Application Settings

The GRA checks several locations for configuration settings:

  1. First the appsettings.json file in the deployed application directory (where the GRA.dll and GRA.Web.dll files are (we recommend that you don’t edit this file as it may be overwritten during software upgrades)
  2. Next, the shared/appsettings.json in the deployed application directory - settings in this file override any settings in the top level appsettings.json file
  3. Finally the GRA checks environment variables - any configured environment variables are passed into the software. If you don’t wish to put sensitive information (such as your configuration string) into a file in the application directory you can configure those items via environment settings.

Environment settings can be passed in via Docker using the -e commandline option or an environment file passed in with the --env-file parameter. Here’s an example of what might be found in an environment file:

TZ=US/Arizona
ConnectionStrings:SqlServer=Server=dbserver;Database=catalog;user id=user;password=password;MultipleActiveResultSets=true
GraInitialAuthCode=secretAdminCode
GraDefaultSiteName=Awesome Reading Program
GraDefaultPageTitle=Awesome Reading Program - Our Library
GraInitialProgramSetup=single
GraDefaultFooter=This Awesome Reading Program was brought to you by <a href="https://library/" target="_blank">Our Library</a>.

Please note: Application settings are configured in a JSON or “JavaScript Object Notation” file. This file can be edited with any text editor (such as notepad.exe) but must be in a specific format. You can find validators online which will help you ensure that the syntax of the file is correct. Also note that when a backslash (\) or double quote (") appears within quotes (for example in the database password) it must be escaped, meaning a backslash should appear prior to the escaped character (e.g. \\ or \").

Any settings below not marked with a version number were added in v4.0.

Connection strings

One connection string is required (either SqlServer or SQLite).

  • SqlServer - A SQL Server connection string
  • SQLite - SQLite connection information (typically the path to the SQLite database file)
  • SqlServerSessions - optional - A SQL Server connection string for storing session data in a SQL Server database (necessary for multiple Web servers answering requests for the same site)
  • SqlServerSerilog - optional - A SQL Server connection string used for storing SQL Server application logs; the user should have database owner access (at least initially) so that it can create the proper table for logging

General settings

  • GraConnectionStringName - which connection string to use (either SqlServer or SQLite)
  • GraInitialAuthCode - the Authorization Code entered to grant users full access to the site - it’s important that you change this!
  • GraInitialProgramSetup - optional - defaults to “multiple” which creates four age-based programs and sets up a point translation of one minute read equals one point, can also be set to “single” which creates one program and sets up a point translation of one book read equals one point
  • GraReverseProxyAddress - optional - if provided, internally the software will disregard proxy IP addresses
  • GraRollingLogPath - optional - a path to save a daily-rotating log file inside the “shared” directory, typical would be “logs” - if GraInstanceName is specified in appsettings.json it will be included in the log file name
  • GraRollingLogHttp - optional - prefix for a filename of a rolling log of 404 errors
  • GraSeqAPIKey - optional - an API key to use when logging to Seq (requires GraSeqEndpoint)
  • GraSeqEndpoint - optional - an endpoint for pushing log messages into an instance of Seq
  • GraSqlServer2008 - optional - if you are using SQL Server 2008, put text into this setting (any text will do)

Default settings

These settings are used when the program runs for the first time to insert some reasonable defaults into the database. All of these settings are optional. All of these settings can be configured in the Site Settings area of Mission Control.

  • GraDefaultSiteName - defaults to “The Great Reading Adventure”, what the site refers to itself as
  • GraDefaultPageTitle - defaults to “Great Reading Adventure”, set in many page titles
  • GraDefaultSitePath - defaults to “gra”, this is used for tenancy (which is not implemented yet)
  • GraDefaultFooter - the footer output on every web page
  • GraDefaultOutgoingMailHost - the hostname or IP address of the outgoing mail server
  • GraDefaultOutgoingMailLogin - login name for the mail server (if needed)
  • GraDefaultOutgoingMailPassword - password for the mail server (if needed)
  • GraDefaultOutgoingMailPort - defaults to “25”, port to connect to for relaying SMTP emails

Static file settings

  • GraContentDirectory - defaults to “shared/content”, the path to the shared content files for this instance of the application
  • GraContentPath - defaults to “content”, the URL path to the files in the GraContentDirectory (e.g. by default accessing /content/ with your Web browser serves files off the disk from the content/shared directory)

Distributed cache and multiple front-end settings

When operating in a load-balanced environment these settings are used to configure instances to keep settings and data shared or unique as necessary.

  • GraApplicationDescriminator - defaults to “gra”, application discriminator to use for caching (for running multiple instances in the same distributed cache)
  • GraDistributedCache - optional - select a system to use for distributed cache: “Redis” or “SqlServer”, anything else uses an in-memory distributed cache
  • GraInstanceName - the name of this deployed instance (each instance of the same site should have this configured to a different name)
  • GraRedisConfiguration - optional - address of a Redis server for distributed cache, only used if GraDistributedCache is set to “Redis”
  • GraSiteIdentifier - optional - defaults to “gra”, a name to indicate this deployment of the application in logs, with the concept that this ‘site’ might have multiple instances
  • GraSqlSessionSchemaName - optional - the schema to use for the SQL Server distributed cache table, defaults to “dbo”
  • GraSqlSessionTable - optional - the table to use for the SQL Server distributed cache, defaults to “Sessions”

Developer settings

These settings are primarily of interest to developers working on The Great Reading Adventure source code.

  • GraEmailOverride - optional - override any emails and send them to this address
  • GraEnableRequestLogging - optional - allow logging of all Web requests

Logging with Serilog

Customization can be done to the way Serilog works by adding a “Serilog” section to the log file. For example, logging to Slack can be added by putting the following configuration section in (and replacing <webhook URI> with the actual Slack incoming webhook URI):

"Serilog": {
  "MinimumLevel": "Debug",
  "Enrich": [ "FromLogContext" ],
  "WriteTo": [
    {
      "Name": "Slack",
      "Args": {
        "webhookUri": "<webhook URI>",
        "restrictedToMinimumLevel": "Warning"
      }
    }
  ]
}

More information about customizing Serilog in appsettings.json can be found in the serilog-settings-configuration project on GitHub.