slidedeck for a talk at the Microsoft Technology User Group on April 18th 2013.

1. Windows Azure Mobile Services from
Start to REST
MTUG.ie Windows azure group #irishazureheads
April 2013

2. Aidan Casey
Solutions architect @MYOB Australia
aidancasey@gmail.com | @AIDANJCASEY | acaseyblog.wordpress.com

3. Agenda
Overview
Storage
Push Notifications
Authentication & Authorisation
Scheduler
Diagnostics & Scale
Prize Giveaway!
Questions & Answers

5. SDK’s
• Windows Store
• Windows Phone 8
• iOS
• Android
• JavaScript
All SDK’s are open sourced..
github.com/WindowsAzure/azure-mobile-services

6. What we are gonna build tonight

8. The swag that’s up for grabs!

9. Demo
CREATING A NEW MOBILE SERVICES STACK & TWEET
AGGREGATOR

10. Storage

11. Structured Storage
Windows Azure SQL Database
Dynamic schema on/off
Apps partitioned by schema
REST API generated per table (very data centric platform)
Access your data through the portal, SQL Management studio or REST API

12. JSON -> SQL data types
JSON value T-SQL type
Numeric values (integer, decimal, floating point) Float(53)
Boolean Bit
DateTime DateTimeOffset(3)
String Nvarchar(max)

13. Demo
JAVASCRIPT SDK

14. Server side Logic

15. “Data Centric” Server Logic
Backend runs Node.js on small azure VM’s
“Interceptors” exposed for all CRUD requests to all tables
You only get access to a predefined set of node modules
Third party apps exposed through node modules (sendgrid, twilio, pusher)
request, console, push.*, tables, sql, statusCodes, azure, mssql

16. Unstructured Storage
“Virtual Tables” let you short-circuit the database entirely
E.g. offload to Azure table storage, azure blob storage, service bus queues !
var azure = require('azure');
var accountName = '<storage-account-name>';
var accountKey = '<storage-account-key>';
var host = accountName + '.blob.core.windows.net';
var blobService = azure.createBlobService(accountName, accountKey, host);

17. Demo
INTERCEPTORS AND SENDING EMAILS WITH SENDGRID

18. Notifications

19. Push Notifications
The global push object is used to send push notifications.
Success & Error Callbacks are provided
Method
push. apns Apple Push Notification Service iOS apps
push. gcm Google Cloud Messaging Android apps
push. mpns Microsoft Push Notification Service Windows Phone 8 apps
push. wns Windows Notification Services Windows Store apps

20. Push Notification Lifecycle

21. Demo
PUSH NOTIFICATIONS TO A WINDOWS STORE APP

22. Authentication & Authorisation

24. Authorisation
Table level authorization for CRUD operations
Everyone: any request by anyone is accepted.
Anyone with Application Key: app key distributed w/ the app (default)
Authenticated Users: users authenticated by Live Connect.
Scripts and Admins: registered scripts or requests via the master key
Application Key should not be used in production !

25. CLI & Diagnostics

26. Command line tools
Can do “most things” from the command line
Create/ Delete a new mobile service
Create / Delete a table
Register table scripts
list tables/ mobile services
No access to the scheduler from the command line 

27. Scheduler

28. Demo
SCHEDULED TASK TO STORE TWEETS TO
#IRISHAZUREHEADS

29. Demo
USING THE REST API

30. Cool Third Party Add-Ons

31. 10 Mobile
Services
1GB SQL Database
700 jobs a month

32. Preview
No availability SLA
General Availability
99.9%
Shared Instance
(multitenant environment)
Small instance is the only
size available; multiple may
be purchased
Free at public preview
launch
Up to 10 applications
Reserved Instance
(private VM)
Small instance is the only
size available; multiple may
be purchased
Charge for Preview will be
at the same reduced rate
as azure websites
Up to 10 applications

33. Thanks to our sponsors

34. Competition Time!
github.com/aidancasey/AzureMobileServicesGiveAway

35. tweets to -
#irishazureheads
register your details here -
azurecompetition.azurewebsites.net
*All personal details will be deleted afterwards

36. the swag …

38. Resources
Official Videos & Tutorials
http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/mobile/
Real world Use Cases & black belt tips
http://chrisrisner.com/Common-Scenarios-with-Windows-Azure-Mobile-Services
Mr Azure Mobile Services (Josh Twist)
http://www.thejoyofcode.com/
Cloud Nick ( Nick Harris )
http://www.nickharris.net/

39. MTUG needs you !