Exercise - Configure your development environment with Visual Studio Code

• 10 minutes

Before developing modern applications with Azure, there are some tools you should install and configure on your development machine.

In the bus-catching scenario, you'll use several of these tools to build out the microservices architecture.

Configure your local machine for development with Azure

Here, you'll learn how to download the latest recommended tools and extensions. You'll also set up the code sample on your local machine, and you'll select a language for the rest of the module (Python, Node.js, or .NET Core).

Execute application lifecycles with Visual Studio Code

You'll use Visual Studio Code as your main development tool. If you have another tool of choice, you're free to use it for the exercises, but note that the instructions will be catered to capabilities and options in Visual Studio Code.

1. Visual Studio Code is available on all operating systems. Go to the Visual Studio Code Download page and download/install the application applicable to your operating system.

2. Download and install the Azure Functions Core Tools. These tools allow you to run Azure Functions locally.

3. Open the Extensions pane from the Activity Bar. We recommend installing the following extensions:

   • Azure Account: This extension allows you to authenticate to Azure.
   • Azure Functions: This extension allows you to manage Azure Functions.
   • GitHub Pull Requests and Issues: This extension allows you to authenticate to GitHub and manage repositories.
   • Azure Resources: This extension allows you to manage Azure resources.
   • SQL Server (mssql): This extension includes tools for querying SQL Server and Azure SQL resources.
   • Microsoft Live Preview: This extension enables you to run web applications locally with ease.

4. The main code sample is hosted on GitHub. Sign into GitHub in Visual Studio Code using your GitHub account so you can clone, commit, push, and pull from Visual Studio Code. If you don't have a GitHub account, create one here.

5. You'll need to fork and clone the GitHub repository so you can access it in Visual Studio Code. To do this step, sign in to GitHub in a browser with your GitHub account and go to the Azure Samples serverless-full-stack-apps-azure-sql repository. Select Fork.

6. Select Code and copy the HTTPS Clone URL, for example, https://github.com/<github-username>/serverless-full-stack-apps-azure-sql.git.

7. Back in Visual Studio Code, select the Source Control pane from the Activity Bar.

8. Select the Clone Repository button and enter the URL copied in a previous step. Select the location you would like the repository to be copied locally. Likely, this is a local folder such inside C:\GitHub. Don't choose a OneDrive-synced location for Git repositories. This step downloads the repository to your local machine.

9. Select Open when Visual Studio Code asks you if you want to open the cloned repository. This step opens the folder in your Visual Studio Code session.

10. Select the Explorer pane from the Activity Bar. Confirm that you see the repository files.

Access and build data solutions with Azure Data Studio

Azure Data Studio is an open-source application for managing various data services (SQL Server, Azure SQL, PostgreSQL, etc.) on any platform (Windows, Mac, Linux). In this module, you'll use Azure Data Studio to manage Azure SQL Database and access notebook capabilities. A notebook is a document with a file ending in .ipynb which mixes runnable code cells and text cells in one file.

1. Go to the Azure Data Studio Download page and download/install the application applicable to your operating system.

2. Azure Data Studio is similar to Visual Studio Code in its layout. Select File > Open folder and go to the location where you cloned the repository. This step will open the folder in Azure Data Studio so you can easily access repository files in future exercises.

3. Select the Explorer pane from the Activity Bar. Confirm that you see the repository files.