Azure Blob storage input binding for Azure Functions

The following example is a C# function that runs in an isolated worker process and uses a blob trigger with both blob input and blob output blob bindings. The function is triggered by the creation of a blob in the test-samples-trigger container. It reads a text file from the test-samples-input container and creates a new text file in an output container based on the name of the triggered file.

    public static class BlobFunction
    {
        [Function(nameof(BlobFunction))]
        [BlobOutput("test-samples-output/{name}-output.txt")]
        public static string Run(
            [BlobTrigger("test-samples-trigger/{name}")] string myTriggerItem,
            [BlobInput("test-samples-input/sample1.txt")] string myBlob,
            FunctionContext context)
        {
            var logger = context.GetLogger("BlobFunction");
            logger.LogInformation("Triggered Item = {myTriggerItem}", myTriggerItem);
            logger.LogInformation("Input Item = {myBlob}", myBlob);

            // Blob Output
            return "blob-output content";
        }
    }
}

The following example is a C# function that uses a queue trigger and an input blob binding. The queue message contains the name of the blob, and the function logs the size of the blob.

[FunctionName("BlobInput")]
public static void Run(
    [QueueTrigger("myqueue-items")] string myQueueItem,
    [Blob("samples-workitems/{queueTrigger}", FileAccess.Read)] Stream myBlob,
    ILogger log)
{
    log.LogInformation($"BlobInput processed blob\n Name:{myQueueItem} \n Size: {myBlob.Length} bytes");
}

The following example shows a queue triggered TypeScript function that makes a copy of a blob. The function is triggered by a queue message that contains the name of the blob to copy. The new blob is named {originalblobname}-Copy.

import { app, input, InvocationContext, output } from '@azure/functions';

const blobInput = input.storageBlob({
    path: 'samples-workitems/{queueTrigger}',
    connection: 'MyStorageConnectionAppSetting',
});

const blobOutput = output.storageBlob({
    path: 'samples-workitems/{queueTrigger}-Copy',
    connection: 'MyStorageConnectionAppSetting',
});

export async function storageQueueTrigger1(queueItem: unknown, context: InvocationContext): Promise<unknown> {
    return context.extraInputs.get(blobInput);
}

app.storageQueue('storageQueueTrigger1', {
    queueName: 'myqueue-items',
    connection: 'MyStorageConnectionAppSetting',
    extraInputs: [blobInput],
    return: blobOutput,
    handler: storageQueueTrigger1,
});

TypeScript samples are not documented for model v3.

The following example shows a queue triggered JavaScript function that makes a copy of a blob. The function is triggered by a queue message that contains the name of the blob to copy. The new blob is named {originalblobname}-Copy.

const { app, input, output } = require('@azure/functions');

const blobInput = input.storageBlob({
    path: 'samples-workitems/{queueTrigger}',
    connection: 'MyStorageConnectionAppSetting',
});

const blobOutput = output.storageBlob({
    path: 'samples-workitems/{queueTrigger}-Copy',
    connection: 'MyStorageConnectionAppSetting',
});

app.storageQueue('storageQueueTrigger1', {
    queueName: 'myqueue-items',
    connection: 'MyStorageConnectionAppSetting',
    extraInputs: [blobInput],
    return: blobOutput,
    handler: (queueItem, context) => {
        return context.extraInputs.get(blobInput);
    },
});

The following example shows blob input and output bindings in a function.json file and JavaScript code that uses the bindings. The function makes a copy of a blob. The function is triggered by a queue message that contains the name of the blob to copy. The new blob is named {originalblobname}-Copy.

In the function.json file, the queueTrigger metadata property is used to specify the blob name in the path properties:

{
  "bindings": [
    {
      "queueName": "myqueue-items",
      "connection": "MyStorageConnectionAppSetting",
      "name": "myQueueItem",
      "type": "queueTrigger",
      "direction": "in"
    },
    {
      "name": "myInputBlob",
      "type": "blob",
      "path": "samples-workitems/{queueTrigger}",
      "connection": "MyStorageConnectionAppSetting",
      "direction": "in"
    },
    {
      "name": "myOutputBlob",
      "type": "blob",
      "path": "samples-workitems/{queueTrigger}-Copy",
      "connection": "MyStorageConnectionAppSetting",
      "direction": "out"
    }
  ],
  "disabled": false
}

The configuration section explains these properties.

Here's the JavaScript code:

module.exports = async function(context) {
    context.log('Node.js Queue trigger function processed', context.bindings.myQueueItem);
    context.bindings.myOutputBlob = context.bindings.myInputBlob;
};

This example uses SDK types to directly access the underlying BlobClient object provided by the Blob storage input binding:

import logging

import azure.functions as func
import azurefunctions.extensions.bindings.blob as blob

app = func.FunctionApp(http_auth_level=func.AuthLevel.ANONYMOUS)
@app.route(route="file")
@app.blob_input(
    arg_name="client", path="PATH/TO/BLOB", connection="AzureWebJobsStorage"
)
def blob_input(req: func.HttpRequest, client: blob.BlobClient):
    logging.info(
        f"Python blob input function processed blob \n"
        f"Properties: {client.get_blob_properties()}\n"
        f"Blob content head: {client.download_blob().read(size=1)}"
    )
    return "ok"

For examples of using other SDK types, see the ContainerClient and StorageStreamDownloader samples.

To learn more, including how to enable SDK type bindings in your project, see SDK type bindings.

The code creates a copy of a blob.

import logging
import azure.functions as func

app = func.FunctionApp()

@app.function_name(name="BlobOutput1")
@app.route(route="file")
@app.blob_input(arg_name="inputblob",
                path="sample-workitems/test.txt",
                connection="<BLOB_CONNECTION_SETTING>")
@app.blob_output(arg_name="outputblob",
                path="newblob/test.txt",
                connection="<BLOB_CONNECTION_SETTING>")
def main(req: func.HttpRequest, inputblob: str, outputblob: func.Out[str]):
    logging.info(f'Python Queue trigger function processed {len(inputblob)} bytes')
    outputblob.set(inputblob)
    return "ok"

The function makes a copy of a blob. The function is triggered by a queue message that contains the name of the blob to copy. The new blob is named {originalblobname}-Copy.

In the function.json file, the queueTrigger metadata property is used to specify the blob name in the path properties:

{
  "bindings": [
    {
      "queueName": "myqueue-items",
      "connection": "MyStorageConnectionAppSetting",
      "name": "queuemsg",
      "type": "queueTrigger",
      "direction": "in"
    },
    {
      "name": "inputblob",
      "type": "blob",
      "dataType": "binary",
      "path": "samples-workitems/{queueTrigger}",
      "connection": "MyStorageConnectionAppSetting",
      "direction": "in"
    },
    {
      "name": "$return",
      "type": "blob",
      "path": "samples-workitems/{queueTrigger}-Copy",
      "connection": "MyStorageConnectionAppSetting",
      "direction": "out"
    }
  ],
  "disabled": false,
  "scriptFile": "__init__.py"
}

The configuration section explains these properties.

The dataType property determines which binding is used. The following values are available to support different binding strategies:

If the dataType property is not defined in function.json, the default value is string.

Here's the Python code:

import logging
import azure.functions as func


# The input binding field inputblob can either be 'bytes' or 'str' depends
# on dataType in function.json, 'binary' or 'string'.
def main(queuemsg: func.QueueMessage, inputblob: bytes) -> bytes:
    logging.info(f'Python Queue trigger function processed {len(inputblob)} bytes')
    return inputblob

Isolated worker process defines an input binding by using a BlobInputAttribute attribute, which takes the following parameters:

In C# class libraries, use the BlobAttribute, which takes the following parameters:

The following example shows how the attribute's constructor takes the path to the blob and a FileAccess parameter indicating read for the input binding:

[FunctionName("BlobInput")]
public static void Run(
    [QueueTrigger("myqueue-items")] string myQueueItem,
    [Blob("samples-workitems/{queueTrigger}", FileAccess.Read)] Stream myBlob,
    ILogger log)
{
    log.LogInformation($"BlobInput processed blob\n Name:{myQueueItem} \n Size: {myBlob.Length} bytes");
}

While the attribute takes a Connection property, you can also use the StorageAccountAttribute to specify a storage account connection. You can do this when you need to use a different storage account than other functions in the library. The constructor takes the name of an app setting that contains a storage connection string. The attribute can be applied at the parameter, method, or class level. The following example shows class level and method level:

[StorageAccount("ClassLevelStorageAppSetting")]
public static class AzureFunctions
{
    [FunctionName("StorageTrigger")]
    [StorageAccount("FunctionLevelStorageAppSetting")]
    public static void Run( //...
{
    ...
}

The storage account to use is determined in the following order:

• The trigger or binding attribute's Connection property.
• The StorageAccount attribute applied to the same parameter as the trigger or binding attribute.
• The StorageAccount attribute applied to the function.
• The StorageAccount attribute applied to the class.
• The default storage account for the function app, which is defined in the AzureWebJobsStorage application setting.

The following table explains the properties that you can set on the options object passed to the input.storageBlob() method.

The following table explains the binding configuration properties that you set in the function.json file.

When you want the function to process a single blob, the blob input binding can bind to the following types:

When you want the function to process multiple blobs from a container, the blob input binding can bind to the following types:

¹ To use these types, you need to reference Microsoft.Azure.Functions.Worker.Extensions.Storage.Blobs 5.1.1-preview2 or later and the common dependencies for SDK type bindings.

See Binding types for a list of supported types.

Access the blob data by using context.extraInputs.get().

Access the blob data by using context.bindings.<name> where <name> is the value specified in the name property of function.json.