如何在 ASP .NET Core 中初始化主机之前读取配置设置？

Question

Before initializing the application Host I need to read some settings from the application's configuration to setup some other things.

In ASP .NET Core 2.x to read settings before initializing the application Host I used to do the following:

public static void Main(string[] args)
{
    //...

    var configuration = new ConfigurationBuilder()
        .AddEnvironmentVariables()
        .AddCommandLine(args)
        .AddJsonFile("appsettings.json")
        .Build();

    //Do something useful with the configuration...

    var host = WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder()
        .UseStartup<Startup>()
        .UseConfiguration(configuration)
        .Build();

    //...
}

In ASP .NET Core 3.x WebHost has been deprecated in favor of .NET Generic Host .
.NET Generic Host has only .ConfigureHostConfiguration() and .ConfigureAppConfiguration() that do not take a built configuration as parameter, but instead accept only a delegate used to setup the configuration.

For HTTP workloads you can still use the method .UseConfiguration() has it is exposed by IWebHostBuilder and do essentially the same as before:

public static void Main(string[] args)
{
    //...

    var configuration = new ConfigurationBuilder()
        .AddEnvironmentVariables()
        .AddCommandLine(args)
        .AddJsonFile("appsettings.json")
        .Build();

    //Do something useful with the configuration...

    var host = Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
        .ConfigureWebHostDefaults(webBuilder =>
        {
            webBuilder.UseStartup<Startup>()
                .UseConfiguration(configuration);
        })
        .Build();

    //...
}

But this only works for HTTP workloads and not for Worker Services.

To get the configuration before setting up the Host I've come up with the following approach:

public static void Main(string[] args)
{
    //...

    var configuration = ConfigureConfigurationBuilder(args)
        .Build();

    //Do something useful with the configuration...

    var host = Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
        .ConfigureAppConfiguration(builder => ConfigureConfigurationBuilder(args, builder))
        .ConfigureWebHostDefaults(webBuilder =>
        {
            webBuilder.UseStartup<Startup>();
        })
        .Build();

    //...
}

public static IConfigurationBuilder ConfigureConfigurationBuilder(string[] args, IConfigurationBuilder configurationBuilder = null)
{
    configurationBuilder ??= new ConfigurationBuilder();

    configurationBuilder
        .AddEnvironmentVariables()
        .AddCommandLine(args)
        .AddJsonFile("appsettings.json");

    return configurationBuilder;
}

Essentially I've wrote a method that setups a ConfigurationBuilder and returns it, so that I can reuse the same configuration. This works in practice, but I build the same configuration twice.

Is there a simpler/more correct way (that works for HTTP workloads and non-HTTP workloads) to build and reuse the configuration before setting up the Host?

Answer 1

You can clear the default sources added by CreateDefaultBuilder then add a pre-built IConfiguration with the AddConfiguration extension method .

public static void Main(string[] args)
{
    //...

    var configuration = new ConfigurationBuilder()
        .AddEnvironmentVariables()
        .AddCommandLine(args)
        .AddJsonFile("appsettings.json")
        .Build();

    //Do something useful with the configuration...

    var host = Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
        .ConfigureAppConfiguration(builder =>
        {
            builder.Sources.Clear();
            builder.AddConfiguration(configuration);
        })
        .ConfigureWebHostDefaults(webBuilder =>
        {
            webBuilder.UseStartup<Startup>();
        })
        .Build();

    //...
}

Answer 2

The right question, do you realy need a configuration for your configuration? you can use another file, and bind it directly with entity

configuration.GetSection("entity").Bind(entity);

If i didn't understand what you mean, all i know that the setup you will need it for dependency injection, or you can't use it, so instead of using this, you can use Extensions for your service collection to do what you want with your configuratin, and you get the setup in your container

Answer 3

By default ConfigureAppConfiguration() will load appsettings.json according to the documentation Default builder settings .

Alternatively, if you can't access your configuration or you are getting System.NullReferenceException: 'Object reference not set to an instance ofan object.' error, it means the IHostBuilder can't see the json file in it base path.

Check or change the appsettings.json file properties as seen in the image below:

1. Set "Build Action" to "Content"
2. Set "Copy to Output Directory" to "Copy if newer"