SetSharp 1.1.0

SetSharp: Your AppSettings.json's Best Friend (and Code Generator Extraordinaire!)

Ever wished your appsettings.json could just... generate C# classes for you? Well, wish no more! SetSharp is here to sprinkle a little magic (and a lot of code) into your development workflow. Say goodbye to manual mapping and hello to strongly-typed configuration. It's like having a tiny, super-efficient assistant that turns your JSON into beautiful, usable C# classes, all while you sip your coffee.

What is SetSharp?

SetSharp is a C# source generator that takes your appsettings.json and automatically generates C# classes that mirror its structure. This means you get compile-time safety, IntelliSense goodness, and a much cleaner way to access your application's settings. No more stringly-typed nightmares – just pure, unadulterated, strongly-typed bliss.

Getting Started

Integrating SetSharp into your project is a simple, three-step process.

1. Install the NuGet Package

Add the SetSharp NuGet package to your project.

dotnet add package SetSharp

2. Configure your .csproj file

For the source generator to find your configuration, you must include appsettings.json as an AdditionalFile in your project file. This tells the compiler to pass the file to SetSharp for processing.

<ItemGroup>
    <AdditionalFiles Include="appsettings.json" />
</ItemGroup>

3. Build Your Project

That's it! When you build your project (dotnet build), SetSharp automatically generates the C# classes based on your JSON structure. You'll find them ready to use in your code under the SetSharp.Configuration namespace.

Usage Example

Let's see how SetSharp handles a more realistic configuration file and how you can use the generated classes with dependency injection.

1. The Configuration (appsettings.json)

Here is a sample appsettings.json with nested objects, simple values, and an array of objects.

{
  "Logging": {
    "LogLevel": {
      "Default": "Information",
      "Microsoft.AspNetCore": "Warning"
    }
  },
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=(localdb)\\mssqllocaldb;Database=test;Trusted_Connection=True;"
  },
  "FeatureFlags": [
    {
      "Name": "UseNewDashboard",
      "IsEnabled": true
    },
    {
      "Name": "EnableExperimentalApi",
      "IsEnabled": false
    }
  ]
}

2. The Generated Code (Done for You!)

After a build, SetSharp generates the following classes for you automatically.

using System.Collections.Generic;

namespace SetSharp.Configuration
{
    /// <summary>Represents the root of the configuration settings.</summary>
    [System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCode("SetSharp", "1.0.6.0")]
    public partial class RootOptions
    {
        public LoggingOptions Logging { get; set; }
        public ConnectionStringsOptions ConnectionStrings { get; set; }
        public List<FeatureFlagsItemOptions> FeatureFlags { get; set; }
    }

    /// <summary>Represents the 'Logging' section from the configuration.</summary>
    [System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCode("SetSharp", "1.0.6.0")]
    public partial class LoggingOptions
    {
        /// <summary>The configuration section name for this class: "Logging"</summary>
        public const string SectionName = "Logging";

        public LogLevelOptions LogLevel { get; set; }
    }

    /// <summary>Represents the 'ConnectionStrings' section from the configuration.</summary>
    [System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCode("SetSharp", "1.0.6.0")]
    public partial class ConnectionStringsOptions
    {
        /// <summary>The configuration section name for this class: "ConnectionStrings"</summary>
        public const string SectionName = "ConnectionStrings";

        public string DefaultConnection { get; set; }
    }

    /// <summary>Represents the 'FeatureFlags' section from the configuration.</summary>
    [System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCode("SetSharp", "1.0.6.0")]
    public partial class FeatureFlagsItemOptions
    {
        /// <summary>The configuration section name for this class: "FeatureFlags"</summary>
        public const string SectionName = "FeatureFlags";

        public string Name { get; set; }
        public bool IsEnabled { get; set; }
    }

    /// <summary>Represents the 'Logging:LogLevel' section from the configuration.</summary>
    [System.CodeDom.Compiler.GeneratedCode("SetSharp", "1.0.6.0")]
    public partial class LogLevelOptions
    {
        /// <summary>The configuration section name for this class: "Logging:LogLevel"</summary>
        public const string SectionName = "Logging:LogLevel";

        public string Default { get; set; }
        [Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.ConfigurationKeyName("Microsoft.AspNetCore")]
        public string MicrosoftAspNetCore { get; set; }
    }

}

3. Using the Settings in Your Application

Here's how you can use the generated classes in a Program.cs file:

using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using SetSharp.Configuration; // Namespace for generated classes
using System;
using System.IO;

var builder = Host.CreateApplicationBuilder(args);

builder.Configuration.Sources.Clear();

builder.Configuration.AddJsonFile("appsettings.json", optional: true, reloadOnChange: true);

// --- Logging Options ---
var loggingOptions = builder.Configuration.GetSection(LogLevelOptions.SectionName).Get<LogLevelOptions>();
if (loggingOptions is not null)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Logging Options:");
    Console.WriteLine($"  • {nameof(loggingOptions.Default)}: {loggingOptions.Default}");
    Console.WriteLine($"  • {nameof(loggingOptions.MicrosoftAspNetCore)}: {loggingOptions.MicrosoftAspNetCore}");
    Console.WriteLine();
}

Future Roadmap

This section is currently in development. The following is a list of features I am planning for future updates.

• Partial Classes for Customization: To give you more control, I will be making the generated classes partial. This will allow you to extend them with your own logic or properties without altering the generated code.
• Option Pattern Integration: I am planning to add helper methods to easily register the generated configuration classes with the IOptions pattern, which will make dependency injection more straightforward.
• SectionName Property: I am looking into adding a SectionName property to each generated class. This will make it easier to identify which part of the JSON a class maps to and may offer other benefits.

Contributing

I welcome contributions to this project. Whether it's a new feature, a bug fix, or an improvement to the documentation, your help is appreciated. SetSharp is an open-source project, and I believe in the power of community collaboration. If you have ideas, suggestions, or want to contribute to the code, please feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request. Together, we can make SetSharp even sharper.