Windows 10: Connect your Windows app to Azure IoT Hub with Visual Studio

Brink · Mar 2, 2016

Hello, Makers!

A key part of being productive is having great tools. For developers, this can make the difference between a successful app that delights our users and a project that never got off the ground.

In our last post, we talked about writing a UWP app that connects to the Azure IoT Hub. We said that we’re far from done in our mission to make cloud connectivity easy and accessible. So we went back to work and built a tool that we think you’re going to love.

Say hi to Connected Service for Azure IoT Hub

Previously, connecting to Azure IoT Hub involved getting the connection string from the Azure Portal, feeding that to another tool such as the iothub-explorer to create a device identity, then using the device-specific connection string in your code. You also needed to figure out what API to pass this connection string to, and so on.

To make this process simpler, we built a new tool – the Connected Service for Azure IoT Hub, a Visual Studio extension that takes away the hassle of dealing with connection strings and other error-prone details.

You can download the extension from the Visual Studio Gallery here: Connected Service for Azure IoT Hub - Visual Studio Marketplace. Simply click the Download button and follow the prompts to install the extension.

The extension supports C# and C++ languages, but we’re looking at supporting other project types in the future.

Get connected

To connect your app to an instance Azure IoT Hub, right-click the References node of your project in Solution Explorer and select Add Connected Service…:

In the next window, choose Azure IoT Hub:

Now, click Configure. You’ll need to pick an existing IoT Hub (or click Add to create a new one):

Finally, you’ll be asked to pick one of the devices associated with your IoT Hub:

If you don’t have any devices, the list will be empty; click New Device to create a new one.

After you click OK, the extension will generate a new file, AzureIoTHub.cs, and add it to your project.

The code

take a closer look at the generated code in AzureIoTHub.cs. The file contains a class, AzureIoTHub with two static functions, SendDeviceToCloudMessageAsync and ReceiveCloudToDeviceMessageAsync.

The functions create a device client and send a simple message to the device specified in the connection string, which is also generated in the file:

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11 public static async Task SendDeviceToCloudMessageAsync()
{
var deviceClient =
DeviceClient.CreateFromConnectionString(deviceConnectionString,
TransportType.Http1);

var str = &quot;Hello, Cloud!&quot;;
var message = new Message(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(str));

await deviceClient.SendEventAsync(message);
}

As you can see, the code in the generated functions is merely a starting point – unless your app really intends to send “Hello Cloud!” messages, you’ll want to modify this code.

Because the functions are static and take no parameters, you can call them from any place in your application, for example from the constructor of the MainPage:

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5 public MainPage()
{
this.InitializeComponent();
AzureIoTHub.SendDeviceToCloudMessageAsync();
}

That’s it, you just sent a message to your device! Similarly, you can invoke the other function, ReceiveCloudToDeviceMessageAsync, to receive a message sent to your device from the IoT Hub.

Did it work?

There are several ways to verify that your message has arrived at its destination. You could build a simple app as described in our previous post (scroll to the end of the post). Another option is to use the iothub-explorer tool (also introduced in that post):

iothub-explorer <yourConnectionString> monitor-events MyDevice

Wrapping up

We hope you find the Connected Service for Azure IoT Hub useful. As always, your feedback is welcome – leave your comments here or head over to our GitHub page and submit an issue.
Click to expand...

Source: Connect your Windows app to Azure IoT Hub with Visual Studio | Building Apps for Windows

:)

Jimbohalo10 · Mar 2, 2016

Free trial version of Microsoft Azure IoT Suite for understanding and experimentation

Also when I login to Microsoft Azure IoT using my professional account and when sign up for Microsoft Azure,

will it get charged to my professional account?

When you say professional account, I assume you mean you MSDN TechNet account. Then you will get more credits than the $200 USD (£125 UK) for free. You have to give Credit Card for proof who you say you are. You need a cell/mobile phone to get the security
code. Its FREE until you hit your limit of cost. Then if using MSDN professional of Visual Studio Pro/Enterprise wait till next months credits or convert to Pay-As-You-Go account on your credit card. Just takes as much as you use per month billing use the
Azure Cost Calculator to forecast how much you will spend and Online account billing to see how much you spent.

see the FREE Amazon Kindle book
Fundamentals of Azure which covers all your questions on Azure IoT

Pradeep_Patil · Mar 2, 2016

Free trial version of Microsoft Azure IoT Suite for understanding and experimentation

I want to use Microsoft Azure IoT Suite for understanding and experimentation.

Basically I want to develop a sample application using Azure IoT.

For that I click on link “Free Trial” -> “Try It Now“, options available on Microsoft Azure IoT web site.

Then It take me to the page where I need to sign up with page title as Microsoft Azure.

If I use my personal account to log in to Microsoft Azure web site, on sign up page for Azure IoT it asks me credit card details.

And when I use my professional account (provided by my company) then it does not ask for credit card details, why so?

Also when I login to Microsoft Azure IoT using my professional account and when sign up for Microsoft Azure,

will it get charged to my professional account?

For now I need free trial only.

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