azure application settings - how to add nested item

Question

i have a appservice on azure that is running a .net core api.

in my appsettings.json file i have a section something similar to :

"Serilog": {    
"LevelSwitches": { "$controlSwitch": "Information" },
"MinimumLevel": {
  "ControlledBy": "$controlSwitch",
  "Override": {
    "Microsoft": "Warning",
    "System": "Warning"
  }
},
"WriteTo": [
  {
    "Name": "File",
    "Args": {
      "path": "LOGS\\log.json",
      "rollingInterval": "Day",
      "formatter": "Serilog.Formatting.Json.JsonFormatter, Serilog"
    }
  },      
  {
    "Name": "Seq",
    "Args": {
      "serverUrl": "https://MyLoggingServer",
      "apiKey": "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA",
      "controlLevelSwitch": "$controlSwitch"          
    }
  }
]}

In azure appsetting section on the azure portal i'm not sure how i would go about setting the apiKey, in other more simple settings i have another section in appsettings.json

 "CustomSettings": {    
    "MySpecificSetting": "ABCDEFG",    
  }

Then in azure portal i have been able to set the setting by doing the following

CustomSettings:MySpecificSetting

but i'm not sure how this syntax would allow me to access the specific item in the writeTo array

Thanks for any help

using the example above the answer was to use following Serilog:WriteTo:1:Args:apiKey where the number 1 is the array number. — JimmyShoe, Feb 11 '20 at 10:11
Azure apparently isn't allowing ":" characters in settings any more. — ssmith, Nov 22 '20 at 17:25
@JimmyShoe Thanks! I hate this but Serilog:WriteTo:1:Args:connectionString worked in my situation. In Azure config, is it possible to do something like Serilog:WriteTo:[Name='MSSqlServer']:Args:connectionString rather than using an array index? — Timothy Lee Russell, Jun 28 '22 at 06:57

Chris DaMour · Accepted Answer · 2023-01-13T19:08:22.637

33

you use : to nest:keys:down

cross platform you use __ to nest__keys__down (since : are bad for envars in *nix)

the key thing is it's not azure doing anything special... azure just sets env vars for the app from there. it's .net core config that's actually looking at the env vars and doing special things see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/fundamentals/configuration/#hierarchical-configuration-data & https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/fundamentals/configuration/#non-prefixed-environment-variables

edited Jan 13 '23 at 19:08

answered Dec 04 '19 at 22:07

Chris DaMour

3,650
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2

This worked for me, _but_, I had to manually restart the app after saving, even though the save-dialog says "this will restart the app". For anyone here struggling with the same issue. – asontu May 31 '21 at 22:28
':' is not allowed in azure app settings? – Enrico Aug 11 '22 at 13:56
1

@Enrico they don't work in *nix – Chris DaMour Aug 11 '22 at 18:28

score 18 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 09 '19 at 06:14

18

As per this article, you would have to use syntax something like "CustomSettings__MySpecificSetting".

Hope this helps!! Cheers!! :)

answered Apr 09 '19 at 06:14

KrishnaG

3,340
2
6
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8

Ah! It seems like it's a Linux-specific thing: `In a default Linux container or a custom Linux container, any nested JSON key structure in the app setting name like ApplicationInsights:InstrumentationKey needs to be configured in App Service as ApplicationInsights__InstrumentationKey for the key name. In other words, any : should be replaced by __ (double underscore).` – ataraxia Aug 26 '19 at 01:09
14

To be precise, both `:` (single colon) and `__` (double underscore) will work in Windows environments, only `__` will work in Linux. So for safety's sake, use `__`. – Ian Kemp Mar 26 '20 at 14:47
Double underscore and neither : works for me, – Zaha Apr 22 '22 at 17:45

azure application settings - how to add nested item

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