) effect and user experience.

How does enhanced navigation in Blazor on .NET 8 improve the user experience?

Enhanced navigation ensures that only the necessary parts of the webpage are downloaded from the server to the browser upon navigation. This means the browser's DOM is updated with only the required changes, avoiding a full page refresh and preserving the user's scroll position for a smoother and faster navigation experience.

What is the significance of being able to choose the component rendering mode at runtime in .NET 8?

The ability to choose the component rendering mode at runtime allows developers to select whether a page uses Blazor Server technology, streaming rendering, or Blazor WebAssembly. This flexibility enables developers to optimize the performance and user experience based on the specific needs of different parts of their application.

What is the Quick Grid component in .NET 8 and how does it benefit Blazor applications?

The Quick Grid component in .NET 8 is a fast, lightweight component designed to display data in a grid format. It supports pagination, sorting, filtering, and customization through CSS. It's particularly useful for displaying large datasets with virtualization, providing the appearance of continuous scrolling while only rendering the visible rows for optimal performance.

How has authentication been improved in .NET 8 for Blazor applications?

In .NET 8, authentication has been simplified by removing the dependency on a full OIDC (OpenID Connect) solution like Identity Server for many SPA applications. Microsoft has introduced client-friendly endpoints for identity management, allowing applications to obtain Bearer tokens, set up cookies, and query identity data stores more easily. Additionally, developers are no longer restricted to Razor Pages templates for authentication UI, enabling them to customize authentication flows using Blazor or other frontend frameworks like Angular or React.

What does the ability to return a Razor Component Result in .NET 8 allow developers to do?

The ability to return a Razor Component Result in .NET 8 allows developers to integrate Blazor components into other types of applications, such as MVC, Razor Pages, Angular, or React apps. This is achieved by returning the component result from a Minimal API or an MVC controller action, enabling the rendering of Blazor components instead of traditional views.

How can Blazor components be used for generating static HTML content in .NET 8?

In .NET 8, Blazor components can be rendered completely outside the context of HTTP requests, meaning they can be rendered as a string or stream. This allows developers to use Blazor components for templating HTML, which is particularly useful for generating static HTML fragments for scenarios like email generation.

What is the role of sections in Blazor applications in .NET 8?

Sections in Blazor applications in .NET 8 allow developers to change the content in certain parts of a component, such as a header, depending on the current webpage displayed to the user. This provides a way to dynamically update the UI based on the user's navigation context, enhancing the user experience.

What performance improvements are expected with the Just-In-Time (JIT) interpreter for Blazor WebAssembly components in .NET 8?

The Just-In-Time (JIT) interpreter for Blazor WebAssembly components in .NET 8 is expected to bring significant runtime speed improvements, including 20% faster UI rendering and 2x faster JSON serialization, enhancing the overall performance of Blazor WebAssembly applications.