Quickstart: Create your first C# function in Azure using Visual Studio

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Azure Functions lets you run your C# code in a serverless environment in Azure.

In this article, you learn how to:

• Use Visual Studio to create a C# class library project on .NET 6.0.
• Create a function that responds to HTTP requests.
• Run your code locally to verify function behavior.
• Deploy your code project to Azure Functions.

This article supports creating both types of compiled C# functions:

Execution model	Description
In-process	Your function code runs in the same process as the Functions host process. Supports both .NET Core 3.1 and .NET 6.0. To learn more, see Develop C# class library functions using Azure Functions.
Isolated process	Your function code runs in a separate .NET worker process. Supports both .NET 5.0 and .NET 6.0. To learn more, see Develop isolated process functions in C#.

Completing this quickstart incurs a small cost of a few USD cents or less in your Azure account.

There is also a Visual Studio Code-based version of this article.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2022, which supports .NET 6.0. Make sure to select the Azure development workload during installation.

• Azure subscription. If you don't already have an account create a free one before you begin.

Create a function app project

The Azure Functions project template in Visual Studio creates a C# class library project that you can publish to a function app in Azure. You can use a function app to group functions as a logical unit for easier management, deployment, scaling, and sharing of resources.

1. From the Visual Studio menu, select File > New > Project.

2. In Create a new project, enter functions in the search box, choose the Azure Functions template, and then select Next.

3. In Configure your new project, enter a Project name for your project, and then select Create. The function app name must be valid as a C# namespace, so don't use underscores, hyphens, or any other nonalphanumeric characters.

4. For the Create a new Azure Functions application settings, use the values in the following table:

   Setting	Value	Description
   .NET version	.NET 6	This value creates a function project that runs in-process with version 4.x of the Azure Functions runtime. You can also choose .NET 6 (isolated) to create a project that runs in a separate worker process. Azure Functions 1.x supports the .NET Framework. For more information, see Azure Functions runtime versions overview.
   Function template	HTTP trigger	This value creates a function triggered by an HTTP request.
   Storage account (AzureWebJobsStorage)	Storage emulator	Because a function app in Azure requires a storage account, one is assigned or created when you publish your project to Azure. An HTTP trigger doesn't use an Azure Storage account connection string; all other trigger types require a valid Azure Storage account connection string. When you select this option, the Azurite emulator is used.
   Authorization level	Anonymous	The created function can be triggered by any client without providing a key. This authorization setting makes it easy to test your new function. For more information about keys and authorization, see Authorization keys and HTTP and webhook bindings.

   

   Make sure you set the Authorization level to Anonymous. If you choose the default level of Function, you're required to present the function key in requests to access your function endpoint.

5. Select Create to create the function project and HTTP trigger function.

Visual Studio creates a project and class that contains boilerplate code for the HTTP trigger function type. The boilerplate code sends an HTTP response that includes a value from the request body or query string. The HttpTrigger attribute specifies that the function is triggered by an HTTP request.

Rename the function

The FunctionName method attribute sets the name of the function, which by default is generated as Function1. Since the tooling doesn't let you override the default function name when you create your project, take a minute to create a better name for the function class, file, and metadata.

1. In File Explorer, right-click the Function1.cs file and rename it to HttpExample.cs.

2. In the code, rename the Function1 class to HttpExample.

3. In the HttpTrigger method named Run, rename the FunctionName method attribute to HttpExample.

Your function definition should now look like the following code:

[FunctionName("HttpExample")]
public static async Task<IActionResult> Run(
    [HttpTrigger(AuthorizationLevel.Anonymous, "get", "post", Route = null)] HttpRequest req,
    ILogger log)

Now that you've renamed the function, you can test it on your local computer.

Run the function locally

Visual Studio integrates with Azure Functions Core Tools so that you can test your functions locally using the full Azure Functions runtime.

1. To run your function, press F5 in Visual Studio. You might need to enable a firewall exception so that the tools can handle HTTP requests. Authorization levels are never enforced when you run a function locally.

2. Copy the URL of your function from the Azure Functions runtime output.

   

3. Paste the URL for the HTTP request into your browser's address bar. Append the query string ?name=<YOUR_NAME> to this URL and run the request. The following image shows the response in the browser to the local GET request returned by the function:

   

4. To stop debugging, press Shift+F5 in Visual Studio.

After you've verified that the function runs correctly on your local computer, it's time to publish the project to Azure.

Publish the project to Azure

Before you can publish your project, you must have a function app in your Azure subscription. Visual Studio publishing creates a function app for you the first time you publish your project.

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click the project and select Publish and in Target, select Azure then Next.

2. For the Specific target, choose Azure Function App (Windows), which creates a function app that runs on Windows.

3. In Function Instance, choose Create a new Azure Function...

   

4. Create a new instance using the values specified in the following table:

   Setting	Value	Description
   Name	Globally unique name	Name that uniquely identifies your new function app. Accept this name or enter a new name. Valid characters are: a-z, 0-9, and -.
   Subscription	Your subscription	The Azure subscription to use. Accept this subscription or select a new one from the drop-down list.
   Resource group	Name of your resource group	The resource group in which to create your function app. Select an existing resource group from the drop-down list or choose New to create a new resource group.
   Plan Type	Consumption	When you publish your project to a function app that runs in a Consumption plan, you pay only for executions of your functions app. Other hosting plans incur higher costs.
   Location	Location of the app service	Choose a Location in a region near you or other services your functions access.
   Azure Storage	General-purpose storage account	An Azure Storage account is required by the Functions runtime. Select New to configure a general-purpose storage account. You can also choose an existing account that meets the storage account requirements.

   

5. Select Create to create a function app and its related resources in Azure. Status of resource creation is shown in the lower left of the window.

6. Back in Functions instance, make sure that Run from package file is checked. Your function app is deployed using Zip Deploy with Run-From-Package mode enabled. This is the recommended deployment method for your functions project, since it results in better performance.

   

7. Select Finish, and on the Publish page, select Publish to deploy the package containing your project files to your new function app in Azure.

   After the deployment completes the root URL of the function app in Azure is shown in the Publish tab.

8. In the Publish tab, choose Manage in Cloud Explorer. This opens the new function app Azure resource in Cloud Explorer.

   

   Cloud Explorer lets you use Visual Studio to view the contents of the site, start and stop the function app, and browse directly to function app resources on Azure and in the Azure portal.

Verify your function in Azure

1. In Cloud Explorer, your new function app should be selected. If not, expand your subscription > App Services, and select your new function app.

2. Right-click the function app and choose Open in Browser. This opens the root of your function app in your default web browser and displays the page that indicates your function app is running.

   

3. In the address bar in the browser, append the string /api/HttpExample?name=Functions to the base URL and run the request.

   The URL that calls your HTTP trigger function is in the following format:

   http://<APP_NAME>.azurewebsites.net/api/HttpExample?name=Functions

4. Go to this URL and you see a response in the browser to the remote GET request returned by the function, which looks like the following example:

   

Clean up resources

Other quickstarts in this collection build upon this quickstart. If you plan to work with subsequent quickstarts, tutorials, or with any of the services you have created in this quickstart, do not clean up the resources.

Resources in Azure refer to function apps, functions, storage accounts, and so forth. They're grouped into resource groups, and you can delete everything in a group by deleting the group.

You created resources to complete these quickstarts. You may be billed for these resources, depending on your account status and service pricing.

Use the following steps to delete the function app and its related resources to avoid incurring any further costs.

1. In the Cloud Explorer, expand your subscription > App Services, right-click your function app, and choose Open in Portal.

2. In the function app page, select the Overview tab and then select the link under Resource group.

   

3. In the Resource group page, review the list of included resources, and verify that they're the ones you want to delete.

4. Select Delete resource group, and follow the instructions.

   Deletion may take a couple of minutes. When it's done, a notification appears for a few seconds. You can also select the bell icon at the top of the page to view the notification.

Next steps

In this quickstart, you used Visual Studio to create and publish a C# function app in Azure with a simple HTTP trigger function.

Advance to the next article to learn how to add an Azure Storage queue binding to your function:

Add an Azure Storage queue binding to your function