Using List & Label With Microsoft Azure - combit · · 2016-11-07Using List & Label With...

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Whitepaper

Product: combit List & Label

Using List & Label With Microsoft Azure

Product: combit List & Label Using List & Label With Microsoft Azure - 2 -


Content

Introduction 3

Requirements 3

Setting up a Visual Studio Project 3

Step 1: Create a New Project 3

Step 2: Add a Reference to List & Label 4

Step 3: Microsoft Azure Blob Storage 4

Step 4: Microsoft Azure Queue 6

Step 5: The Roles 6

Step 6: Run the Project 7

Flow of the Application 7

Deploy to Microsoft Azure Server 9

Publish Directly From Visual Studio 9

Publish Manually Through Azure Portal 9



Introduction

This Whitepaper gives insight about the most important concepts and source code snippets for using List &

Label with Microsoft Azure. The sample demonstrates the communication between two roles for exporting

reports in PDF or JPEG format (more export formats could be easily added).

Requirements

Operating system: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 and higher

Visual Studio 2015 SP3, Azure SDK 2.9, Azure Tools for Visual Studio

Setting up a Visual Studio Project

Step 1: Create a New Project

After successfully installing "Azure Tools for Visual Studio", create a new project in Visual Studio. In the

Templates tree under the Visual C# and Visual Basic branches there is now a new template type named

"Cloud". Select this template type and choose "Azure Cloud Service" and confirm the dialog with "OK".

Figure 1: Create New Project

Now you can add the roles "Web Role" and "Worker Role" to the project.



Figure 2: Add Role

Step 2: Add a Reference to List & Label

To use List & Label in this project you have to add a reference to the List & Label .NET Assembly

"combit.ListLabel??.dll" to your project via the context menu "Project > Add Reference …". The Assembly is

located in the List & Label installation directory in the subfolder "Programmable Samples and

Declarations\Microsoft .NET\Assemblies". In this sample the reference is added to the Worker Role project.

Figure 3: Add combit List & Label Reference

Step 3: Microsoft Azure Blob Storage

A Blob Storage is nothing more than a memory for large binary data. In this sample, it will be used to store

the generated reports. To use this storage you need a connection string. This can be added to the properties

of the individual roles. It is important that you add this connection string in both "Web Role" and "Worker

Role" settings. To set the Connection String open the Solution Explorer and navigate to the Cloud Service

project and open the settings from the context menu by clicking Properties for both roles.



Figure 4: Web Role Properties

In the Properties dialog select the Settings tab and set Service Configuration to "All Configurations". There

should be a Connection String setting with the name

"Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString"; if not, just add it and set the type to

Connection String. You should set the Connection String for the Local (development environment) and the

Cloud (production environment) Service Configurations separately. After defining the Connection String

setting in the "All Configurations" mode change the Service Configuration to Local and set the Connection

String value to "UseDevelopmentStorage=true". (Hint: It is recommended to manually type in the Value

input field as clicking the … button seems to freeze Visual Studio.)

Figure 5: Local Connection String

Then change the Service Configuration to Cloud and set the Connection String value to

"DefaultEndpointsProtocol=https;AccountName=<YourCloudStorageAccountName>;AccountKey=<YourClou

dStorageAccountKey>".

Figure 6: Cloud Connection String

Then save the changes for the Web Role properties and repeat this process for the Worker Role properties

as well.

Blob Storage will then be accessible with the following few lines of code:

// D: Erstelle BLOB Container // US: Create BLOB container CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.DevelopmentStorageAccount; CloudBlobClient blobClient = storageAccount.CreateCloudBlobClient(); _container = blobClient.GetContainerReference("reports");

_container.CreateIfNotExists();



Step 4: Microsoft Azure Queue

A queue is required for the communication between two roles, so both roles can exchange messages. Such a

queue is generated as follows:

// D: Erstelle Queue // US: Create queue CloudQueueClient queueClient = storageAccount.CreateCloudQueueClient(); _queueWork = queueClient.GetQueueReference("llqueuework");

_queueWork.CreateIfNotExists();

You can add a new message to the queue with the method AddMessage(). The method takes either a byte

array or a string as a parameter. In this sample, we exchange a string. The structure of a message is as

follows:

Report name; Export format (e.g. Report.lst;PDF)

Step 5: The Roles

A Web Role is a simple Web application that will run on an Internet Information Service (IIS). A Worker Role

is a role which takes care of the background processing of complex tasks. A cloud service must consist of at

least one of these roles, but may contain any number. Both roles by default inherit from the RoleEntryPoint

class. This provides methods to initialize, start and stop the role.

In our sample project, the Worker Role is used to export a report in either PDF or JPEG format using List &

Label. The Web Role presents the interface layer in this example.

The actual printing of the project is a common "silent export" in the same way that it would be implemented

in normal Web applications:

using (ListLabel ll = new ListLabel()) { ll.DebugLogFilePath = Path.GetTempPath() + "LlLogFile.txt"; ll.Debug = LlDebug.LogToFile; // D: Setze Druckoptionen // US: Set print options ll.AutoShowSelectFile = false; ll.AutoShowPrintOptions = false; ll.AutoDestination = LlPrintMode.Export; ll.AutoProjectType = LlProject.List; ll.AutoBoxType = LlBoxType.None; //... // D: Setze Exportoptionen // US: Set export options ll.ExportOptions.Add("Export.File", fileName + extName); ll.ExportOptions.Add("Export.Path", tempPath); ll.ExportOptions.Add("Export.Quiet", "1"); // D: Setze Datenqelle für Druck // US: Set data source ll.DataSource = GenericList.GetGenericList(); //... ll.Print(LlProject.List, stream); }



Step 6: Run the Project

When you run this sample project it opens this site in your web browser:

Figure 7: Sample Project in Browser

Flow of the Application

1) The user selects a report to load and clicks the button "Create report" where the selected report will

be uploaded to the Blob Storage.

2) The message is added to the queue.

3) The Worker Role watches the queue and reads the message. Then the Worker Role generates a file

in the selected format (using List & Label).

4) Now the generated report is uploaded to the Blob Storage.

5) Finally, the file will be downloaded from the Blob Storage and displayed in the browser.



Deploy to Microsoft Azure Server

There are two ways to deploy the Cloud Service to Microsoft Azure:

Publish Directly From Visual Studio

1. The simple and standard way is to publish directly from Visual Studio. To do so select "Publish…"

from the Cloud Service project context menu.

Figure 8: Publish from Visual Studio

2. In the "Publish Azure Application" window you must choose your Microsoft account and your

subscription.

Figure 9: Subscription Error

Hint: During the writing of this Whitepaper, we encountered a bug in Visual Studio Azure Publish: when

choosing your subscription sometimes it says that "Cloud Services are not available in this subscription."

Unfortunately we couldn't find a solution for this behavior. So right now we recommend manual publishing if

you encounter problems here as well.

Publish Manually Through Azure Portal

1. At first we need to build a package from our Cloud Service project in Visual Studio. To do so select

"Package…" from the Cloud Service project context menu.



Figure 10: Create Package

2. In the "Package Azure Application" window set the Service configuration to Cloud and the Build

configuration to Release and choose "Enable Remote Desktop for all roles" and click "Settings…".

Figure 11: Package Azure Application

3. In the "Remote Desktop Configuration" window, create a certificate to encrypt the user credentials

and add User name and Password that will be used to connect remotely. (You need to create and

upload this certificate just for the first deploy.)

Figure 12: Remote Desktop Configuration



After creating the certificate click on the "View…" button and open the "Details" tab in the Certificate

dialog and click the "Copy to File…" button there. In the next dialog click "Next" and then choose the

option "Yes, export the private key" and click "Next". In the next dialog leave the options unaltered

and click "Next" and then choose "Group or user names (recommended)" and click "Next". Then

enter a file name for the private key file (the address should be included, e.g. C:\testKey.pfx) and

click "Finish" in the next dialog. Now you have a key file that must be uploaded before the Cloud

Service in the Azure Portal. 4. Go back to the "Package Azure Application" window and click on the "Package" button. After building

and packaging is finished the package files will be ready in the application folder under

\bin\Release\app.publish

5. Open the Microsoft Azure portal under https://portal.azure.com, open the Cloud Services and add a

new Cloud service.

Figure 13: Add New Cloud Service

6. After adding a new Cloud Service click on the name of it to open its Production Environment and

Settings. In the Settings panel click on "Certificates" and click on the "Upload" button there.

https://portal.azure.com/



Figure 14: Upload Certificate

7. In the "Upload Certificate" panel open the Select File dialog and choose the private key file (e.g.

C:\testKey.pfx) that you created in step 3 and type the password that you set there and click

"Upload".

Figure 15: Choose Certificate

8. After successfully uploading the certificate you can upload the Cloud Service package file. In the

Production panel of the Cloud Service click the "Upload" button and choose "Storage account", enter

a "Deployment label" and select the "Package" and "Configuration" files that you created in step 4.

Choose the options "Deploy even if one or more roles contain a single instance" and "Start

deployment" and click the "OK" button.



Figure 16: Upload Package

9. To export reports through List & Label you must start the Print Spooler Service on the Worker Role

system. After successfully uploading the project, there will be a LLWebRole and LLWorkerRole in the

Cloud Service Roles and Instances panel. Click on "LLWorkerRole_IN_0" and in its panel click on the

"Connect" button. It will download the required .rdp file to connect to the Worker Role system. Open

this file and connect to the Worker Role system. In the Worker Role remote connection, open

Services and start the Print Spooler Service.


The information stated above is for purely informative purposes and does not stand under guarantee. Although our goal is to give you the best information we can, errors and mistakes may occur. In some cases the information has been given in order to help you with a special task, even though the product wasn't necessarily meant for that specific purpose. This information does not have an effect on your product guarantee. Copyright combit GmbH, All rights reserved.

Using List & Label With Microsoft Azure - combit · · 2016-11-07Using List & Label With...

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