Access Azure Storage through a Simple .NET Application

As I explore the Azure I got an idea of access and manipulate the azure storage through an application.as a IT Pro I’m not an expert of cording 😀 but I thought of giving a try to test it.

So first we have to create a azure storage account and create a container in blob storage

Next Create a .NET console application using Visual Studio

Create a new .NET console application
File->New->Project->Visual C#->Windows->Console Application
Then we need to import NuGet Package to the console application, right click the project in solution explore and click Manage NuGet Packages.
In NuGet Package window search for the WindowsAzure.Storage and install it as follows

Next step we have to modify the app.config file as follows

Note-Connection String can found in storage accounts keys setting

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <startup> 
        <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.5" />
        </startup>
<appSettings>
  <add key=”StorageConnectionString” value=”DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;Accou
ntName=<your account name>;AccountKey=<your account key>” /></appSettings>
</configuration>

Add relevant reference to the project to access the azure storage

Note:- To use the Configuration reference we have to add the System.Configuration dll file to the reference section in solution explorer.Refer this link

Add the relevant code to Program.cs file access the Azure blob

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Configuration;
using Microsoft.WindowsAzure;
using Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage;
using Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage.Auth;
using Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Storage.Blob;

namespace AzureStorageAccess
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            //Get storage account from connection string 
            CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["StorageConnectionString"]);

            //create a blob client from storage account 
            CloudBlobClient blobclient = storageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient();

            //retreve referance to container 
            CloudBlobContainer container = blobclient.GetContainerReference("mycontainer");

            //create a containe rif it doesnot exist 
            container.CreateIfNotExists();

            //retreve referance to a blob name "testblob"
            CloudBlockBlob blockBlob = container.GetBlockBlobReference("testblob");

            //create or overwrite the "testblob" with local files 
            using (var fileStream = System.IO.File.OpenRead(@"C:\storage\storage.txt"))
            {
                blockBlob.UploadFromStream(fileStream);
            }
        }
    }
}

Next Run the project and you will see a file uploaded to the azure storage container you mentioned in the code.

As you can see above the file storage.txt which stays at the local file system and i upload that file to the azure blob as myblob and the content of the file are same.