Is it possible to store a JSON file to an ENV variable with dotenv?

Question

I am using Google Drive API with my Rails application. The API is working fine. I have the following client_secret.json file:

{
  "type": "service_account",
  "project_id": "gobirdie-landing-page",
  "private_key_id": "xxxxx",
  "private_key": "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- xxxxx -----END PRIVATE KEY-----\n",
  "client_email": "xxxxxxx@gobirdie-landing-page.iam.gserviceaccount.com",
  "client_id": "xxxxxxxxx",
  "auth_uri": "xxxxxx",
  "token_uri": "xxxxxxx": "xxxxxxxx": "xxxxxxxxx"
}

which is called in my controller

@session = GoogleDrive::Session.from_service_account_key("client_secret.json")

With this configuration no problem, I manage to use the API. However, I would like to store my JSON in the .env file like:

CLIENT_SECRET = "{
  "type": "service_account",
  "project_id": "gobirdie-landing-page",
  "private_key_id": "xxxxx",
  "private_key": "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- xxxxx -----END PRIVATE KEY-----\n",
  "client_email": "xxxxxxx@gobirdie-landing-page.iam.gserviceaccount.com",
  "client_id": "xxxxxxxxx",
  "auth_uri": "xxxxxx",
  "token_uri": "xxxxxxx": "xxxxxxxx": "xxxxxxxxx"
}" 

And call it in the controller in this way

@session = GoogleDrive::Session.from_service_account_key(ENV['CLIENT_SECRET'])

Or in this way

@session = GoogleDrive::Session.from_service_account_key(JSON.parse(ENV['CLIENT_SECRET']))

But neither methods are working. So my question is : "Is it possible to store JSON file in an ENV variable ?"

Answer 1

Convert the JSON object to string and store it in the ENV

You can use JSON.dump to convert JSON object to string

and then in your controller JSON.parse(ENV['CLIENT_SECRET'])

Alternatively

you can create a google_session.rb inside initializers folder

$google_session = GoogleDrive::Session.from_service_account_key(
   # config goes here
)

and in your controller you will have access to $google_session global variable

Answer 2

Yes. It is possible to store json file in variable. However there is one small change needed :

\\\"type\\\": \\\"service_account\\\",

Do this for every double quote inside the curly braces of json.

Answer 3

I have tried to make the change as you suggest. My .env file now looks like

CLIENT_SECRET={
  \ \ \"type\ \ \": \ \ \"service_account\ \ \",
  \ \ \"project_id\ \ \": \ \ \"gobirdie-landing-page\ \ \",
  \ \ \"private_key_id\ \ \": \ \ \"xxxxx\ \ \",
  \ \ \"private_key\ \ \": \ \ \"-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- xxxxx -----END PRIVATE KEY-----\n\ \ \",
  \ \ \"client_email\ \ \": \ \ \"xxxx@gobirdie-landing-page.iam.gserviceaccount.com\ \ \",
  \ \ \"client_id\ \ \": \ \ \"xxxx\ \ \",
  \ \ \"auth_uri\ \ \": \ \ \"https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth\ \ \",
  \ \ \"token_uri\ \ \": \ \ \"xxxxx\ \ \",
  \ \ \"auth_provider_x509_cert_url\ \ \": \ \ \"xxxx\ \ \",
  \ \ \"client_x509_cert_url\ \ \": \ \ \"https://www.googleapis.com/robot/v1/metadata/x509/landingpageserviceaccount2%40gobirdie-landing-page.iam.gserviceaccount.com\ \ \"
}

However when I load the page on localhost:3000, I still get the same error as before.

File name too long @ rb_sysopen - { "type": "service_account", ....... }

Answer 4

我想出的解决方案是对 json 对象进行基本编码并存储它，然后根据使用它的请求对其进行解码。