Get Started with Azure Table Storage

Create an Azure Storage Account:

First, you need an Azure Storage account. You can create one through the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or PowerShell. In the Azure portal, search for "Storage accounts", click "Create", and follow the prompts.

Install Azure Table Storage Client Library:

Depending on your development language, install the relevant Azure SDK client library. For example, using NuGet for .NET:

dotnet add package Azure.Data.Tables

Or using pip for Python:

pip install azure-data-tables

Connect to Table Storage:

You'll need your storage account name and a connection string or shared access signature (SAS) to authenticate. You can find these in the "Access keys" section of your storage account in the Azure portal.

Example (Python):

from azure.data.tables import TableServiceClient

connection_string = "YOUR_STORAGE_CONNECTION_STRING"
table_name = "MySampleTable"

table_service_client = TableServiceClient.from_connection_string(conn_str=connection_string)
table_client = table_service_client.get_table_client(table_name=table_name)

Create a Table:

If the table doesn't exist, create it. Table names must be ASCII, between 3 and 63 characters long, and can contain only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens. They cannot start or end with a hyphen.

Example (Python):

try:
    table_client.create_table()
    print(f"Table '{table_name}' created.")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Table '{table_name}' might already exist or an error occurred: {e}")

Insert an Entity:

Entities are represented as dictionaries. You must include PartitionKey and RowKey.

Example (Python):

from datetime import datetime

entity = {
    u"PartitionKey": u"users",
    u"RowKey": u"user1",
    u"email": u"user1@example.com",
    u"age": 30,
    u"registeredOn": datetime.utcnow()
}
try:
    entity_client = table_client.upsert_entity(entity)
    print("Entity inserted successfully.")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error inserting entity: {e}")

Query Entities:

Retrieve entities from your table. You can filter by partition key or apply more complex OData filters.

Example (Python - retrieve all entities from "users" partition):

print("Retrieving entities:")
for entity in table_client.list_entities(filter="PartitionKey eq 'users'"):
    print(f"  PartitionKey: {entity['PartitionKey']}, RowKey: {entity['RowKey']}, Email: {entity['email']}")

Update an Entity:

Use upsert_entity to update an existing entity. If the entity exists, it's updated; otherwise, it's inserted.

Example (Python - update age):

entity_to_update = {
    u"PartitionKey": u"users",
    u"RowKey": u"user1",
    u"age": 31 # Updated age
}
try:
    table_client.upsert_entity(entity_to_update, mode="merge")
    print("Entity updated successfully.")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error updating entity: {e}")

Delete an Entity:

Remove an entity using its partition key and row key.

Example (Python):

try:
    table_client.delete_entity(u"users", u"user1")
    print("Entity deleted successfully.")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error deleting entity: {e}")

Delete a Table:

Remove the entire table and all its data.

Example (Python):

try:
    table_client.delete_table()
    print(f"Table '{table_name}' deleted.")
except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error deleting table: {e}")