stevenbuglione/console-json-configuration

Detailed walkthrough to add json configuration to .Net 5.0 console application.

Console Json Configuration

Disclaimer: This repo is for personal use only. I pretty much ripped this project off some blog. But the blog post forgot to mention one step which crashed the application. So I added the step here for next time.

Reference Blogs

• Damir's Corner.
• James Hobday

1. Install The Required Nuget Packages

• Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration
• Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Binder
• Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.EnvironmentVariables
• Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Json

2. Configure Program.cs

static void Main(string[] args)
      {
          var environment = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT");
          var builder = new ConfigurationBuilder()
              .AddJsonFile($"appsettings.json", true, true)
              .AddJsonFile($"appsettings.{environment}.json", true, true)
              .AddEnvironmentVariables();

          var configurationRoot = builder.Build();
          var appConfig = configurationRoot.GetSection(nameof(AppConfig)).Get<AppConfig>();

          Console.WriteLine(appConfig.Environment);
      }

3. Configure appsettings.json, appsettings.Development.json and appsettings.Production.json

1. appsettings.json {"AppConfig": { "Environment": "Default" } }

2. appsettings.Development.json {"AppConfig": { "Environment": "DEV" } }

3. appsettings.Production.json {"AppConfig": { "Environment": "PROD" } }

4. Configure launchSettings.json

{
  "profiles": {
    "ConsoleJsonConfigurationExample (Dev)": {
      "commandName": "Project",
      "environmentVariables": {
        "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"
      }
    },
    "ConsoleJsonConfigurationExample (Prod)": {
      "commandName": "Project",
      "environmentVariables": {
        "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Production"
      }
    }
  }
}

5. Configure .csproj File

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net5.0</TargetFramework>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <None Remove="appsettings.Development.json" />
    <None Remove="appsettings.json" />
    <None Remove="appsettings.Production.json" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="appsettings.Production.json">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
    <Content Include="appsettings.Development.json">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
    <Content Include="appsettings.json">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration" Version="5.0.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Binder" Version="5.0.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.EnvironmentVariables" Version="5.0.0" />
    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Json" Version="5.0.0" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

We add this configuration becasue we need to make sure that the JSON files are coppied over to the output directory of our application.

6. Run Application