14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has updated the software development kit designed to help developers build on top of Windows Azure AppFabric. The July 2010 update of the Windows Azure AppFabric SDK v1.0 is now available for download from the Redmond company, offering the necessary API libraries as well as code samples for developers to put together connected applications leveraging the .NET Framework. Windows Azure AppFabric itself is set up to help customers create connected applications and services both in the Cloud but also on-premise.
The SKD “spans the entire spectrum of today’s Internet applications – from rich connected applications with advanced connectivity requirements to Web-style applications that use simple protocols such as HTTP to communicate with the broadest possible range of clients,” Microsoft stated.
The Windows Azure AppFabric SDK is obviously tailored to the two AppFabric services offered in conjunction with the Windows Azure platform, namely AppFabric Access Control and AppFabric Service Bus. For both, the software development kit brings to the table not only API libraries, and samples but also the tools and documentation necessary for devs to build their apps.
“The Service Bus and Access Control SDK comes with a number of interesting samples that illustrate how to leverage the various capabilities offered by the Service Bus and Access Control. You’ll find the samples in the SDK installation directory. Most of these samples have been designed to ask the user to specify the service namespace dynamically. Some will ask you to supply your credentials via the console window while others will require you to enter them in the application configuration file ahead of time. The samples make it easy to explore the features offered by these services so be sure to check them out,” the Redmond company added.
As of April 12, 2010, Windows Azure platform AppFabric reached the commercial availability milestone, and Microsoft started charging customers for its usage. The offering is a SLA-supported paid service as of April.
The Windows Azure AppFabric SDK v1.0 is available for download here.