@env('my-var-name')<\/code> syntax.<\/p>\nUpgrade your configuration from this:<\/strong><\/p>\n{\n \"connection-string\": \"My connection string has secrets!\"\n}<\/code><\/pre>\nTo something modular like this:<\/strong><\/p>\n{\n \"connection-string\": \"@env('my-connection-string')\"\n}<\/code><\/pre>\nEnvironment variables shield secrets from plain text exposure and allow for value swapping in different settings. However, these variables must be set either in the user<\/code> or computer<\/code> scope, which can lead to cross-project variable “bleeding” if variable names are duplicated. The better alternative? ENV files.<\/p>\nEnter ENV Files<\/h2>\n
Your Git repository likely already has a .gitignore<\/code> file, used to identify files that should not be tracked. Similarly, ENV files have no name\u2014only the .env<\/code> extension. Their internal structure is elegantly simple, defining each variable as name=value<\/code>.<\/p>\nSample ENV file<\/strong><\/p>\n# this is a comment\nenvironment=development\nmy-connection-string=\"Server=myServerAddress;Database=myDataBase;User Id=myUsername;Password=myPassword;\"<\/code><\/pre>\nNote that environment<\/code> doesn’t use quotes, while my-connection-string<\/code> does. Why? The latter’s value contains =<\/code> equal signs, which are reserved characters.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nIt really is this simple.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"File](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/azure-sql\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/09\/explorer.png\")
<\/p>\n
To leverage the above .env<\/code> file, simply update your configuration file as previously discussed, wrapping values in @env()<\/code> syntax. Then save your values in your .env<\/code> file. Easy.<\/p>\n{\n \"environment\": \"@env('environment')\",\n \"connection-string\": \"@env('my-connection-string')\"\n}<\/code><\/pre>\nWherever you employ a scalar value in your Data API Builder configuration file, the @env()<\/code> syntax will replace it with the corresponding environment variable. If a .env<\/code> file is in the same folder as your configuration file, Data API Builder will automatically add those variables to the process<\/code> scope, thus eliminating your risk of “bleeding” values into other projects.<\/p>\nWord of Warning<\/h2>\n
One crucial detail to remember: always exclude .env<\/code> files from Git tracking. This means .env<\/code> should always be an entry in your .gitignore<\/code> file. This is important to get right before<\/em> you push to GitHub.<\/p>\nHere’s the .gitignore<\/code> syntax:<\/strong><\/p>\n.env<\/code><\/pre>\nWhat’s the takeaway? ENV files are awesome and their syntax is simple. Data API Builder continues to add features aimed at elevating your development experience. Our current focus is on structured logging and increased OpenAPI version 3 support for REST endpoints. The backlog is deep and – since we are open-source – we welcome your contributions, submit a PR<\/code>! Today, however, we celebrate the availability of ENV file support, designed to make environment variable management more streamlined and safe.<\/p>\nBest of luck!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In September, Data API builder (DAB) revved with some great new features. In this article we\u2019ll talk about controlling environment variables with ENV files. What is Data API builder? DAB is an open source, cross-platform engine that creates instant REST & GraphQL APIs for your database – MySQL, Postgres, Cosmos DB or Microsoft SQL. Without any code, DAB uses only a JSON configuration file that explains how to access your data and what objects to expose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96788,"featured_media":81,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,597],"tags":[581],"class_list":["post-2432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-azure-sql","category-data-api-builder-2","tag-dab"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":"
In September, Data API builder (DAB) revved with some great new features. In this article we\u2019ll talk about controlling environment variables with ENV files. What is Data API builder? DAB is an open source, cross-platform engine that creates instant REST & GraphQL APIs for your database – MySQL, Postgres, Cosmos DB or Microsoft SQL. Without any code, DAB uses only a JSON configuration file that explains how to access your data and what objects to expose.<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/azure-sql\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/azure-sql\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/azure-sql\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/azure-sql\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96788"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/azure-sql\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/azure-sql\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/azure-sql\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/azure-sql\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/azure-sql\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/azure-sql\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}