Skip to main content

How to start Windows Azure emulator when running unit tests

Unit test need to be written even if we are working with on-premise services or with services from cloud. When working with Windows Azure, there are times when we want to write some integration test for Windows Azure tables, blobs or queues.
For these cases we don’t want to hit the Windows Azure from the cloud. This would increase or monthly subscription costs. Usually for this this Windows Storage emulator is used in combination with development storage account.
When we are on a development machine, where we already have Windows Azure Emulator stared we will not have any kind of problems. But will happen on a machine where Windows Azure Emulator is not started. All the tests will fail.
We can write a code in the class initialize step that star the emulator. In the end, the emulator is only a process that can be started from the command line.
The code that we would need to use will look something like this:
public class CloudStorageEmulatorShepherd
    {       
        public void Start()
        {
            try
            {
                CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.DevelopmentStorageAccount;

                CloudBlobClient blobClient = storageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient();
                CloudBlobContainer container = blobClient.GetContainerReference("test");
                container.CreateIfNotExist(
                            new BlobRequestOptions()
                                {
                                    RetryPolicy = RetryPolicies.NoRetry(),
                                    Timeout = new TimeSpan(0, 0, 0, 1)
                                });
            }
            catch (TimeoutException)
            {
                ProcessStartInfo processStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo()
                {
                    FileName = Path.Combine(
                                        @"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Azure\Emulator",
                                        "csrun.exe"),
                    Arguments = @"/devstore",
                };

                using (Process process = Process.Start(processStartInfo))
                {
                    process.WaitForExit();
                }
            }
        }
    }
The path to the emulator can be different, based on Windows Azure version. This path can be extracted in the configuration file.  We are testing if the emulator is started by trying to creating a container.  It is very important to set the  NoRetry policty.
And in our unit test we would need something like this:
[ClassInitialize()]
public static void ClassInit(TestContext context)
{
    CloudStorageEmulatorShepherd shepherd= new CloudStorageEmulatorShepherd();
    shepherd.Start();
}
In this way, we will be able to run integration test with Windows Azure without any kind of problem.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Windows Docker Containers can make WIN32 API calls, use COM and ASP.NET WebForms

After the last post , I received two interesting questions related to Docker and Windows. People were interested if we do Win32 API calls from a Docker container and if there is support for COM. WIN32 Support To test calls to WIN32 API, let’s try to populate SYSTEM_INFO class. [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)] public struct SYSTEM_INFO { public uint dwOemId; public uint dwPageSize; public uint lpMinimumApplicationAddress; public uint lpMaximumApplicationAddress; public uint dwActiveProcessorMask; public uint dwNumberOfProcessors; public uint dwProcessorType; public uint dwAllocationGranularity; public uint dwProcessorLevel; public uint dwProcessorRevision; } ... [DllImport("kernel32")] static extern void GetSystemInfo(ref SYSTEM_INFO pSI); ... SYSTEM_INFO pSI = new SYSTEM_INFO(...

How to audit an Azure Cosmos DB

In this post, we will talk about how we can audit an Azure Cosmos DB database. Before jumping into the problem let us define the business requirement: As an Administrator I want to be able to audit all changes that were done to specific collection inside my Azure Cosmos DB. The requirement is simple, but can be a little tricky to implement fully. First of all when you are using Azure Cosmos DB or any other storage solution there are 99% odds that you’ll have more than one system that writes data to it. This means that you have or not have control on the systems that are doing any create/update/delete operations. Solution 1: Diagnostic Logs Cosmos DB allows us activate diagnostics logs and stream the output a storage account for achieving to other systems like Event Hub or Log Analytics. This would allow us to have information related to who, when, what, response code and how the access operation to our Cosmos DB was done. Beside this there is a field that specifies what was th...

Cloud Myths: Cloud is Cheaper (Pill 1 of 5 / Cloud Pills)

Cloud Myths: Cloud is Cheaper (Pill 1 of 5 / Cloud Pills) The idea that moving to the cloud reduces the costs is a common misconception. The cloud infrastructure provides flexibility, scalability, and better CAPEX, but it does not guarantee lower costs without proper optimisation and management of the cloud services and infrastructure. Idle and unused resources, overprovisioning, oversize databases, and unnecessary data transfer can increase running costs. The regional pricing mode, multi-cloud complexity, and cost variety add extra complexity to the cost function. Cloud adoption without a cost governance strategy can result in unexpected expenses. Improper usage, combined with a pay-as-you-go model, can result in a nightmare for business stakeholders who cannot track and manage the monthly costs. Cloud-native services such as AI services, managed databases, and analytics platforms are powerful, provide out-of-the-shelve capabilities, and increase business agility and innovation. H...