So here’s just a small tidbit that can be useful.

First the “let” keyword – it basically allows you to bind a name to an expression or to a scalar. This of course is really useful if you plan to re-use the expression.

I’ll give an example that I use in real-life – a basic investigative query into failed requests. I’m joining exceptions and failed dependencies (similar to NRT proactive detection). I’m using the let keyword to easily modify the time range of my query.

Here it is, enjoy!

let investigationStartTime = datetime("2016-09-07");
let investigationEndTime = investigationStartTime + 1d;
requests
| where timestamp > investigationStartTime
| where timestamp < investigationEndTime
| where success == "False"
| join kind=leftouter(exceptions
   | where timestamp > investigationStartTime
   | where timestamp < investigationEndTime
   | project exception=type , operation_Id ) on operation_Id
| join kind=leftouter (dependencies
   | where timestamp > investigationStartTime
   | where timestamp < investigationEndTime
   | where success == "False"
   | project failed_dependency=name, operation_Id ) on operation_Id
| project timestamp, operation_Id , resultCode, exception, failed_dependency