There are at least three ways to create an Azure Function:
1. Use the Azure web interface (in Portal). This is a great way to create a simple Function app as it does not require an IDE. But this approach has limitations:
- There is no source control integration
- You cannot debug
- It is more difficult to add dependancies to external libraries
2. Visual Studio Code OR 3. Visual Studio
Both Visual Studio Code and Visual Studio have the following benefits:
- Source control integration via Git, TFS, etc.
- Debugging
- Easy integration with external libraries via Node Package Manager, Nuget, etc.
- A rich development environment
This post shows how to create an Azure Function using Visual Studio.
First, select “Cloud”, then select Azure Function.
Next, give your app a name.
Next, select the event that will cause the Function to execute. For this example, we are using the HttpTrigger event. You could also cause this to execute on a timer, or when something arrives on a queue, etc.
The following video will show the structure of the code that is auto-generated by Visual Studio and how to run/debug the solution.
That’s it. You are now ready to begin developing an Azure Function.