notification-hubs-send-categories-template.md

title	description	services	author	ms.service	ms.topic	ms.date	ms.author	ms.custom
include file	include file	notification-hubs	spelluru	notification-hubs	include	03/30/2018	spelluru	include file

In this section, you send breaking news as tagged template notifications from a .NET console app.

1. In Visual Studio, create a new Visual C# console application:

   

2. On the Visual Studio main menu, select Tools > Library Package Manager > Package Manager Console and then, in the console window, enter the following string:

    Install-Package Microsoft.Azure.NotificationHubs
   

3. Select Enter.
   This action adds a reference to the Azure Notification Hubs SDK by using the Microsoft.Azure.Notification Hubs NuGet package.

4. Open the Program.cs file, and add the following using statement:

   using Microsoft.Azure.NotificationHubs;

5. In the Program class, add the following method, or replace it if it already exists:

   private static async void SendTemplateNotificationAsync()
   {
       // Define the notification hub.
       NotificationHubClient hub = NotificationHubClient.CreateClientFromConnectionString("<connection string with full access>", "<hub name>");
   
       // Create an array of breaking news categories.
       var categories = new string[] { "World", "Politics", "Business", "Technology", "Science", "Sports"};
   
       // Send the notification as a template notification. All template registrations that contain
       // "messageParam" and the proper tags will receive the notifications.
       // This includes APNS, GCM, WNS, and MPNS template registrations.
   
       Dictionary<string, string> templateParams = new Dictionary<string, string>();
   
       foreach (var category in categories)
       {
           templateParams["messageParam"] = "Breaking " + category + " News!";
           await hub.SendTemplateNotificationAsync(templateParams, category);
       }
   }

   This code sends a template notification for each of the six tags in the string array. The use of tags ensures that devices receive notifications only for the registered categories.

6. In the preceding code, replace the <hub name> and <connection string with full access> placeholders with your notification hub name and the connection string for DefaultFullSharedAccessSignature from the dashboard of your notification hub.

7. In the Main method, add the following lines:

   SendTemplateNotificationAsync();
   Console.ReadLine();

8. Build the console app.