Locally published C# API not getting values from appsettings.json

I wanted to run metrics against my .NET 7 API. To do so, I read, to get the most accurate metrics, I should publish it. But, when I do, my application is not getting the values from my appsettings.json.

Both my appsettings.json and appsettings.development.json look like this:

{
  "Logging": {
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Microsoft.AspNetCore": "Warning"
    }
  },
  "MongoDbOptions": {
    "ConnectionString": "mongodb://localhost",
    "DatabaseName": "testDb"
  },
  "AllowedHosts": "*",
  "ApplicationOptions": {
    "ShowExceptions": true,
    "ValidateQuery": true
  }
}

In my Program.cs file, I configure them via:

builder.Services.Configure<MongoDbOptions>(builder.Configuration.GetSection(nameof(MongoDbOptions)));
builder.Services.Configure<ApplicationOptions>(builder.Configuration.GetSection(nameof(ApplicationOptions)));

They are injected into the code via:
IOptions<ApplicationOptions> applicationOptions and IOptions<MongoDbOptions> mongoDbOptions.

Everything works fine when I run the API in VS Code. I can run queries against my local mongo db and I can access the values of the ApplicationOptions.

In a console running as Admin, I publish it locally via:

dotnet publish -c Release -o ./bin/Publish

Then, run it:

dotnet D:\GitLocal/CrudMetrics/bin/Publish/CrudMetrics.Api.dll --urls "https://localhost:7279"

When I call a route via Postman that hits my local mongo db, I get this error:

> MongoDB.Driver.MongoConfigurationException: The connection string '' is not valid.

To test that it was getting any value from the appsettings.json, in my controller where IOptions<ApplicationOptions> applicationOptions is injected into, I instantly throw an exception to see if I get the value from the application options.

throw new Exception($"Value of _applicationOptions.ShowExceptions:{_applicationOptions.ShowExceptions}.");

This returns this error:

> System.Exception: Value of _applicationOptions.ShowExceptions:False.

Obviously, it is fine that it is an error, but you can see that ShowExceptions is false, but in the appsettings.json it is true.

I can see both the appsettings.json and appsettings.development.json files are in the same directory as the CrudMetrics.Api.dll file. If I open them in Notepad, I can see the correct, expected values that are above and also used when running it via VS Code.

But, for some reason, these values are not getting pulled in. What am I missing?

The problem is that you are running the app from another location then the ./Publish/ folder. The location of the appsetings.json is supposed to be in the location from where you are starting the application.

Try running dotnet CrudMetrics.Api.dll --urls "https://localhost:7279"from the Publish folder.