Creating Azure storage table on asp.net MVC - asp.net-mvc

Question

I'm following this blog post to create an azure storage table:
http://blogs.msdn.com/jnak/archive/2008/10/28/walkthrough-simple-table-storage.aspx
It works fine on an asp.net webform web_role.
I've re-created the same project using asp.net mvc as the web role, and it's always failing on application start. this line:
StorageAccountInfo account = StorageAccountInfo.GetDefaultTableStorageAccountFromConfiguration();
seem to always fail getting the account shared key.
If I move the line from global asax application start to default.aspx, it works perfectly fine.
Is there any difference in initializing a storage table in azure asp.net mvc compared to webform?
Why can't I get the azure appsettings on application start?
This is the error call stack from event viewer
Exception information:
Exception type: HttpException
Exception message: No account key specified!
Request information:
Request URL: http://127.0.0.1:5100/do.__rd_runtime_init__?shutdownEvent=1B671B93FD-4153-4834-9D5D-595EFC6C19EE1D
Request path: /do.__rd_runtime_init__
User host address: 127.0.0.1
User:
Is authenticated: False
Authentication Type:
Thread account name: *****
Thread information:
Thread ID: 6
Thread account name: *****
Is impersonating: False
Stack trace: at System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.EnsureAppStartCalledForIntegratedMode(HttpContext context, HttpApplication app)
at System.Web.HttpApplication.RegisterEventSubscriptionsWithIIS(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context, MethodInfo[] handlers)
at System.Web.HttpApplication.InitSpecial(HttpApplicationState state, MethodInfo[] handlers, IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context)
at System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.GetSpecialApplicationInstance(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context)
at System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.GetPipelineApplicationInstance(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context)
at System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.InitializeApplication(IntPtr appContext)

Answer 1

Check out the "remarks" at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.servicehosting.serviceruntime.rolemanager.aspx:
The Windows Azure fabric runs IIS 7.0
in integrated mode. In integrated
mode, the Application_Start event does
not support access to the request
context or to the members of the
RoleManager class provided by the
Windows Azure SDK runtime API. If you
are writing an ASP.NET application
that accesses the request context or
calls methods of the RoleManager class
from the Application_Start event, you
should modify it to initialize in the
Application_BeginRequest event
instead.
For an example that shows how to use
the Application_BeginRequest event,
see the PersonalWebSite Sample that
ships with the Windows Azure SDK.

Answer 2

If you use:
StorageAccountInfo account = StorageAccountInfo.GetDefaultTableStorageAccountFromConfiguration();
Usually the account information is given in the Web.conf file.
<add key="TableStorageEndpoint" value="http://127.0.0.1:10002/devstoreaccount1" />
<add key="AccountName" value="devstoreaccount1" />
<add key="AccountSharedKey" value="YOUR ACCOUNT KEY PROVIDED BY AZURE"/>