9 Best Practices for Blazor Web Application Development

Learn about the top 9 best practices for Blazor web application development.

Microsoft’s Blazor framework emerges as a significant tool for web development. Based on the ASP.NET ecosystem, Blazor redefines a modern approach to building interactive and dynamic web applications by seamlessly integrating C# and .NET functionalities.

Unlike traditional JavaScript frameworks, Blazor helps developers harness the power of C# across both server-side and client-side scenarios, resulting in a unified and streamlined development process. In this blog, we will explore the top 9 best practices for Blazor web applications, which will provide developers with all the essential tools to harness the full potential of Blazor. Let us begin.

Blazor is a single-page application development framework whose source code is owned by the .NET Foundation. The .NET Foundation is a popular non-profit organization that was specially created to support open-source projects based on the .NET framework.

The term Blazor is a combination of the words Browser and Razor. Blazor is capable of directly running Razor views on the client-side server to display HTML content in the browser. Many people get confused between Blazor and Silverlight. Silverlight was Microsoft’s attempt to host in-browser applications.

Top 9 Best Practices for Web Applications Developments with Blazor

After understanding a bit about Blazor, let’s dive deep into the best practices to help you develop Blazor web applications.

Mastering the Component Lifecycle

Knowledge of Blazor component lifecycle management is an essential step in using Blazor. Blazor runs on a component-oriented rendering system similar to other modern web application frameworks like React or Angular. Along with the knowledge of Blazor components, it is essential to understand when a Blazor component automatically re-renders and how you control it.

For example, you can override the ShouldRender lifecycle method to manage the UI refreshing rate. If this method returns an actual value, the component is successfully re-rendered.

Passing Data Between Blazor Components

Blazor allows you to pass data between components by using parameters. Components can have parameters that accept the data from their parent component. Thus, cascading parameters will enable you to pass the same data down through a component hierarchy, for example, from a parent to a child component, or even wrap ‘CascadingValue’ around the whole app context. This allows data to be shared across the application effectively.

Optimize the Performance

Continuously monitor performance considerations. Try to minimize the use of JavaScript interop as it can impact the performance. Instead, you can try using browser developer tools to identify the performance restrictions and optimize Blazor application performance accordingly.

This also includes wisely using JavaScript Interop inside the Blazor component. In Blazor, using JavaScript libraries and APIs effectively can result in better performance. You can also consider encapsulating the JavaScript interop calls within a Blazon component for superior organization.

Avoid Overloading with Rapid Events

Some browser events like onmousemove and onscroll can fire numerous times per second. However, in many cases, frequent UI changes are not required.

But if the events are triggered too rapidly, they can damage your UI responsiveness or consume excessive CPU time. Instead, you can use native events for rapid firing. Consider using JavaScript Interop to set up a callback that fires less frequently.

Avoid Unnecessary Re-renders

In Blazor, the components inherit from ComponentBase by default, which automatically calls StateHasChanged after the event handlers run. In some cases, you might not require the component to re-render after the execution of event handlers, significantly if the event handler doesn’t change the component’s state. In such scenarios, you can use the IHandleEvent interface in Blazor to control event handling.

To stop re-renders for all of a component’s event handlers, you can implement IHandleEvent and build a HandleEventAsync task that runs the event handler without calling StateHasChanged.

Choosing the Right Blazor Flavor

Depending upon the Blazor web application project, choose wisely between Blazor Server and Blazor WebAssembly. Blazor Server is recommended for applications requiring real-time updates and server-side processing. On the other hand, Blazor WebAssembly is suitable for client-side and single-page applications.

Keep the Development Process Simple

One often overlooked advice in software development, including Blazor development, is to keep things simple. For instance, when you need to pass a value to a component, begin with a component parameter. Why complicate things with an elaborate service and inject it into the child component when a simple component parameter will do the job?

Numerous intricate implementations could be simplified. The goal of the team should always be to use the simplest solution possible for any problem.

Secure Your Application

Learn about web security best practices like the OWASP Top 10 and implement them, especially when handling sensitive data. ASP.NET Core authentication and authorization allow you to safeguard your endpoints and Blazor pages. Ensure you store information required for your business and always incorporate HTTPS. Similarly, avoid storing passwords yourself and always use an authentication service provider.

If you have to store individual user account details, make sure you properly store the passwords by using a strong hashing algorithm like bcrypt.

Selecting the Right State Management

Depending on the complexity of your Blazor web application, selecting an appropriate state management technique is an important task. Fortunately, Blazor provides several options for state management. Component parameters, cascading values, and extracting the state are among the simplest methods.

Similarly, for big applications, a state management library such as Fluxor or any other global state container can be an ideal solution.

Conclusion

Blazor is a fantastic framework that provides all the necessary tools to enhance your skill set and build interactive applications. However, incorporating these best practices can help you handle the data effectively and seamlessly and synchronize the component interactions to provide a better user experience. Thus, applying these best practices will help you develop Blazor web applications that are easy to maintain and expand.

But whichever option you choose, always consider your application’s long-term needs and make sure your approach pays off in the long run.