Mixed appsettings.json & appsettings.development.json

[Tratcher]

From @karelz on October 27, 2018 15:55

From @johndhunter on October 27, 2018 13:10

I seem to be getting results from both appsettings.json and appsettings.development.json when I use the following:
var users = _configuration.GetSection("AdministrationUsers");

my appsettings.development.json is like:

"AdministrationUsers": [
    {
      "Email": "Development@somewhere.com",
      "PasswordHash": "AQAAAAEAACcQAAAAEJqwmeQsHrAZySU8kIV8BJPsEGirVXddDhU0EWabuGdGzNj93/9MXQ17hsFhRENbqA=="
    }
  ]

whilst my appsettings.json is like:

"AdministrationUsers": [
    {
      "Email": "Production@somewhere.com",
      "PasswordHash": "AQAAAAEAACcQAAAAEJqwmeQsHrAZySU8kIV8BJPsEGirVXddDhU0EWabuGdGzNj93/9MXQ17hsFhRENbqA=="
    },
    {
      "Email": "Support@somewhere.com",
      "PasswordHash": "AQAAAAEAACcQAAAAEJqwmeQsHrAZySU8kIV8BJPsEGirVXddDhU0EWabuGdGzNj93/9MXQ17hsFhRENbqA=="
    }
  ]

With ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT set to Development and using the default CreatedDefaultBuilder and no other settings - I see the Email for Development@somewhere.com AND the Email for Support@somewhere.com - suggesting the list that is built up seems to be shared. I.e. I would expect the results (i.e. the entire collection) to have come from only one of the files - but maybe that is how it's supposed to work - if so, perhaps the configuration docs need an update pertaining to collections.

Copied from original issue: dotnet/corefx#33091

Copied from original issue: dotnet/aspnetcore#3735

[Tratcher]

I understand why that happened, but there might be room for improvement here as the results are counter-intuitive.

Configs are layered, and CreatedDefaultBuilder applies appsettings.json first and then overlays it with appsettings.{environment}.json.

In the config doc see how arrays are represented. Everything gets flattened to "AdministrationUsers:0:Email", "AdministrationUsers:1:Email". After that flattening then "AdministrationUsers:0:Email" from Appsettings.Development.json replaces "AdministrationUsers:0:Email" from appsettings.json, but "AdministrationUsers:1:Email" remains intact.

I agree it might make more sense if the entire array was replaced. However, I don't think we do any wholesale replacement for any other structure types, it's a 1-to-1 overlay.

Workaround: Move AdministrationUsers from appsettings.json to appsettings.Production.json so it only applies in production and there is no overlay.

[johndhunter]

It's definitely counter-intuitive but I thought that might be the case and understand the solution - guess I just didn't read all the docs - and I really should be using an appsettings .production.json
thx

[analogrelay]

Closing as I don't believe there's action here.

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