storage-cloud-configuration-manager-include.md

The Microsoft Azure Configuration Manager Library for .NET provides a class for parsing a connection string from a configuration file. The CloudConfigurationManager class parses configuration settings regardless of whether the client application is running on the desktop, on a mobile device, in an Azure virtual machine, or in an Azure cloud service.

To reference the CloudConfigurationManager package, add the following using directive:

using Microsoft.Azure; //Namespace for CloudConfigurationManager

Here's an example that shows how to retrieve a connection string from a configuration file:

// Parse the connection string and return a reference to the storage account.
CloudStorageAccount storageAccount = CloudStorageAccount.Parse(
    CloudConfigurationManager.GetSetting("StorageConnectionString"));

Using the Azure Configuration Manager is optional. You can also use an API like the .NET Framework's ConfigurationManager class.