Claus on Code

A data dudes random musings about code, bugs, products, life etc.


Doing Windows development on my android tablet with Azure

The scenario: So, I’m on the run, to a family party, a boring meeting, or something similar 🙂 Suddenly, I get this great idea for the BI project I’m working on. I didn’t bring my monster laptop, because it is to heavy & ugly. Instead I’m sitting with my android tablet. What to do now??? 🙂 A solution I have started to use, is the Azure virtual machines. You can create your own on the azure portal, and you can even get them with the software you need preinstalled. I won’t describe the procedure here, because it is simple and out the box. One of the new good things, is that you only pay for it, when it is online, so remember to shut it down afterwards. So how to do it? It’s described in the pics below:

My setup, an android tablet, with bluetooth keyboard
Install the MS remote desktop client
Navigate to the azure portal, and start your VM
From the portal, you can download the connection file, so you don’t have to remember the connection information. I keep it saved in dropbox. When I click it, the MS remote desktop connect to the VM.
And now I’m connected. Windows 2012 R2 on my android tablet with Metro style.
Searching the apps
Running datatools. I could connect to TFS in the cloud, and get alle the sourcecode, and start doing some work.
Querying a SQL database, potentially fixing a bug 🙂
All done! Remember to stop the VM, when you are done.

Conclusion: For me, the best way to develop, is using a powerfull laptop, connected to a good keyboard, mouse, and some big screens. However, if you need to do something fast, it is possible to do some work, just using your android tablet and an Azure VM.



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