Can Azure run WPF?

Question

I\'d like to write an ASP.Net MVC app running on Windows Azure that will create images using WPF.

Before I start writing it, will that work?
Does Azure have the nece

Answer 1

The performance in the cloud is solely dictated by how much computing power you require. Can the cloud (Azure) scale? Absolutely.

You could use an ASP.NET MVC role coupled with a Worker role which would take care of your image creation. The option also exists to host a XBAP; however there are caveats with that approach but it can be done.

Answer 2

You are likely be able to do this with VM Role instances. However, Azure nodes do not have powerful GPU's, so I'm not sure if that'll be very cost-effective?

This has been a requested feature: http://www.mygreatwindowsazureidea.com/forums/34192-windows-azure-feature-voting/suggestions/398032-provide-directx-and-directcompute-functionality-as?ref=comments

Answer 3

Absolutely. In particular, Azure Websites (which probably weren't around at the time the other two answers were posted) can also use WPF and I use it in my applications for

1. image processing,
2. operations on spline paths (Geometry-related stuff in WPF) and
3. pdf creation (via WPF xps creation from visual trees and subsequent conversion to a scalable pdf with pdfsharp).

It's stuff like that which makes ASP.NET such a cool platform.

The talk about GPU considerations that was raised by some people on this question is pretty irrelevant for simple image processing. I seriously doubt a GPU is even used for that when present.