Navigating Identity Server Scaffolding in Blazor WebAssembly Applications

Learn how to integrate Identity Server with Blazor WebAssembly effectively, ensuring a seamless user experience without compromising your architecture.
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Navigating Identity Server Scaffolding in Blazor WebAssembly Applications

Introduction

Creating a Blazor WebAssembly app can be a rewarding experience, but integrating Identity Server with a clean architecture can sometimes become a challenge. If you're using a hosted Blazor WebAssembly app and have attempted to scaffold Identity Server into your project, you might find yourself facing the issue of mixing .cshtml view files with your intended ASP.NET Core Web API. This mix can detract from the user experience you wish to provide. So, what can be done to maintain a clear separation between your API and your user interface?

In this guide, we'll explore the limitations of integrating native Razor pages with Blazor and discuss potential strategies to achieve the desired separation while still ensuring an improved user experience.

The Challenge: Mixing Razor Pages and Blazor

When scaffolding Identity Server within your Blazor WebAssembly application, it’s common for Razor pages to be introduced into your Blazor server project, which is primarily designed to handle API requests. This can lead to confusion as users may be redirected to traditional Razor pages, disrupting the seamless experience typical of single-page applications (SPAs).

Key Issues:

Separation of Concerns: It’s important to maintain a distinct separation between your backend API and the frontend application.

User Experience: It’s crucial for users to feel retained within the Blazor front-end, rather than being pulled away to traditional Razor pages.

Potential Solutions to Integrate Identity Server with Blazor

1. Maintain Razor Pages but Design with Unity

While you cannot directly move Razor pages to the Blazor front-end, you can design your application to make the transition less jarring for users. Here’s how:

Styling: Ensure the styles of Razor pages match your Blazor application to create a seamless visual experience.

Navigation Redirection: Utilize routing options in Blazor to direct users to relevant pages without feeling like they've left the app.

2. Create a Standalone Blazor and API Project

For optimal structure, you might consider setting up a standalone Blazor WebAssembly project alongside a dedicated Web API project and an IdentityServer4 project. Here’s how it works:

Flow of OpenID Connect: Users looking to log in are redirected to the Login page that's provided by the default template.

Design Integration: Use available styling options to mimic the look and feel of your Blazor front-end within these redirected pages.

3. Implementing Bearer Authentication

The most integrated solution involves adopting Bearer Authentication:

JWT Tokens: Your Web API can be configured to produce JWT tokens for users, which can then be stored in local or session storage.

Custom Login Component: Build a Blazor component for logins that captures user credentials and passes them to the appropriate Web API endpoints using the Fetch API, which is part of the HttpClient service in Blazor.

A Word of Caution

While the above methods can re-create a seamless experience, be aware that implementing such solutions requires a strong understanding of both Blazor and backend development. If you choose to pursue the custom login and API route, be prepared to invest significant time and effort into achieving a smooth user experience. The ultimate goal is to ensure the user never feels as though they have left the Blazor SPA.

Conclusion

Integrating Identity Server with a Blazor WebAssembly application while maintaining a clean architecture can indeed be a complex task. However, with intentional design choices and the right architectural decisions, you can create a user experience that feels cohesive and seamless. Whether you dec

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