Run the sample app: HoloLens - Visual Studio (C++/WinRT)

Article
03/10/2023

This quickstart covers how to run the Azure Spatial Anchors sample app for HoloLens using Visual Studio (C++/WinRT and DirectX). Azure Spatial Anchors is a cross-platform developer service that allows you to create mixed reality experiences using objects that persist their location across devices over time. When you're finished, you'll have a HoloLens app that can save and recall a spatial anchor.

You'll learn how to:

Create a Spatial Anchors account
Configure the Spatial Anchors account identifier and account key
Deploy and run on a HoloLens device

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create an Azure free account before you begin.

Prerequisites

To complete this quickstart, make sure you have:

A Windows machine with Visual Studio 2019 installed with the Universal Windows Platform development workload and the Windows 10 SDK (10.0.18362.0 or newer) component. You must also install Git for Windows and Git LFS.
The C++/WinRT Visual Studio Extension (VSIX) for Visual Studio should be installed from the Visual Studio Marketplace.
A HoloLens device with developer mode enabled. This article requires a HoloLens device with the Windows 10 May 2020 Update. To update to the latest release on HoloLens, open the Settings app, go to Update & Security, then select the Check for updates button.
Your app must set the spatialPerception capability in its AppX manifest.

Create a Spatial Anchors resource

Go to the Azure portal.

On the left pane, select Create a resource.

Use the search box to search for Spatial Anchors.

Select Spatial Anchors, and then select Create.

On the Spatial Anchors Account pane, do the following:

Enter a unique resource name by using regular alphanumeric characters.
Select the subscription that you want to attach the resource to.
Create a resource group by selecting Create new. Name it myResourceGroup, and then select OK.

A resource group is a logical container into which Azure resources, such as web apps, databases, and storage accounts, are deployed and managed. For example, you can choose to delete the entire resource group in one simple step later.
Select a location (region) in which to place the resource.
Select Create to begin creating the resource.

Screenshot of the Spatial Anchors pane for creating a resource.

After the resource is created, the Azure portal shows that your deployment is complete.

Screenshot showing that the resource deployment is complete.

Select Go to resource. You can now view the resource properties.

Copy the resource's Account ID value into a text editor for later use.

Screenshot of the resource properties pane.

Also copy the resource's Account Domain value into a text editor for later use.

Screenshot showing the resource's account domain value.

Under Settings, select Access Key. Copy the Primary key value, Account Key, into a text editor for later use.

Screenshot of the Keys pane for the account.

Start by preparing your environment for the Azure CLI:

Use the Bash environment in Azure Cloud Shell. For more information, see Quickstart for Bash in Azure Cloud Shell.
If you prefer to run CLI reference commands locally, install the Azure CLI. If you're running on Windows or macOS, consider running Azure CLI in a Docker container. For more information, see How to run the Azure CLI in a Docker container.
- If you're using a local installation, sign in to the Azure CLI by using the az login command. To finish the authentication process, follow the steps displayed in your terminal. For other sign-in options, see Sign in with the Azure CLI.
- When you're prompted, install the Azure CLI extension on first use. For more information about extensions, see Use extensions with the Azure CLI.
- Run az version to find the version and dependent libraries that are installed. To upgrade to the latest version, run az upgrade.

After you sign in, use the az account set command to select the subscription in which to set up the spatial anchors account:
```
az account set --subscription 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
```
Run the az group create command to create a resource group, or use an existing resource group:
```
az group create --name myResourceGroup --location eastus2
```
A resource group is a logical container into which Azure resources, such as web apps, databases, and storage accounts, are deployed and managed. For example, you can choose to delete the entire resource group in one simple step later.

You can view your current spatial anchors accounts for a resource group by using the az spatial-anchors-account list command:
```
az spatial-anchors-account list --resource-group myResourceGroup
```
You can also view the spatial anchors accounts for your subscription:
```
az spatial-anchors-account list
```

Run the az spatial-anchors-account create command to create your spatial anchors account:

az spatial-anchors-account create --resource-group myResourceGroup --name MySpatialAnchorsQuickStart --location eastus2

View the resource properties by using the az spatial-anchors-account show command:
```
az spatial-anchors-account show --resource-group myResourceGroup --name MySpatialAnchorsQuickStart
```
Copy the resource Account ID value and the resource Account Domain value into a text editor for later use.

Run the az spatial-anchors-account key show command to get your primary and secondary keys:

az spatial-anchors-account key show --resource-group myResourceGroup --name MySpatialAnchorsQuickStart

Copy the key values into a text editor for later use.

If you need to regenerate keys, use the az spatial-anchors-account key renew command:

az spatial-anchors-account key renew --resource-group myResourceGroup --name example --key primary
az spatial-anchors-account key renew --resource-group myResourceGroup --name example --key secondary

You can delete an account by using the az spatial-anchors-account delete command:

az spatial-anchors-account delete --resource-group myResourceGroup --name MySpatialAnchorsQuickStart

Start by preparing your environment for Azure PowerShell:

If you choose to use Azure PowerShell locally:
- Install the latest version of the Az PowerShell module.
- Connect to your Azure account using the Connect-AzAccount cmdlet.
If you choose to use Azure Cloud Shell:
- See Overview of Azure Cloud Shell for more information.

Important

While the Az.MixedReality PowerShell module is in preview, you must install it separately using the Install-Module cmdlet. After this PowerShell module becomes generally available, it will be part of future Az PowerShell module releases and available by default from within Azure Cloud Shell.

Install-Module -Name Az.MixedReality

After you sign in, use the Set-AzContext cmdlet to select the subscription in which to set up the spatial anchors account:
```
Set-AzContext -SubscriptionId 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
```
Run the New-AzResourceGroup cmdlet to create a resource group, or use an existing resource group:
```
New-AzResourceGroup -Name myResourceGroup -Location eastus2
```
A resource group is a logical container into which Azure resources, such as web apps, databases, and storage accounts, are deployed and managed. For example, you can choose to delete the entire resource group in one simple step later.

You can view your current spatial anchors accounts for a resource group by using the Get-AzSpatialAnchorsAccount cmdlet:
```
Get-AzSpatialAnchorsAccount -ResourceGroup myResourceGroup
```
You can also view the spatial anchors accounts for your subscription:
```
Get-AzSpatialAnchorsAccount
```

Run the New-AzSpatialAnchorsAccount cmdlet to create your spatial anchors account:

New-AzSpatialAnchorsAccount -ResourceGroup myResourceGroup -Name MySpatialAnchorsQuickStart -Location eastus2

View the resource properties by using the Get-AzSpatialAnchorsAccount cmdlet:
```
Get-AzSpatialAnchorsAccount -ResourceGroup myResourceGroup -Name MySpatialAnchorsQuickStart
```
Copy the property accountId value and the property accountDomain value into a text editor for later use.

Run the Get-AzSpatialAnchorsAccountKey cmdlet to get your primary and secondary keys:

Get-AzSpatialAnchorsAccountKey -ResourceGroup myResourceGroup -Name MySpatialAnchorsQuickStart

Copy the key values into a text editor for later use.

If you need to regenerate keys, use the New-AzSpatialAnchorsAccountKey cmdlet:

New-AzSpatialAnchorsAccountKey -ResourceGroupName myResourceGroup -Name MySpatialAnchorsQuickStart -Primary
New-AzSpatialAnchorsAccountKey -ResourceGroupName myResourceGroup -Name MySpatialAnchorsQuickStart -Secondary

You can delete an account by using the Remove-AzSpatialAnchorsAccount cmdlet:

Remove-AzSpatialAnchorsAccount -ResourceGroup myResourceGroup -Name MySpatialAnchorsQuickStart

Open the sample project

Clone the samples repository by running the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/Azure/azure-spatial-anchors-samples.git
cd ./azure-spatial-anchors-samples

Open HoloLens\DirectX\SampleHoloLens.sln in Visual Studio.

Configure account identifier and key

The next step is to configure the app to use your account identifier and account key. You copied them into a text editor when setting up the Spatial Anchors resource.

Open HoloLens\DirectX\SampleHoloLens\ViewController.cpp.

Locate the SpatialAnchorsAccountKey field and replace Set me with the account key.

Locate the SpatialAnchorsAccountId field and replace Set me with the account identifier.

Locate the SpatialAnchorsAccountDomain field and replace Set me with the account domain.

Deploy the app to your HoloLens

Change the Solution Configuration to Release, change Solution Platform to x86, and select Device from the deployment target options.

If using HoloLens 2, use ARM64 as the Solution Platform, instead of x86.

Visual Studio Configuration

Power on the HoloLens device, sign in, and connect it to the PC using a USB cable.

Select Debug > Start debugging to deploy your app and start debugging.

Follow the instructions in the app to place and recall an anchor.

In Visual Studio, stop the app by either selecting Stop Debugging or pressing Shift + F5.

Clean up resources

In the preceding steps, you created Azure resources in a resource group. If you don't expect to need these resources in the future, you can delete them by deleting the resource group.

From the Azure portal menu or Home page, select Resource groups. Then, on the Resource groups page, select myResourceGroup.

On the myResourceGroup page, make sure that the listed resources are the ones you want to delete.

Select Delete resource group, type myResourceGroup in the text box to confirm, and then select Delete.

Next steps

In this quickstart, you created a Spatial Anchors account. You then configured and deployed an app to save and recall spatial anchors. To learn more about how to improve the app so it can share spatial anchors with other devices, continue to the next tutorial.

Tutorial: Share Spatial Anchors across devices

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