Chapter 1, Introducing Microsoft Azure Services and Functions, describes in detail the fundamental concepts and terminology to give the reader a baseline understanding of cloud computing, cloud service models, cloud deployment models, functions and some of the related concepts in Microsoft Azure.
Chapter 2, First Function App – Anatomy and Structure of a Function App, covers how to focus into creating our first Azure Function. We will create the Azure Function App and then we will create the Azure Function with trigger and output binding.
Chapter 3, Application of Triggers, provides insights on how we can create triggers. Triggers are nothing but a set of functions that get executed when some event gets fired. There are different types of triggers, such as implicit triggers, and we can also create manual triggers. In this chapter, we will cover an overview of triggers and different types of triggers such as HTTP, Event Bus, Service Bus, and Storage.
Chapter 4, Bindings, describes bindings in detail. In Azure Function, a binding is used to bind other Azure resources to our Azure Function. We will cover different input/output bindings in this chapter. Brief details will be given about Input bindings such as Blob storage, Storage tables, SQL tables, and NoSQL DBs. Details about output bindings such as HTTP (REST or Webhook), Blob Storage, Events, Queues and topics, Storage tables, SQL tables, NoSQL DBs, Push Notifications, and SendGrid email will also be provided. We will create an example of binding an Azure Function to the event hub, service bus and binding of Azure function with Service bus queue, and also storage.
Chapter 5, Webhooks for Azure Functions, covers how to create JavaScript functions triggered by Webhook, how to use Webhook with Azure Functions, and how to use an event with an Azure Function.
Chapter 6, The Real World – Functions to Build Consumable APIs, provides insights into how to use the previously-discussed concept of triggers. Bindings work together to bring some real-world functionality to life. First, we will give an outline of the project that we will try to implement; then, we will try to build or architect a solution. We will build the project, use storage, and then verify the whole exercise.
Chapter 7, Managing and Deploying Your Code, talks about DevOps practices such as Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery using Microsoft Azure Functions and Visual Studio Team Services. DevOps is a combination of Development and Operations. DevOps is not a tool, a technology, or a framework. DevOps is a culture. It is a culture that brings improvement in the outcome and productivity of the resources. We will create a project in VSTS and then configure Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery for Azure Functions.
Chapter 8, Business Considerations, covers details about how to monitor the health of Functions. Azure Functions have their own kind of monitoring, which is useful but basic. For an advanced level of monitoring, we will utilize Application Insights. Another important business consideration is to understand pricing concepts so that we can make an informed decision based on anticipated load, growth, and product roadmap. This chapter will also cover the integration of Application Insights and Azure Functions, pricing/hosting plans, and best practices.
Chapter 9, Working with Different Languages, shows you how to use Azure Functions with other languages such as C#, Python, F#, PHP, and JavaScript. This chapter focuses on the Python Function App and PHP Function App.
