Sending Messages to an Azure Storage Queue

This tutorial guides you through the process of sending messages to an Azure Storage Queue using various programming languages. Azure Queues provide a reliable way to decouple application components and handle asynchronous tasks.

1. Set up your Development Environment

Ensure you have the necessary tools and SDKs installed. Refer to the official Azure SDK documentation for installation instructions.

// Replace with your actual connection string and queue name
string connectionString = "YOUR_AZURE_STORAGE_CONNECTION_STRING";
string queueName = "my-message-queue";

// Get the queue client
QueueClient queueClient = new QueueClient(connectionString, queueName);

// Create the queue if it doesn't exist
queueClient.CreateIfNotExists();

// Message to send
string messageText = "Hello, Azure Queues!";

// Send the message
SendReceipt receipt = queueClient.SendMessage(messageText);

Console.WriteLine($"Message sent. Message ID: {receipt.MessageId}");

from azure.storage.queue import QueueClient

# Replace with your actual connection string and queue name
connection_string = "YOUR_AZURE_STORAGE_CONNECTION_STRING"
queue_name = "my-message-queue"

# Get the queue client
queue_client = QueueClient.from_connection_string(connection_string, queue_name)

# Create the queue if it doesn't exist
queue_client.create_queue()

# Message to send
message_text = "Hello, Azure Queues!"

# Send the message
response = queue_client.send_message(message_text)

print(f"Message sent. Message ID: {response['message_id']}")

const { QueueClient } = require("@azure/storage-queue");

// Replace with your actual connection string and queue name
const connectionString = "YOUR_AZURE_STORAGE_CONNECTION_STRING";
const queueName = "my-message-queue";

// Get the queue client
const queueClient = new QueueClient(connectionString, queueName);

// Create the queue if it doesn't exist
async function createQueue() {
  await queueClient.createQueue();
  console.log(`Queue "${queueName}" created or already exists.`);
}

// Message to send
const messageText = "Hello, Azure Queues!";

// Send the message
async function sendMessage() {
  await createQueue();
  const response = await queueClient.sendMessage(messageText);
  console.log(`Message sent. Message ID: ${response.messageId}`);
}

sendMessage().catch((err) => {
  console.error("Error sending message:", err);
});

import com.azure.storage.queue.QueueClient;
import com.azure.storage.queue.QueueClientBuilder;
import com.azure.storage.queue.models.SendMessageResult;

public class SendQueueMessage {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Replace with your actual connection string and queue name
        String connectionString = "YOUR_AZURE_STORAGE_CONNECTION_STRING";
        String queueName = "my-message-queue";

        // Get the queue client
        QueueClient queueClient = new QueueClientBuilder()
            .connectionString(connectionString)
            .queueName(queueName)
            .buildClient();

        // Create the queue if it doesn't exist
        queueClient.createIfNotExists();

        // Message to send
        String messageText = "Hello, Azure Queues!";

        // Send the message
        SendMessageResult response = queueClient.sendMessage(messageText);

        System.out.println("Message sent. Message ID: " + response.getMessageId());
    }
}

2. Understanding Message Visibility

When you send a message, it becomes visible in the queue. You can optionally set a visibilityTimeout to delay when the message becomes available for retrieval. This is useful for scenarios where a task needs to be processed after a specific delay.

Example (C#) with visibility timeout:

using Azure.Storage.Queues.Models;
using System;

// ... (previous setup code)

// Send message with a 60-second visibility timeout
TimeSpan visibilityTimeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60);
SendReceipt receipt = queueClient.SendMessage(messageText, visibilityTimeout: visibilityTimeout);

Console.WriteLine($"Message sent with visibility timeout. Message ID: {receipt.MessageId}");

Next Steps

Now that you know how to send messages, learn how to receive and process messages from your Azure Storage Queue.