Friday, October 22, 2010

I'm pleased to announce the public beta of Azure Storage Explorer version 4 is now available. Beta 1 can be downloaded from CodePlex.

Azure Storage Explorer allows you to view and edit all 3 types of cloud storage: blobs, queues, and tables. If you're not already familiar with it, Azure Storage Explorer was one of the first (if not the first) GUI tools for viewing and working with Windows Azure storage. This utility was written in the very early days of Windows Azure, and even after 3 major versions all of that pre-dated the commercial release of Windows Azure in early 2010. Altogether there have been over 13,000 downloads.

It's been a year since version 3 was published, and in that time the Windows Azure platform has moved forward at a rapid pace. Many users have been hungry for an update that supports newer features such as blob root containers and better handles nuances such as blob prefix paths and property editing.

Highlights of version 4

• Better Code. Versions 1-3 of Azure Storage Explorer didn't have the .NET Storage Client library to use and were based on an SDK sample that had a voluminous number of classes, leading to code that was vast and complex. In version 4 we are using the .NET StorageClient library and the code is compact and well-organized. The source code is open and is part of the CodePlex project.
• Newer storage feature support. Support has been added for newer features such as blob root containers, blob path prefixes, and page blobs.
• Copy and rename containers, queues, and tables.
• Direct data entry and editing of blobs, messages, and entities.
• Improved UI. The new WPF-based UI is cleaner, and supports opening multiple storage acounts at the same in tab views. The Mode-View-ViewModel pattern is used.

Containers & Blobs

• Create, View, Copy, Rename, Delete Containers
• Create, View, Copy, Rename, Delete, Upload, Download Blobs



Blobs can be viewed as images, video, or text. Blob properties can be viewed/editied.



Queues & Messages

• Create, View, Copy, Rename, Delete Queues
• Create, View, Pop, Clear, Upload, Download Messages



Message content and properties can be viewed.



Tables & Entities

• Create, View, Copy, Rename, Delete Tables
• Create, Edit, Copy, Rename, Delete, Upload, Download Entities



Entities can be viewed and edited.



Remember, it's a beta

With any beta software, you should exercise caution. Keep in mind that both people and programs can make mistakes, and it's always a good idea to keep safe backups of your data.

Azure Storage Explorer is a community donation of Neudesic. As with previous versions, Azure Storage Explorer remains free. Full source code is on CodePlex and we invite the community to help us keep it up to date and make improvements.