Windows Azure Native Code

Learn how to enable full trust support in Windows Azure. In this lab, you will create a simple native C++ dll and invoke it from an ASP.NET web role.

Overview

One of the features available in Windows Azure environment is the ability to run Web and Worker Roles in full trust (non-admin). The addition of full trust support in Windows Azure not only allows developers to access a wider range of .NET CLR features, but also enables access to unmanaged code through P/Invoke.

Objectives

In this hands-on lab, you will:

• Build a very simple C++ native assembly
• Learn how to enable full trust support in Windows Azure
• Create a simple Windows Azure Web role that calls the native assembly using P/Invoke

Prerequisites

• IIS 7 (with ASP.NET, WCF HTTP Activation)
• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (with Visual C# or Visual Basic .Net, and Visual C++)
• Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 1.6
• For 32-bit systems, in order to compile for a 64-bit platform, you need to install the x64 compiler. Compiling for 64-bits is required when deploying the hosted service to the Windows Azure environment. If you plan to execute the steps in this lab and only test the code using the compute emulator on a 32-bit system, you do not need to install the x64 compiler.
  • To install the x64 compilers, go to Control Panel | Programs | Programs and Features, select Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and add the X64 Compiler and Tools option.

  

  Figure 1

  Installing the X64 compilers and tools for Visual Studio

Setup

In order to execute the exercises in this hands-on lab you need to set up your environment.

1. Open a Windows Explorer window and browse to the lab’s Source folder.
2. Double-click the Setup.cmd file in this folder to launch the setup process that will configure your environment and install the Visual Studio code snippets for this lab.
3. If the User Account Control dialog is shown, confirm the action to proceed.

Using the Code Snippets

Throughout the lab document, you will be instructed to insert code blocks. For your convenience, most of that code is provided as Visual Studio Code Snippets, which you can use from within Visual Studio 2010 to avoid having to add it manually.

If you are not familiar with the Visual Studio Code Snippets, and want to learn how to use them, you can refer to the Setup.docx document in the Assets folder of the training kit, which contains a section describing how to use them.

Exercises

This hands-on lab includes the following exercises:

• Windows Azure and Native Code

Estimated time to complete this lab: 30 minutes.