ASP.NET Core ETAg middleware

ETagMiddleware.cs

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.WebUtilities;
using Microsoft.Net.Http.Headers;
using System.IO;
using System.Security.Cryptography;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

public class ETagMiddleware
{
    private readonly RequestDelegate _next;

    public ETagMiddleware(RequestDelegate next)
    {
        _next = next;
    }

    public async Task InvokeAsync(HttpContext context)
    {
        var response = context.Response;
        var originalStream = response.Body;

        using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
        {
            response.Body = ms;

            await _next(context);

            if (IsEtagSupported(response))
            {
                string checksum = CalculateChecksum(ms);

                response.Headers[HeaderNames.ETag] = checksum;

                if (context.Request.Headers.TryGetValue(HeaderNames.IfNoneMatch, out var etag) && checksum == etag)
                {
                    response.StatusCode = StatusCodes.Status304NotModified;
                    return;
                }
            }

            ms.Position = 0;
            await ms.CopyToAsync(originalStream);
        }
    }

    private static bool IsEtagSupported(HttpResponse response)
    {
        if (response.StatusCode != StatusCodes.Status200OK)
            return false;

        // The 20kb length limit is not based in science. Feel free to change
        if (response.Body.Length > 20 * 1024)
            return false;

        if (response.Headers.ContainsKey(HeaderNames.ETag))
            return false;

        return true;
    }

    private static string CalculateChecksum(MemoryStream ms)
    {
        string checksum = "";

        using (var algo = SHA1.Create())
        {
            ms.Position = 0;
            byte[] bytes = algo.ComputeHash(ms);
            checksum = $"\"{WebEncoders.Base64UrlEncode(bytes)}\"";
        }

        return checksum;
    }
}

public static class ApplicationBuilderExtensions
{
    public static void UseETagger(this IApplicationBuilder app)
    {
        app.UseMiddleware<ETagMiddleware>();
    }
}

Startup.cs

// Add "app.UseETagger();" to "Configure" method in Startup.cs
public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)
{
    app.UseStaticFiles();
    
    // Add this after static files but before MVC in order to provide ETags to MVC Views and Razor Pages.
    app.UseETagger();

    app.UseMvc(routes =>
    {
        routes.MapRoute(
            name: "default",
            template: "{controller=Home}/{action=Index}/{id?}");
    });
}

@madskristensen Should you set the content-length to 0 if the response is a 304?

if (context.Request.Headers.TryGetValue(HeaderNames.IfNoneMatch, out var etag) && checksum == etag)
{
        response.StatusCode = StatusCodes.Status304NotModified;
        response.ContentLength = 0L;
        return;
}

I had 500 errors being thrown if the reponse body length didn't match the Content-Length.

@madskristensen Should you set the content-length to 0 if the response is a 304?

if (context.Request.Headers.TryGetValue(HeaderNames.IfNoneMatch, out var etag) && checksum == etag)
{
        response.StatusCode = StatusCodes.Status304NotModified;
        response.ContentLength = 0L;
        return;
}

I had 500 errors being thrown if the reponse body length didn't match the Content-Length.

Would this also work with Files returned using the "File()" method from controller methods?
@madskristensen

Would this also work with Files returned using the "File()" method from controller methods?
@madskristensen

It will as long as the File method doesn't close the stream before it reaches the middleware. It's probably not very efficient to serve files through it, since it does a stream copy regardless of response size.

Also, if you are using the UseDeveloperExceptionPage middleware, be sure to add it after the ETagging middleware, as the Developer Exception middleware writes to the stream directly.

It will as long as the File method doesn't close the stream before it reaches the middleware. It's probably not very efficient to serve files through it, since it does a stream copy regardless of response size.

Also, if you are using the UseDeveloperExceptionPage middleware, be sure to add it after the ETagging middleware, as the Developer Exception middleware writes to the stream directly.

Mh this doesn't look like a proper solution for ETag. ETag is meant to remove bandwidth/stress. The issue is, this Middleware needs a completely prepared Response which means exhaustive tasks to fetch data were already made. Or am i getting it wrong?

Mh this doesn't look like a proper solution for ETag. ETag is meant to remove bandwidth/stress. The issue is, this Middleware needs a completely prepared Response which means exhaustive tasks to fetch data were already made. Or am i getting it wrong?

@Memnarch But how can the Server know if the result he wants to return is already the one the client has cached? The ETag saves you the bandwith to actually transfer the data from the server to the client. The backend therefore saves resources because he can answer more efficiently, even though he had to process the content of the answer beforehand.
If you configured the cache to store and it is not yet expired, there will be no connection made to the server. If it is expired, but the ETag stays the same, the client can refresh the cache with the specified max age of the server and server does not have to actually send the data again.

@Memnarch But how can the Server know if the result he wants to return is already the one the client has cached? The ETag saves you the bandwith to actually transfer the data from the server to the client. The backend therefore saves resources because he can answer more efficiently, even though he had to process the content of the answer beforehand.
If you configured the cache to store and it is not yet expired, there will be no connection made to the server. If it is expired, but the ETag stays the same, the client can refresh the cache with the specified max age of the server and server does not have to actually send the data again.

Small edition to make sure that the response body is empty, so we can save bandwidth

if (context.Request.Headers.TryGetValue(HeaderNames.IfNoneMatch, out var etag) && checksum == etag) {
    response.StatusCode = StatusCodes.Status304NotModified;
    response.Headers[HeaderNames.ContentLength] = "0";
    response.ContentType = null;
    response.Body = null;
    return;
}

Small edition to make sure that the response body is empty, so we can save bandwidth

if (context.Request.Headers.TryGetValue(HeaderNames.IfNoneMatch, out var etag) && checksum == etag) {
    response.StatusCode = StatusCodes.Status304NotModified;
    response.Headers[HeaderNames.ContentLength] = "0";
    response.ContentType = null;
    response.Body = null;
    return;
}