Gotcha: Windows Azure Message Queue - 400 Bad Request

Message Queue names must not contain Illegal Characters

If you try and create a Container (like a Message Queue) in Windows Azure Storage, there is a strict naming convention to follow.

A container name must be a valid DNS name, conforming to the following naming rules:

• Container names must start with a letter or number, and can contain only letters, numbers, and the dash (-) character.
• Every dash (-) character must be immediately preceded and followed by a letter or number; consecutive dashes are not permitted in container names.
• All letters in a container name must be lowercase.
• Container names must be from 3 through 63 characters long.

Reference: Naming and Referencing Containers, Blobs, and Metadata @ MSDN

If you don't do this, you will get a 400 BAD REQUEST exception thrown, with the exception message One of the request inputs is out of range..

This is a serious gotcha. It's also a basic foundation rule of using Windows Azure, it seems.

Crap that I missed that important note when learning how to leverage Windows Azure.

Sample Code.

Take note of the two constants - one is good, one is bad.

// Good name key :)
const string QueueNameKey = "searchqueue";

// Bad name key - notice the FULL STOP in the string text?
// const string QueueNameKey = "search.queue";

// Bad name key - notice the UPPER CASE CHARACTER in the string text?
// const string QueueNameKey = "searchQueue";

// Retrieve storage account from connection string
CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(
CloudConfigurationManager.GetSetting(--your connection string--));

// Create the queue client
CloudQueueClient queueClient =     storageAccount.CreateCloudQueueClient();

// Retrieve a reference to a queue
CloudQueue queue = queueClient.GetQueueReference(queueNameKey);

// Create the queue if it doesn't already exist
queue.CreateIfNotExists();