[New article]: New Durable Task Scheduler integration

[philliphoff]

Proposed topic or title

.NET Aspire Durable Task Scheduler integration

Location in table of contents.

/ Integrations / Azure / Azure Functions / Durable Task Scheduler

Reason for the article

We're in the process of adding .NET Aspire integration for a new Azure resource, the Durable Task Scheduler (DTS), a backend for Durable Task based applications (such as Azure Durable Functions). Developers utilizing DTS in their applications may need documentation describing how to make use of DTS within .NET Aspire.

Article abstract

Durable Task applications (e.g. Azure Durable Functions) can use the Azure Durable Task Scheduler (DTS) to manage execution of its orchestrations and entities. .NET Aspire applications can use this integration to make use of existing or emulated DTS instances.

Getting started

Install the package

In your AppHost project, install the .NET Aspire Durable Task Hosting library with NuGet:

dotnet add package Aspire.Hosting.Azure.Functions --prerelease

Durable Task Scheduler usage example

Using the emulator

In the Program.cs file of AppHost, add Durable Task Scheduler resources and consume the connection using the following methods:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var scheduler = builder.AddDurableTaskScheduler("scheduler")
                       .RunAsEmulator();

var taskHub = scheduler.AddDurableTaskHub("taskhub");

builder.AddProject<Projects.MyApp>("myapp")
       .WithReference(taskHub);

builder.Build().Run();

NOTE: When referencing the taskhub resource, the connection string will include the task hub name whereas the connection string for a scheduler resource will not. Use the latter when an application specifies the task hub name separately from the connection string (e.g. Azure Durable Functions).

Using an existing Durable Task Scheduler

In the Program.cs file of AppHost, add Durable Task Scheduler resources and consume the connection using the following methods:

var builder = DistributedApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var scheduler =
    builder.AddDurableTaskScheduler("scheduler")
           .RunAsExisting(builder.AddParameter("scheduler-connection-string"));

var taskHub =
    scheduler.AddTaskHub("taskhub")
             .WithTaskHubName(builder.AddParameter("taskhub-name"));

builder.AddProject<Projects.MyApp>("myapp")
       .WithReference(taskHub);

builder.Build().Run();

Relevant searches

N/A

Associated work items

• dotnet/aspire#8926
• dotnet/aspire#9294

[IEvangelist]

Hi @philliphoff, do you know is this planned for 9.4?

[philliphoff]

That's a good question; the feature request is still in the "backlog" at the moment. I don't have any insight into the Aspire schedule so I don't know what the 9.3/9.4 timelines look like in order to know which (or whether another following version) is a reasonable target.

[IEvangelist]

Perfect, that is helpful - thank you.

[davidfowl]

Great we have a doc issue, but this isn't merged yet 😄 (PR template got you!)