Sample1CreateDeleteTables.md

Create and Delete Tables

This sample demonstrates how to create and delete a table. You can use either a TableServiceClient or a TableClient to create a table based on your needs. To get started, you'll need access to either a Storage or Cosmos DB account.

Create a TableServiceClient

A TableServiceClient performs account-level operations like creating and deleting tables, so it is ideal for dealing with multiple tables. To create a TableServiceClient, you will need a SAS URI, an endpoint and TableSharedKeyCredential, or a connection string.

In the sample below, we will use a Storage account and authenticate with an endpoint and TableSharedKeyCredential, which requires an account name and an account key. You can set accountName and storageAccountKey with an environment variable, configuration setting, or any way that works for your application.

// Construct a new "TableServiceClient using a TableSharedKeyCredential.

var serviceClient = new TableServiceClient(
    new Uri(storageUri),
    new TableSharedKeyCredential(accountName, storageAccountKey));

Create a TableClient

A TableClient is needed to perform table-level operations like inserting and deleting entities within the table, so it is ideal for dealing with only a specific table. There are two ways to get a TableClient:

• Call GetTableClient from the TableServiceClient with the table name.

var tableClient2 = serviceClient.GetTableClient(tableName);

• Create a TableClient with a SAS URI, an endpoint and TableSharedKeyCredential, or a connection string.

var tableClient3 = new TableClient(
    new Uri(storageUri),
    tableName,
    new TableSharedKeyCredential(accountName, storageAccountKey));

Create a table

A table requires a unique table name

Using TableServiceClient

To create a table, invoke CreateTableIfNotExists with the table name.

// Create a new table. The TableItem class stores properties of the created table.
TableItem table = serviceClient.CreateTableIfNotExists(tableName);
Console.WriteLine($"The created table's name is {table.Name}.");

Using TableClient

To create a table, invoke CreateIfNotExists with the table name.

tableClient3.CreateIfNotExists();

Delete a table

Using TableServiceClient

To delete the table, invoke DeleteTable with the table name.

// Deletes the table made previously.
serviceClient.DeleteTable(tableName);

Using TableClient

To delete the table, invoke Delete with the table name.

tableClient3.Delete();

Handle errors

To get more information from a thrown exception when creating and deleting tables, use a try/catch statement to print out the exception.

try
{
    // Creates a table.
    serviceClient.CreateTable(tableName);

    // Second attempt to create table with the same name should throw exception.
    serviceClient.CreateTable(tableName);
}
catch (RequestFailedException e)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Create existing table throws the following exception:");
    Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
}