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Step 1: Local Setup

Before writing code, you need to prepare your development environment and Azure resources.

This tutorial walks these steps in order:

flowchart TD
    START["Step 1: Local Setup"]
    N1["Prerequisites"]
    N2["1. Create ACS Resource"]
    N3["2. Initialize Maven Project"]
    N4["3. Add Dependencies"]
    N5["4. Set Environment Variables"]
    N6["5. Verify Setup"]
    START --> N1
    N1 --> N2
    N2 --> N3
    N3 --> N4
    N4 --> N5
    N5 --> N6

Prerequisites

  1. JDK 8+: Ensure you have a Java Development Kit installed.
  2. Maven: Installed and added to your system path.
  3. Azure CLI: Useful for resource management (optional but recommended).

1. Create ACS Resource

Use the Azure Portal or CLI to create an Azure Communication Services resource:

az communication create --name "MyACSResource" --location "Global" --data-location "United States" --resource-group "MyResourceGroup"
Command Purpose
az communication create Creates an Azure Communication Services resource.
--name "MyACSResource" Names the ACS resource to create.
--location "Global" Sets the resource location (ACS resources are Global).
--data-location "United States" Sets the immutable region where data at rest is stored.
--resource-group "MyResourceGroup" Places the resource in the named resource group.

Once created, navigate to the Keys section and copy the Connection String.

2. Initialize Maven Project

Create a new directory and initialize a Maven project:

mvn archetype:generate -DgroupId=com.communication.quickstart -DartifactId=communication-app -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-quickstart -DinteractiveMode=false

3. Add Dependencies

Update your pom.xml to include the ACS Identity SDK:

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.azure</groupId>
        <artifactId>azure-communication-identity</artifactId>
        <version>1.5.0</version>
    </dependency>
    <!-- Core library for common types -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.azure</groupId>
        <artifactId>azure-core</artifactId>
        <version>1.45.0</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

4. Set Environment Variables

Avoid hardcoding connection strings. Set an environment variable:

export COMMUNICATION_SERVICES_CONNECTION_STRING="<your-connection-string>"

5. Verify Setup

Create a file named App.java and add the following code to verify you can connect to your resource:

package com.communication.quickstart;

import com.azure.communication.identity.CommunicationIdentityClient;
import com.azure.communication.identity.CommunicationIdentityClientBuilder;
import com.azure.communication.identity.models.CommunicationUserIdentifier;

public class App {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String connectionString = System.getenv("COMMUNICATION_SERVICES_CONNECTION_STRING");

        if (connectionString == null || connectionString.isEmpty()) {
            System.err.println("Please set the COMMUNICATION_SERVICES_CONNECTION_STRING environment variable.");
            return;
        }

        CommunicationIdentityClient client = new CommunicationIdentityClientBuilder()
            .connectionString(connectionString)
            .buildClient();

        CommunicationUserIdentifier user = client.createUser();
        System.out.println("Successfully created user with ID: " + user.getId());
    }
}

Run the application: 

mvn compile exec:java -Dexec.mainClass="com.communication.quickstart.App"

Next Step

Now that your environment is ready, let's Send an SMS.

See Also

Sources