Azure Functions: Http Trigger vs. Timer Trigger

Question

I am trying to get a better understanding which Trigger (between Http Trigger and Timer Trigger) I need to use for my project.

1) SDK that I have installed on my solution uses Web Services to pull data. Does it mean that I need to use Http Trigger (not Timer Trigger)?

2) How do we trigger Http Trigger to run? I learned that using Azure Data Factory, because it has webhook, it could invoke Http Trigger. Is there other ways?

3) If I use Timer Trigger, can I use Azure Data Factory to move data (or is it only with Http Trigger)?

Thanks.

Answer 1

@KingJava ,

Triggers in Azure functions is the way you want your function to get started. If you wish to start the function based on a schedule/time/day, you can go for timer trigger and if you have a web app/api/third party service that would send a request/webhook to azure function then you can go for http trigger.

If your requirement is to trigger the function from the web service through a webhook/request, you can choose http trigger. I hope this answers question (1)

To answer question (2), http trigger can be triggered by a webhook/http request. Yes ADF can trigger the function using a webhook. Imagine http function is just an API endpoint that can be triggered by any http client ( say postman or a web application that uses httpclient library). Here is an article that I came across that shows how to call azure function : https://azurelessons.com/consume-azure-function-from-asp-net-core/

(3) It is possible to trigger an ADF pipeline using Microsoft.Azure.Management.DataFactory NuGet package in the .net code. So this code can be run inside a timer trigger function.

I hope this helps!

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