ASP.NET Core 1.0: Adding A Configuration Source File

Article
1/17/2024

**Note : ** This Article Participated in Technet Guru Competition February 2017 Jump and won Silver Medal.

Introduction

This article demonstrates how to add a configuration source in ASP.NET Core 1.0. This is the simplest way to access the JSON file information in ASP.NET Core 1.0.

Before reading this article, you must read the articles given below for ASP.NET Core knowledge.

Package Required

We need to add the following JSON package in package.json file. This package will help to access the information in ASP.NET Core 1.0.

"Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Json": "1.0.0"

Creating a json file

We are creating a configuration JSON file in our application.

Right click -> Add -> New Item.. -> Click "Code" inside the Installed Category -> Select json file.

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appsettings.json

We have added one sample message inside the JSON file.

{ 
  "Message": { "WelcomeMessage": "Configure Source In ASP.NET Core 1.0 !!"  }, 
  "Microsoft": { 
    "Platform": [ "My", "New", "Article !! "  ] 
  } 
}

JSON configuration

In the following code, we used "AddJsonFile("json file name")" extension method. We can access the JSON file in our application through this extension "AddJsonFile("appsettings.json")".



      using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder; 
      using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting; 
      using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http; 
      using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration; 
      using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection; 
      using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging; 
      using System.Collections.Generic; 
      using System.Linq; 
                 
      namespace ConfiguringSource 
      {   
                    public class  Startup   
                    {       
                        public Startup(IHostingEnvironment env)   
                        {       
                            var ConfigBuilder =       new  ConfigurationBuilder().SetBasePath(env.ContentRootPath)   
                                                                          .AddJsonFile(      "appsettings.json"      );       
                            Configuration = ConfigBuilder.Build();       
                        }       
                        // This method gets called by the runtime. Use this method to add services to the container.       
                        // For more information on how to configure your application, visit               http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=398940             ;      
                        public IConfiguration Configuration { get; set; }   
                        public void  ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)   
                        {       
                 
                        }       
                 
                        // This method gets called by the runtime. Use this method to configure the HTTP request pipeline.       
                        public void  Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env, ILoggerFactory loggerFactory)   
                        {       
                            loggerFactory.AddConsole();       
                 
                            if (env.IsDevelopment())   
                            {       
                                app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();       
                            }       
                 
                            app.Run(async (context) =>       
                            {       
                                var Message = Configuration[      "Message:WelcomeMessage"      ];       
                                var Details = Configuration.GetSection(      "Microsoft:Platform"      ).GetChildren().Select(x => x.Value);      //array of value       
                                await context.Response.WriteAsync(      string      .Join(      " "      , Details) + Message);       
                                 
                            });       
                        }       
                    }       
      }

IConfiguration Interface

IConfiguration Interface represents a set of key/value application configuration properties.

Possible Error

We have added all packages and libraries but we are getting the "File Not Found" Exception. This is not a big deal! We can resolve this Internal Server Error in two ways.

Fixing Error 1

We need to specify the exact path of "appsettings.json" file. The following code includes "IHostingEnvironment" to find the path of the JSON file or any other file inside the application.

public Startup(IHostingEnvironment env) 
{ 
    var builder = new  ConfigurationBuilder() 
        .SetBasePath(env.ContentRootPath) 
        .AddJsonFile("appsettings.json"); 
     
    Configuration = builder.Build(); 
}

Fixing Error 2

This is a common answer. We can directly put "Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()" to find the path of the file.

public Startup() 
{ 
var builder = new  ConfigurationBuilder() 
.SetBasePath(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory()) 
.AddJsonFile("appsettings.json"); 
     
Configuration = builder.Build(); 
}

project.json

The final structure of project.json file in our application is given below.

{ 
  "dependencies": { 
    "Microsoft.NETCore.App": { 
      "version": "1.0.1",  
      "type": "platform"
    }, 
    "Microsoft.AspNetCore.Diagnostics": "1.0.0",  
    "Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.IISIntegration": "1.0.0",  
    "Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel": "1.0.1",  
    "Microsoft.Extensions.Logging.Console": "1.0.0",  
    "Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Json": "1.0.0"
  }, 
     
  "tools": { 
    "Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.IISIntegration.Tools": "1.0.0-preview2-final"
  }, 
     
  "frameworks": { 
    "netcoreapp1.0": { 
      "imports": [ 
        "dotnet5.6", 
        "portable-net45+win8"
      ] 
    } 
  }, 
     
  "buildOptions": { 
    "emitEntryPoint": true, 
    "preserveCompilationContext": true
  }, 
     
  "runtimeOptions": { 
    "configProperties": { 
      "System.GC.Server": true
    } 
  }, 
     
  "publishOptions": { 
    "include": [ 
      "wwwroot", 
      "web.config"
    ] 
  }, 
     
  "scripts": { 
    "postpublish": [ "dotnet publish-iis --publish-folder %publish:OutputPath% --framework %publish:FullTargetFramework%" ] 
  } 
}

Array

The following code will read the array of value in JSON file.

app.Run(async (context) => 
            { 
                var Message = Configuration["Message:WelcomeMessage"]; 
                var Details = Configuration.GetSection("Microsoft:Platform").GetChildren().Select(x => x.Value);//array of value 
                await context.Response.WriteAsync(string.Join(" ", Details) + Message); 
                     
            });

Output

Conclusion

We learned about adding a configuration source in ASP.NET Core 1.0 and I hope you liked this article. Please share your valuable suggestions and feedback.

Reference

Microsoft Docs
You can read this article in RajeeshMenoth Blog
Download Source Code

Downloads

You can download other ASP.NET Core 1.0 source code from the MSDN Code, using the links, mentioned below.

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