A Programmer with Microsoft tools

Now I have broken the build. Why ?Because of the docker file – to be optimized on local, I copy ecah csproj one by one and the I do dotnet restore. (If docker had a glob patttern! ) . So each time that I put a new project, the build will fail!

Trying now from the Azure Function to load the plugins . Apparently, the deploying does not deploy also the plugins ( Application Insights , connected to the Azure function ,is your friend – it can show you all kind of messages)

But now I have a problem copying the plugins. I do in azure Function like I have done with the other projects;

A post-build event

dotnet pwsh $(ProjectDir)preBuild.ps1 “$(RepoRoot)plugins\”  “$(TargetDir)”

and a file prebuild.ps1 file that says

echo “args 0 ”  $args[0]
echo “args 1 ” $args[1]
$a= Get-Location
echo $a
echo now copy
Copy-Item -Path $args[0] -Destination $args[1] -Recurse -Force

For all other projects it is working. For the azure function, it gives an error at the compiling time on CI ( not on local! )

/bin/sh: 3: /tmp/tmpdd44ee8bfe4f49dca815035fe3a451ee.exec.cmd: Syntax error: Unterminated quoted string

I found the problem

dotnet pwsh $(ProjectDir)preBuild.ps1 “$(RepoRoot)plugins\”  “$(TargetDir)”

Now, a different error raises on Github CI when compiling the Azure Function:

The specified framework ‘Microsoft.NETCore.App’, version ‘2.1.0’ was not found.

The problem  is here: https://github.com/Azure/azure-functions-vs-build-sdk/blob/master/src/Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Functions.MSBuild/Targets/Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Functions.targets 

<_FunctionsTaskFramework Condition=” ‘$(MSBuildRuntimeType)’ == ‘Core'”>netcoreapp2.1</_FunctionsTaskFramework>

I try to build into an netcoreapp3.0 docker container. I must install 2.1, probably.

For github actions:

– name: Setup .NET Core 2.1
       uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v1
       with:
         dotnet-version: 2.1.802

    – name: Setup .NET Core 3.0
       uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v1
       with:
         dotnet-version: 3.0.100

Not working!

But a new idea – what if I have the project not up-to-date  ? And indeed , the nuget for azure functions was not update. Now it works for GitHub actions!https://github.com/ignatandrei/InfoValutar/actions

Now , back to work  – I want to deploy the plugins in the Azure Function

Reading about ExecutionContext – ok. Reading about difference between FunctionAppDirectory and  FunctionDirectory  –https://github.com/Azure/azure-functions-host/wiki/Retrieving-information-about-the-currently-running-function . Ok – I want FunctionDirectory – I think it is just for this function.

For uploading files and folder, there are 2 ideas:

1. to have included in .csproj ( do not want the plugins to be included !)
2. To include in the zip file https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/deployment-zip-push 

So CI / CD to the rescue. I will do in AzureDevOps – next time!

Infovalutar

I need to load data at scheduled intervals – it is normal that the exchange rates are published every day.

So what options we have in Azure?

1. WebJobs
2. Worker Roles
3. Azure functions

After reading a lot, I decide on Azure Functions – it is the new kid on the block and battle tested. More, it has something called Durable , https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/durable/durable-functions-overview?tabs=csharp that seems very promising

I create the function in the Azure Portal –  just account that creation is not milliseconds, but seconds. And be sure that you craete under the same resource group as the previous resources.

The I create the function project template in Visual Studio.  Trying to deploy from Visual Studio – after configuring , the endpoint on Azureshows error. Thinking  – guess the problem – I configured the endpoint with Linux – and on my PC I have Windows. Deleting and creating another one – with Windows Containers. And now an error:”Requested feature is not available in resource group infovalutarRG. Please try using a different resource group or create a new one”

No wonder why is a DevOps thing nowadays…

Going back to Visual Studio – figuring “ Publish” has an edit – and I can see there that I can select on what OS I can publish to. => error on deploy. Investigating the logs – not understanding the error ( not enough details)

Ok –  now I want to create the Azure Function from within Visual Studio. Let’s see. Now publishing works, the website show a nice interface ( your functions is up and running) . But , even if successfully deployed, does not show my function!

Trying to get the deployment profile from the Azure WebSite – says that it cannot find the function. However, it is just a time caching problem. Some seconds later it shows the function!

Moral : do not rush. Caching is a bitch nowadays.

Infovalutar

Now, I want to see that I can read from the database the exchange rates. For this, in Azure WebAPP I go to Settings => Configuration and add my connection string.

But now I have a problem: I must read from the configuration.  So back on DI with InMemory class – I inject from ASP.NET Core the Configuration and in the tests I construct directly with null.

IConfiguration configuration;

public InMemoryDB(IConfiguration config)
{
this.configuration = config;

}
private string GetConRead(string name)
{
return configuration?.GetConnectionString(name);
}

Also, for easy retrieving from URL , I modify from

public async Task<ExchangeRates[]> Rates(string bank,string fromDate, string toDate)

( that generates the url : https://infovalutar.azurewebsites.net/api/v1.0/FromDB/Rates?bank=bnr&fromDate=20010101&toDate=20500101 )

to

[HttpGet(“{bank}/{fromDate}/{toDate}”)]
public async Task<ExchangeRates[]> Rates([FromRoute] string bank, [FromRoute]string fromDate, [FromRoute]string toDate)

( that generates the URL: https://infovalutar.azurewebsites.net/api/v1.0/rates/bnr/20010101/20100101 )

( I have also modified the route on the controller to [Route(“api/v{version:apiVersion}/rates”)] )

The modifications are at https://github.com/ignatandrei/InfoValutar/commit/aeda74e071a333e800a36936d2d3fc685b4b3ac8 .

The bad part – the deploy takes now 7 minutes…( running tests first …)

I have to implement now the following (

www.infovalutar.ro/bnr/2004/10/10/EUR

www.infovalutar.ro/bnr/azi/eur

www.infovalutar.ro/2004/6/4/eur.bnr

http://www.infovalutar.ro/bnr/rss

http://infovalutar.ro/curs.asmx?wsdl

I will implement first into the rates API , then I will redirect.

For example, the first one is like this: www.infovalutar.ro/bnr/2004/10/10/EUR and www.infovalutar.ro/2004/6/4/eur.bnr can be implemented like this:

[HttpGet(“{year}/{month}/{day}/{exchange}.{bank}”)]
[HttpGet(“{bank}/{year}/{month}/{day}/{exchange}”)]
public async Task<ExchangeRates> RatesOnDate([FromRoute] string bank,
[FromRoute]int year, [FromRoute]int month,
[FromRoute] int day, [FromRoute] string exchange)

What about the rss ? There is a package called System.ServiceModel.Syndication in .NET Core  – and we can use for RSS like this:

[HttpGet(“{bank}/rss”)]
public async Task<IActionResult> GetRssFeed(string bank)
{
var data= await ret.TodayRates(bank);
var items = data
.Select(it =>
new SyndicationItem(
it.ExchangeTo,
it.ExchangeValue.ToString(),
new Uri($”http://www.infovalutar.ro/bnr/{it.Date.Year}/{it.Date.Month}/{it.Date.Day}/{it.ExchangeTo}”))
)
.ToArray();

var feed = new SyndicationFeed(
“Curs Valutar”,
“CursValutar, case, banci”,
new Uri( “http://www.infovalutar.ro/”),
items
);
feed.Language = “ro-ro”;
feed.TimeToLive = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30);
using var sw = new StringWriter();
using var rssWriter = XmlWriter.Create(sw);

var rssFormatter = new Rss20FeedFormatter(feed,false);
rssFormatter.WriteTo(rssWriter);
rssWriter.Close();
return Content(sw.ToString(), “text/xml”);
}

What about http://infovalutar.ro/curs.asmx?wsdl ? Found https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/custom-asp-net-core-middleware-example/ article , that says”it has no support for message security, WSDL generation, duplex channels, non-HTTP transports” – so I do not want to do. Maybe something should be left…

So , now , how I can now intercept calls like

www.infovalutar.ro/bnr/2004/10/10/EUR

www.infovalutar.ro/bnr/azi/eur

www.infovalutar.ro/2004/6/4/eur.bnr

http://www.infovalutar.ro/bnr/rss

? There is no controller ! So – middleware to help!

Infovalutar