How to Read a Sub Array of Values from appsettings.json using IConfiguration

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Understanding the Problem

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Your objective is to extract the GroupAssets details—such as Name and SearchPath—from the PrintJobs section, ideally matching records based on criteria such as the Name being equal to a value fetched from a database.

The Solution

Setting Up Your Classes

To facilitate the extraction of your desired configuration values, you first need to define the necessary C- classes that will map to your configuration structure. Here’s an example of how you might define them:

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Retrieving the GroupAssets Values

Now that you have your classes set up, you can use IConfiguration to retrieve the GroupAssets section from your PrintJobs. Here's how to do it:

Option 1: Retrieve a Specific GroupAsset Array

You can fetch the GroupAssets from the first PrintJob entry like this:

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This code snippet does the following:

Navigates to the PrintJobs section.

Fetches the first element of the array.

Targets the GroupAssets section.

Finally, maps it to an array of PrintAssetDefns.

Option 2: Retrieve All PrintJobs Data

If you're interested in working with all PrintJobs, you can retrieve them as follows:

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This approach is more comprehensive and allows you to work with all data in the PrintJobs array, including extracting GroupAssets for each job.

Conclusion

Whether you need a specific set of properties, such as the GroupAssets, or a complete array of jobs, the ASP.NET Core way of configuration management allows for a clean and structured approach.

Remember, understanding the structure of your JSON configuration is crucial to effectively translating it into C- objects that your application can use.

For any questions or further clarifications, feel free to ask!