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C# 10 - implementing Configuration Binding in Minimal APIs for Complex Nested Settings

👀 Views: 176 đŸ’Ŧ Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-06-06
c# .net minimal-api configuration aspnetcore C#

I've spent hours debugging this and I'm attempting to set up After trying multiple solutions online, I still can't figure this out. I'm having trouble binding nested configuration settings in a C# 10 Minimal API project. I have a configuration structure that looks like this: ```json { "AppSettings": { "Database": { "ConnectionString": "Server=myServer;Database=myDB;User Id=myUser;Password=myPass;", "MaxConnections": 100 }, "FeatureToggles": { "EnableNewFeature": true } } } ``` I created a class to represent these settings: ```csharp public class AppSettings { public DatabaseSettings Database { get; set; } public FeatureToggles FeatureToggles { get; set; } } public class DatabaseSettings { public string ConnectionString { get; set; } public int MaxConnections { get; set; } } public class FeatureToggles { public bool EnableNewFeature { get; set; } } ``` In my `Program.cs`, I am trying to bind these settings as follows: ```csharp var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args); builder.Services.Configure<AppSettings>(builder.Configuration.GetSection("AppSettings")); var app = builder.Build(); app.MapGet("/settings", (IOptions<AppSettings> options) => { return options.Value; }); ``` However, when I make a GET request to `/settings`, I get an empty response or a 500 Internal Server behavior. The console shows the following behavior message: ``` InvalidOperationException: want to bind 'AppSettings' because it is null. ``` I have verified that the JSON file is being loaded correctly, and I can see that the configuration is populated when I inspect `builder.Configuration`. I've also checked that the structure of my classes matches the JSON. I've tried explicitly loading the JSON file before creating the configuration, but that didn't help either. Is there something I'm missing in the way I'm setting up my configuration binding for nested objects? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! This is part of a larger web app I'm building. Is there a better approach? Has anyone else encountered this? I recently upgraded to C# LTS. Thanks in advance! I'm working with C# in a Docker container on Windows 10. Thanks for your help in advance!