Run .exe executable file in Azure Function

Question

I have executable abcd.exe (it contains/merged with many .dll). Is it possible to create Azure Function for abcd.exe and run it in Azure Cloud Functions?

The abcd.exe application :

System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();

System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo();

startInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;

startInfo.FileName = "cmd.exe";

**startInfo.Arguments = "/C abcd.exe";**

process.StartInfo = startInfo;

process.Start();

The abcd.exe application does not have UI (GUI), but it is math and scientific Application and it depend from many .dll which are merged inside abcd.exe.

Thank you

Answer 1

Is it possible to create Azure Function for abcd.exe and run it in Azure Cloud Functions?

Yes, we can upload .exe file and run it in Azure Function app. I create a TimerTrigger Function app, and run a .exe that insert record into database in this Function app, which works fine on my side.

function.json

{
  "bindings": [
    {
      "name": "myTimer",
      "type": "timerTrigger",
      "direction": "in",
      "schedule": "0 */1 * * * *"
    }
  ],
  "disabled": false
}

run.csx

using System;

public static void Run(TimerInfo myTimer, TraceWriter log)
{
    System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
    process.StartInfo.FileName = @"D:\home\site\wwwroot\TimerTriggerCSharp1\testfunc.exe";
    process.StartInfo.Arguments = "";
    process.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = false;
    process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput = true;
    process.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError = true;
    process.Start();
    string output = process.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd();
    string err = process.StandardError.ReadToEnd();
    process.WaitForExit();

    log.Info($"C# Timer trigger function executed at: {DateTime.Now}");
}

Upload .exe file to Function app folder

Main code in my .exe program

SqlConnection cn = new SqlConnection("Server=tcp:{dbserver}.database.windows.net,1433;Initial Catalog={dbname};Persist Security Info=False;User ID={user_id};Password={pwd};MultipleActiveResultSets=False;Encrypt=True;TrustServerCertificate=False;Connection Timeout=30;");
cn.Open();
SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand();
cmd.Connection = cn;

cmd.CommandText = "insert into [dbo].[debug]([Name]) values('test')";

cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
cn.Close();

Query the database, I can find the test record is inserted from my .exe file.

Answer 2

Fred Thank you very much for your help. Now, with minor modification the application is compiling and running.

Some minor modifications to the application:

using System;

using System.Diagnostics;

using System.Threading;


public static void Run(TimerInfo myTimer, TraceWriter log)
{

    System.Diagnostics.Process process = new System.Diagnostics.Process();
    string WorkingDirectoryInfo =@"D:\home\site\wwwroot\TimerTriggerCSharp1";
    string ExeLocation = @"D:\home\site\wwwroot\TimerTriggerCSharp1\MyApplication.exe";
    Process proc = new Process();
    ProcessStartInfo info = new ProcessStartInfo();

    try
    {
    info.WorkingDirectory = WorkingDirectoryInfo;
    info.FileName = ExeLocation;
    info.Arguments = "";
    info.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Minimized;
    info.UseShellExecute = false;
    info.CreateNoWindow = true;
    proc.StartInfo = info;
    proc.Refresh();
    proc.Start();
    proc.WaitForInputIdle();
    proc.WaitForExit();
    }
    catch
    {
    }
    log.Info($"C# Timer trigger function executed at: {DateTime.Now}");
}

Answer 3

no problem if you just run it in local machine, but run in azure, if will failed unfortunately . I'm simply tell everybody the truth, which is impossible to Run .exe executable file in Azure Function, so stop wasting time on trying figure out this topic, it took me 3 days to realized that the azure function is kind of nanoserver which everything in sandbox nothing else can be executed from inside