Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 12
Windows Azure Mobile Services
Since the release of the first edition of this topic 2010 the SQL Azure OData service has been removed. That's not a bad
thing. OData is still around, and you can still prop up a WCF data service and communicate via the OData protocol.
In fact, if you use WCF Data Services, you might very well be using OData. WCF Data Services supports the OData
protocol, which allows you to expose your data as a feed with resources that are addressable by URIs. OData allows
you to expose data from a variety of sources, ranging from Microsoft Excel to websites, not just relational databases.
Creating a data service that exposes an OData feed really boils down to three simple and basic steps:
Define the model:
WCF Data Services natively supports models that are based on the ADO.
NET Entity Framework.
Create the data service:
Define a data service which exposes a class that inherits from the
DataService class.
Configure the data service:
Configure access to resources (such as tables) and service
operations, and define service-wide behavior. WCF Data Services disables access to
resources that are exposed by the entity container by default.
However, this chapter is not about WCF Data Services or OData. Windows Azure SQL Database (AKA SQL Azure)
doesn't natively support OData, as it did during the SQL Azure lab days of the OData service. Instead, in late August
2012, Microsoft released (in Preview) the Windows Azure Mobile Services.
Windows Azure Mobile Services is designed specifically to allow developers to quickly and easily connect their
client applications to a cloud-based backend running on Windows Azure, regardless of the platform the client is
running on (such as Windows 8 device, Android table, or iOS).
The beauty of Windows Azure Mobile Services is that it enables you to get up and running extremely quickly by
providing a foundation for building a rich client experience. As you will see in this chapter, Windows Azure Mobile
Services allows you to connect your application very quickly.
■
Keep in mind that the description here is based on Windows Azure Mobile Services in Preview, meaning that it
is not in production at the time of this writing, and some details may change when it is actually released.
Note
Getting Started
To use Windows Azure Mobile Services, you will need a Windows Azure account. Chapter 1 explains how to sign up
for an account, so that process won't be explained here. Working with Windows Azure Mobile Services is as simple
as navigating to the Windows Azure Portal at
https://manage.WindowsAzure.com
.
Once you log in with your Live ID,
you'll notice a new tab on the Navigation pane called Mobile Services, as shown in Figure
12-1
.
