Xamarin.Forms - Working with Azure Blob Storage

In this blog post, you will learn how to use Azure Blob Storage in Xamarin.Forms.

Introduction

Xamarin.Forms code runs on multiple platforms - each of which has its own filesystem. This means that reading and writing files is most easily done using the native file APIs on each platform. Alternatively, embedded resources are a simpler solution to distribute data files with an app.

Azure Blob storage

Azure Blob storage is Microsoft's object storage solution for the cloud. Blob storage is optimized for storing massive amounts of unstructured data.
Store any type of unstructured data—including images, videos, audio, documents and backups. you can write error log also.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio 2017 or later (Windows or Mac)
• Microsft Azure subscription

Setting up a Xamarin.Forms Project

Start by creating a new Xamarin.Forms project. You’ll learn more by going through the steps yourself.

Visual Studio 2019 has more options in the opening window. Clone or check out the code from any repository or, open a project or solution for your computer.

Now, you need to click "Create a new project".

Now, filter by Project Type: Mobile

Choose the Mobile App (Xamarin. forms) project under C# and Mobile.

Name your app. You probably want your project and solution to use the same name as your app. Put it on your preferred location for projects and click "Create".

Now, select the blank app and target platforms - Android, iOS and Windows (UWP).

Subsequently, go to the solution. In there, you get all the files and sources of your project (.NET Standard). Now, select the XAML page and double-click to open the MainPage.Xaml page.

You now have a basic Xamarin.Forms app. Click the Play button to try it out.

Create a Storage Account in Azure

http://portal.azure.com

In this step, you must create Storage account service in azure portal.
more about storage account https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-account-overview

After creating storage account, check your access keys and connection strings.

Setting up the User Interface

Go to MainPage.Xaml and write the following code.

MainPage.xaml

NuGet Packages

Now, add the following NuGet packages.

1. Xam.Plugin.Media
2. Microsoft.Azure.Storage.Blob

Add Microsoft.Azure.Storage.Blob NuGet

Go to Solution Explorer and select your solution. Right-click and select "Manage NuGet Packages for Solution". Search for "Microsoft.Azure.Storage.Blob" and add the resultant package. Remember to install it for each project (.NET Standard, Android, iOS).

Connect your Storage Account

Pick Files

In this step, i'm going to upload images.

Upload Files

Now, write the following code to upload files to azure blob storage.

Download Files

Use following code to download files from azure blob storage.

Delete Files

Use following code to Delete files from azure blog storage.

Check out Full Code
MainPage.xaml.cs

Click the "Play" button to try it out.

I hope you have understood how to use Azure Blob Storage in Xamarin.Forms..

Thanks for reading. Please share your comments and feedback. Happy Coding :)