Using Secrets in DotNet 8

Question

When I hardcode my connection string into my project, it works just fine, Also, Azure Key Vault works just fine when in running in release mode. However, when I try to use the Secrets.json, some endpoints still work, but others return this error:

System.InvalidOperationException: The ConnectionString property has not been initialized.
   at Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.PermissionDemand()
   at Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionFactory.PermissionDemand(DbConnection outerConnection)
   at Microsoft.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionInternal.TryOpenConnectionInternal(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions)
   at Microsoft.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.TryOpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions)
   at Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.TryOpen(TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, SqlConnectionOverrides overrides)
   at Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.InternalOpenAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)

As I mentioned hardcoding the URL works fine, and running in release works fine also,

Here's what I have in my Program.cs:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

#if DEBUG
builder.Configuration.AddUserSecrets<Program>();

#else
var vaultUri = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("VaultUri");
var keyVaultEndpoint = new Uri(vaultUri);
builder.Configuration.AddAzureKeyVault(keyVaultEndpoint, new DefaultAzureCredential());
#endif

and in my db context:

    protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
    {

#if DEBUG
        string connectionString = _configuration.GetConnectionString("HomeDatabase");

#else
        string connectionString = _configuration.GetConnectionString("AzureDatabase");
        
#endif
        optionsBuilder.UseSqlServer(connectionString);

    }

I have tried setting a breakpoint and it seems that for some reason, when in debug, the string sets correctly, but for some reason, after hitting step over a thousand times, it jumps back into the "string connectionString = _configuration.GetConnectionString("HomeDatabase");" line at which point the connectionString suddenly becomes null...

Just to add, it seems the simple endpoints work, but if my dbcontxt gets called a second time, that's when the connection string goes null.

if anyone has any ideas, I'd be very grateful.

Thank you. :)

EDIT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

after playing around some more, going to the trouble of creating a new database with a new db context just to handle the tokens. as soon as i added the secrets, again I'm getting the null error...

it seems that the secrets are held up until whichever context is using them has finished.

Answer 1

I figured it out in the end. I had an authorization handler and a middleware that were conflicting. Fixed it by removing the middleware and having the custom authorization handler handle everything.