Skip to main content

Use environment specific variables in HTTP files

HTTP files provide a convenient way to test your API’s inside Visual Studio. In this post we'll look at a specific feature; the usage of environment-specific variables that let you seamlessly switch between environments without modifying your request files.

Getting started with .http files

Before diving into environment variables, let's understand the basics. When you create an ASP.NET Core project in Visual Studio 2022, you'll often find a .http file already in your solution. Here's a simple example:

Variables are defined with @variableName = value and referenced using {{variableName}}. The ### delimiter separates multiple requests in a single file.


Creating environment files

The real power comes when you externalize these variables into environment files. Visual Studio supports two types of environment files:

1. http-client.env.json (Shared)

This file contains environment configurations that are shared across your team and typically committed to source control.

2. http-client.env.json.user (Personal)

This file contains user-specific overrides and secrets. It should be excluded from source control (typically already in .gitignore by default).

Visual Studio searches for environment files intelligently:

  1. It starts in the same folder as your .http file
  2. If not found, it searches parent directories moving upward
  3. It stops at the first http-client.env.json file it finds
  4. The nearest file to your .http file takes precedence

This means you can have a single environment file at your solution root that applies to all .http files, or organize them by project or feature.

Selecting an environment

Once you've created an environment file, Visual Studio displays an environment selector dropdown in the upper-right corner of the .http file editor. You can:

  • Press F6 to quickly access the selector
  • Switch between environments with a single click
  • Select "No Environment" to use only inline variables

Important Note: If you modify the environment file while an .http file is open, you may need to close and reopen the file, or switch to another environment and back, for changes to take effect.

More information

Use .http files in Visual Studio 2022 | Microsoft Learn

Executing HTTP requests through Visual Studio

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Azure DevOps/ GitHub emoji

I’m really bad at remembering emoji’s. So here is cheat sheet with all emoji’s that can be used in tools that support the github emoji markdown markup: All credits go to rcaviers who created this list.
Read more

.NET 8–Keyed/Named Services

A feature that a lot of IoC container libraries support but that was missing in the default DI container provided by Microsoft is the support for Keyed or Named Services. This feature allows you to register the same type multiple times using different names, allowing you to resolve a specific instance based on the circumstances. Although there is some controversy if supporting this feature is a good idea or not, it certainly can be handy. To support this feature a new interface IKeyedServiceProvider got introduced in .NET 8 providing 2 new methods on our ServiceProvider instance: object? GetKeyedService(Type serviceType, object? serviceKey); object GetRequiredKeyedService(Type serviceType, object? serviceKey); To use it, we need to register our service using one of the new extension methods: Resolving the service can be done either through the FromKeyedServices attribute: or by injecting the IKeyedServiceProvider interface and calling the GetRequiredKeyedServic...
Read more

Kubernetes–Limit your environmental impact

Reducing the carbon footprint and CO2 emission of our (cloud) workloads, is a responsibility of all of us. If you are running a Kubernetes cluster, have a look at Kube-Green . kube-green is a simple Kubernetes operator that automatically shuts down (some of) your pods when you don't need them. A single pod produces about 11 Kg CO2eq per year( here the calculation). Reason enough to give it a try! Installing kube-green in your cluster The easiest way to install the operator in your cluster is through kubectl. We first need to install a cert-manager: kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.14.5/cert-manager.yaml Remark: Wait a minute before you continue as it can take some time before the cert-manager is up & running inside your cluster. Now we can install the kube-green operator: kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kube-green/kube-green/releases/latest/download/kube-green.yaml Now in the namespace where we want t...
Read more