ASP.NET SignalR for smartcard login

Question

User322464738 posted

Hello,

Is ASP.NET Core SignalR a good fit for the following use case:

For a digital signage system I need to provide an option to login by using a smartcard reader instead of the normal login/password login you mostly find with web apps.

In short I was thinking of:
Having a (separate) C# console app on the client (touch screen with e.g. a Raspberry Pi) interfacing with a smartcard reader (connected via USB to the RPi) reading an badge/card, this same app calls eg. a REST API (on the server) for checking if the user/badge has access. If yes, using SignalR using WebSockets "calling" the client screen web client so that it can update it's screen.

Would SignalR a solution for these kind of use cases, or what would be a more used approach?

Thanks.
Guy

Answer 1

User475983607 posted

If this is a browser based application and I understand your setup, you'll need a host running on the Pi. The localhost will handle the smartcard reader hardware.  Essentially the browser polls (or long pools) an local URL.  That URL runs code looking for a smartcard scan.  Once scanned the host redirects the browser to an authentication endpoint on a remote machine which verifies the smartcard Id.