VS Code

Master Azure with VS Code

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At Experts Live Europe 2019 I presented a session titled “Master Azure with VS Code”. This was a fun session with an engaging audience that took to twitter after the session. There was some chatter asking this session was recorded. It was not. I did note that I planned to write a blog post on this topic.

Here is that blog post and it is the first one of 2020 for me! In this post, we are going to dive into how VS code is helpful when working with Azure and many extensions I find useful when working with Azure. This post is not set to be an end-all to using VS Code with Azure but from my experience. Use this post as a starting point or a reference for expanding your use of VS Code with Azure. Also, check out the many other community experts and Microsoft MVPs for their additional knowledge plus tips and tricks on this topic.

VS Code Overview

First off if you are not using VS Code stop reading this right now, go download it and install it then come back to finish reading. 🙂 VS Code is a must-have in your toolbox and it is free! For those that are new to VS Code, it is an open-source – code editor developed by Microsoft that runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Here is a shortlist of the many benefits of VS Code:

  • Has support for hundreds of languages.
  • Has Integrated Terminal.
  • Also powerful developer tool with functionality, like IntelliSense code completion and debugging.
  • Includes syntax highlighting, bracket-matching, auto-indentation, box-selection, snippets, and more.
  • Integrates with build and scripting tools to perform common tasks making everyday workflows faster.
  • Has support for Git to work with source control.
  • Large Extension Marketplace of third-party extensions.

Note that yes, VS Code is for the “IT Pro”. Not just developers.

Azure Extensions in VS Code

VS Code has a ton of extensions in general. There are a number of Azure specific extensions and you can work with Azure directly from VS Code.

If you go to the VS Code Marketplace here: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/vscode and search on Azure you will see results for many published by Microsoft and many community based extensions for Azure. As of the time of writing this blog post, there are 93. Here is a screenshot showing some of the results:

You can also go directly to the Azure Tools extension from Microsoft here: 

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/itemdetails?itemName=ms-vscode.vscode-node-azure-pack

Or the

Azure Extensions from Microsoft here:

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/azure/extensions

In the rest of this post, I am going to share some key extensions I use with Azure. I will post the marketplace links at the end of each extension I talk about and if it is maintained by community or Microsoft.

Deploy to Azure using VS Code

It is important to note that not all of the Azure extensions available in VS Code can be used to deploy to Azure. Some can but most can’t here is a list of the services that you can deploy to from extensions in VS Code.

Azure Service Description
Azure Functions Build and manage Azure Functions serverless apps directly in VS Code with the Azure Functions extension.
App Service Manage Azure resources directly in VS Code with the Azure App Service extension.
Docker Deploy your website using a Docker container.
Azure CLI Create, deploy, and update a website using a terminal and the Azure CLI.
Static website Create, deploy, and update a static website on Azure Storage.

NOTE: This list is current at the time of writing this blog post. This will change over time.

Azure Cloud Shell in VS Code

Cloud Shell is something you should be using with Azure to make your life easier. It is an interactive command-line shell. You are authenticated to your Azure account when you launch it, It typically runs in the browser and is used for managing Azure resources. When you launch it you can choose the shell experience that best for you, either Bash or PowerShell. With VS Code you can launch Cloud Shell directly in VS Code!

Cloud Shell is a part of the Azure Account extension. Here are some key points on using Cloud Shell with VS Code:

  • Free (storage consumed has costs.)
  • Launch Azure Cloud Shell directly in VS Code.
  • Launch Bash, PowerShell, or Upload.
  • Works in the Integrated Terminal.

Azure and open-source Tooling in Cloud Shell:

Azure Tools:
blobxfer Azure CLI and Azure classic CLI Azure Functions CLI AzCopy Service Fabric CLI Batch Shipyard   		Open-Source:
Bash Terraform Packer Ansible Chef InSpec Puppet Bolt Docker Kubectl Helm DC/OS CLI iPython Client Cloud Foundry CLI

PowerShell Modules in Cloud Shell

You get the following PowerShell modules in Cloud Shell:
Azure Modules (Az.Accounts, Az.Compute, Az.Network, Az.Resources, Az.Storage)
Azure AD Management (Preview)
Exchange Online (In development)
MicrosoftPowerBIMgmt
SqlServer

Marketplace Link:

Azure Account: https://marketplace

Maintained By Microsoft

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Speaking on Azure DevOps at BITCon 2019

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BITCon is back in Minnesota this year. The event is shaping up to be another great one! This year BIT locked in the mayor of Minneapolis to keynote one of the days!

The conference also has a new website. The new website is https://bitcon.tech. It will be held at multple locations again through Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

I have the honor to speak at the event again. I will be giving one session and will potentially sit on a panel.

Here is the information on my session:

When:
Friday, October 11 • 1:45pm – 3:00pm

Title:
Azure DevOps + VS Code + Teams = Perfect Match

Description:
For anyone getting started with or already working with Azure managing your cloud environments through Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with ARM Templates at some point is guaranteed.

There are many extensions available to optimize VS Code for an enhanced ARM Template authoring experience. Discover how to integrate your Azure DevOps CI/CD pipeline with Teams for enhanced collaboration across your DevOps team. Get updates directly in a Teams channel for commits, pull requests, and learn how to work with an Azure DevOps Kanban board directly from Teams.

Come to this session and see why Azure DevOps + VS Code + Teams = Perfect Match.

What you will learn:

  • About the various ARM Template related extensions in VS Code
  • How to integrate Microsoft Teams with Azure DevOps

A few months back I blogged about Azure DevOps and Teams intergration here. It was a popular blog so I decided to turn this into a presentation with demos!

Here is a direct link to my session:

https://bitcon2019.sched.com/event/TCh8/azure-dev-ops-vs-code-teams-perfect-match

If you are attending BITCon 2019 be sure to check out my session!

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Enhance Azure ARM Template Authoring in VS Code

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For anyone working with Azure sooner or later, you will end up authoring Azure Resource Manager (ARM) Templates. Working with ARM templates, in the beginning, can seem painful but once you get the hang of them it is a great way to build out and deploy your Azure as code. In this blog post, I am not going to go into detail on authoring ARM Templates. In this blog post, I am going to list out the extensions that I use in VS Code to enhance the ARM Template authoring experience. Recently whenever I am demoing or showing others my ARM Templates in VS Code they ask me how they can also make their VS Code look like mine when working with ARM Templates. I figured it makes sense to write up a blog about how I have my VS Code configured for ARM Templates.

If you are not using VS code, you should change that and start using it today! I use it pretty much for any scripting such as PowerShell, coding, any time I need a text editor and more. I even use it to work directly with Azure via cloud shell and to work with Docker containers and Kubernetes clusters. Here is a quick snapshot of what VS Code is for anyone not familiar with it. VS Code is an open source – code editor developed by Microsoft that is cross-platform able to run on Windows, Linux and macOS.​ At a high level here is what VS Code includes:

  • Has support for hundreds of languages.​
  • Has Integrated Terminal.​
  • Powerful developer tool with functionality, like IntelliSense code completion and debugging. ​
  • Includes syntax highlighting, bracket-matching, auto-indentation, box-selection, snippets, and more.​
  • Integrates with build and scripting tools to perform common tasks making everyday workflows faster. ​
  • Has support for Git to work with source control systems such as Azure DevOps, Bitbucket and more.​
  • Large Extension Marketplace of third-party extensions.​

As you can see there is a ton of stuff you can do with VS Code. VS Code is a must have for anyone doing CloudOps work with Azure and more. Now let’s look at the VS Code extensions I use for ARM Templates. I am including the link for each extension I will talk about. You can also simply load these right in VS Code.

Azure Resource Manager Tools:   https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=msazurermtools.azurerm-vscode-tools​

The Azure Resource Manager Tools extension provides language support for ARM Templates and language expressions. It can be used to create and edit Azure Resource Manager templates. ​High-level features include:

  • ARM Template Outline.​
  • IntelliSense.​
  • Support for built-in ARM functions, Parameter references, Variable references, resourceGroup() properties, subscription() properties, and more.
  • Bracket matching, Errors/Warnings and more.​

VS Code natively supports JSON. Azure Resource Manager Tools makes VS Code ARM Template aware. One of the biggest benefits it gives me is the ARM Template Outline making it much easier and faster to navigate the sections of an ARM Template. Here is what it looks like.

Next up is two extensions that both should be added. It is Material Theme and Material Theme Icons.

Material Theme –   https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Equinusocio.vsc-material-theme

This extension gives you some very cool themes and works in combination with the Azure Resource Manager Tools extension to give you the new color coding of your ARM Template code. The color coding highlights different parts of the ARM Template code such as parameters, variables, functions and more making it much easier to read through all of the code in ARM templates. Here is an example:

Material Icons Theme – https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=PKief.material-icon-theme

This extension adds a nice set of icons to your VS code. This extends beyond just ARM Templates. Again this makes it visually easier when navigating around VS code and ARM Templates. I typically use a PowerShell deployment script to deploy ARM Templates from VS Code into Azure. This icon them makes it easy to see ARM Template files and PowerShell files.

Here is a what it looks like without and with the Materials Icon Theme.

Without it:

With it:

ARM Snippets –  https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=samcogan.arm-snippets

The final extension I want to cover is ARM Snippets. This extension was developed by Sam Cogan (@samcogan) a fellow Microsoft MVP. In addition to the aforementioned marketplace link for this extension, you can find Sam’s Github repo for it here https://github.com/sam-cogan/arm-snippets-vscode.

This extension adds snippets to VS Code for creating Azure Resource Manager Templates. This is helpful when you are working in VS Code and need to add something to your template for example a parameter, resource etc. You simply type arm and a menu appears with a list of the available snippets. For example if you want to add a virtual machine you could type arm-vm and a list of Windows and Linux VM resources snippets will appear. Click on the one you want and it will add the code block for you. This makes authroing templates much-much faster. This is shown in the following screenshot:

​The snippets include:​

  • Skeleton ARM Template​ (Note: This will load a skeleton for a fresh new ARM Template.)
  • Windows and Linux Virtual Machines​
  • Azure Web Apps​
  • Azure Functions​
  • Azure SQL​
  • Virtual Networks, Subnets and NSG’s​
  • Keyvault​
  • Network Interfaces and IP’s​
  • Redis​
  • Application Insights​
  • DNS​
  • Virtual Machines​
  • And more……

Note that the ARM Snippets extension is derived from the Cross Platform Tooling Samples. The Cross Platform Tooling Samples are a set of templates, snippets, and scripts for creating and deploying Azure Resource Management Templates in cross-platform environments. It sounds like this is updated more often and worth looking into loading. It does not have a friendly installer though like the ARM Snippets extension does though. Here is the link to the Cross Platform Tooling Samples Github repo: https://github.com/Azure/azure-xplat-arm-tooling

End Result:

Below is a screenshot of what your ARM Templates will look like after loading all of the extensions mentioned in this blog post into your VS Code.

That wraps up this blog post. I hope this is helpful to those out there working with ARM Templates in VS Code. If you have any additional tips to share please add a comment. Happy authoring!

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