ASP.NET Web API 2 reading values from config file or database or elsewhere

Question

In my asp.net web API 2, I am reading values from web.config from the controller into my DTO as a response to the client. It is working as expected, I wonder if there are any improvements to make it better. Should I read it from a database or elsewhere? So I would be glad if you can share your comments.

Here is the controller related part:

[HttpGet]
 [Route("reconciliation")]
 public async Task<IHttpActionResult> GameReconciliation(ReconciliationDto reconciliationDto)
 {
 if (!ModelState.IsValid) return BadRequest(ModelState);
 using var recon = await _gameServices.GameReconciliation(reconciliationDto);
 
 switch (recon.StatusCode)
 {
 case HttpStatusCode.NotFound:
 {
 return NotFound();
 }
 case HttpStatusCode.InternalServerError:
 {
 return InternalServerError();
 }
 case HttpStatusCode.OK:
 {
 var responseStream = await recon.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
 var resultResponse = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<ReconciliationResponse>(responseStream);
 //Transform ReconciliationResponse into DTO for returning result
 var config = new MapperConfiguration(cfg =>
 {
 cfg.CreateMap<ReconciliationResponse, ReconciliationResponseDto>().ForMember(x => x.ReconDateTime,
 opt => opt.MapFrom(src => (src.ReconciliationResponseDateTime.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd"))));
 });
 var iMapper = config.CreateMapper();
 var resultDto = iMapper.Map<ReconciliationResponse, ReconciliationResponseDto>(resultResponse);
 //EAN Barcode Added
 **resultDto.Ean = WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings["000000001570"];**
 return Ok(resultDto);
 }
 case HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized:
 {
 return Unauthorized();
 }
 case HttpStatusCode.RequestTimeout:
 {
 return InternalServerError();
 }
 }
 recon.Dispose();
 return Ok(recon);
 }

Here is web.config related part:

 <appSettings>
 <!--TEST EAN-->
 <add key="000000001570" value="9799753293685" />

Answer 1

Honestly, it is impossible for us to answer your question.

• If this is the same value on all environments and it will likely never change, why not hardcode it in the C# code as a const in some appropriately named class?
• If it changes per environment: put it in the .config.
• If this is a value that might change regularly and you don't want to do a deploy each time: put it in the DB.

---

WRT your code:

• Keep controllers and the methods therein small. Use something like MediatR to move logic to specific classes.

• Don't needlessly abbreviate. Sure, the next maintainer of this code can figure out what recon means and/or what it is, but they shouldn't need to spend time on this: your code should make it clear what it is/does.

• Don't use meaningless prefixes. I guess iMapper is an IMapper, but that doesn't mean you need to call it that. Plus, I assume CreateMapper returns an actual mapper, not simply an interface.

• Why is your mapping logic inside this class, even inside this method? I'd expect that kind of logic to be in a separate class, and that class to be injected. For instance via your API's Startup class by using the AddAutoMapper method (if you're using AutoMapper).

• I'm not a fan of seeing things like WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings["000000001570"]; in the middle of code. I usually put all the configuration settings in a specific static class (named e.g. "WebApiConfiguration") and all of the settings would be in that class as public static properties, e.g. public static string EnvironmentName => ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["EnvironmentName"];. This also allows me to have typed settings if necessary, e.g. public static bool LogDetails => _lazyLogDetails.Value; uses private static readonly Lazy<bool> _lazyLogDetails = new Lazy<bool>(() => ConfigurationHelper.GetBool("LogDetails")); which itself uses a method from this class.