Azure Functions Tutorials

Getting Started with Azure Functions

What are Azure Functions?

Azure Functions is a serverless compute service that lets you run event-driven code without explicitly provisioning or managing infrastructure. You pay only for the time your code runs, and it automatically scales up or down based on demand. This makes it an ideal choice for building microservices, event-driven applications, and automated tasks.

Key benefits include:

Event-driven: Trigger code in response to a wide range of events (HTTP requests, timers, queue messages, database changes, etc.).
Serverless: Focus on writing code, not managing servers.
Scalable: Automatically scales based on workload.
Cost-effective: Pay-per-execution model.
Multi-language support: Write functions in C#, F#, Java, JavaScript, PowerShell, Python, and TypeScript.

Core Concepts

Before diving into tutorials, it's helpful to understand some core concepts:

Functions: The basic unit of compute in Azure Functions. A single function is typically responsible for a specific task.
Triggers: Define how a function is invoked. For example, an HTTP trigger starts a function when an HTTP request is received.
Bindings: Allow your function to declaratively connect to other Azure services or external data sources without writing custom integration code.
Runtime: The environment in which your functions execute.
Host: Manages the execution of functions, including triggers, bindings, and logging.

Tutorials to Explore

Choose a tutorial based on your needs and preferred programming language:

HTTP Triggered Functions

Learn how to create a function that responds to HTTP requests. This is fundamental for building APIs.

Timer Triggered Functions

Understand how to schedule function executions using a timer.

Working with Data

Discover how to use bindings to interact with other Azure services like Azure Cosmos DB or Azure Storage Queues.

Example: Writing data to Azure Blob Storage after an HTTP request.

This often involves setting up an output binding to Blob Storage.


// Example: C# Azure Function with Blob Output Binding
using Microsoft.Azure.Functions.Worker;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
using System.Net;

public static class HttpTriggerWithBlobOutput
{
    [Function("HttpTriggerWithBlobOutput")]
    public static async Task Run(
        [HttpTrigger(AuthorizationLevel.Function, "get", "post")] HttpRequestData req,
        [Blob("output-container/output.txt", FileAccess.Write)] Stream outputBlob,
        FunctionContext context)
    {
        var logger = context.GetLogger("HttpTriggerWithBlobOutput");
        logger.LogInformation("C# HTTP trigger function processed a request.");

        string requestBody = await new StreamReader(req.Body).ReadToEndAsync();
        await System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(requestBody).CopyToAsync(outputBlob);

        var response = req.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK);
        response.WriteString("Data successfully written to blob storage!");

        return response;
    }
}

Deployment and Management

Learn how to deploy your Azure Functions to the cloud and manage them.

Next Steps: Explore the official Azure Functions documentation for in-depth guides, API references, and advanced scenarios.

Azure Functions Documentation