Exercise: Write an Azure Function in JavaScript to Return the Current Date

Challenge

Here’s a starter exercise for Azure Functions: write a function to return the current date.

Solution Steps

1. The first set of tasks are all around getting a function set up on https://portal.azure.com/
2. Log in to the Azure portal
3. Make a resource group “learning”. We’ll use this in the future to organise all Azure resources associated with throw-away learning tasks
4. Add a “Function App” called “datenow”
   • OS = Windows
   • Located = UK West
   • Create new storage
5. In the function app create new function of type “HTTP Trigger” and language JavaScript
6. When the app is created it adds a helpful example function. A small amount of modification results in the function returning the current date:

   module.exports = function (context, req) {
       context.log('JavaScript HTTP trigger function processed a request.');
       const now = new Date()
       context.res = {
           // status: 200, /* Defaults to 200 */
           body: now
       };
       context.done();
   };
   

    

7. Notice how the Azure functions framework handles the encoding of the JavaScript Date object correctly based on the content negotiated with the requestor. Using a HTTP testing tool, like Postman for Chrome, if you specify “Accept: text/json” then you get a JSON represnation back; specifcy “Accept: text/xml” and XML is returned