CFG.Config
A Dart library for working with the CFG configuration format.
Installation
The package can be installed by adding cfg_lib
to your list of dependencies in pubspec.yaml
:
cfg_lib: ^0.1.0
Usage
The CFG configuration format is a text format for configuration files which is similar to, and a superset of, the JSON format. It dates from before its first announcement in 2008 and has the following aims:
- Allow a hierarchical configuration scheme with support for key-value mappings and lists.
- Support cross-references between one part of the configuration and another.
- Provide a string interpolation facility to easily build up configuration values from other configuration values.
- Provide the ability to compose configurations (using include and merge facilities).
- Provide the ability to access real application objects safely, where supported by the platform.
- Be completely declarative.
It overcomes a number of drawbacks of JSON when used as a configuration format:
- JSON is more verbose than necessary.
- JSON doesn’t allow comments.
- JSON doesn’t provide first-class support for dates and multi-line strings.
- JSON doesn’t allow trailing commas in lists and mappings.
- JSON doesn’t provide easy cross-referencing, interpolation, or composition.
A simple example
With the following configuration file, test0.cfg
:
a: 'Hello, '
b: 'world!'
c: {
d: 'e'
}
'f.g': 'h'
christmas_morning: `2019-12-25 08:39:49`
home: `$HOME`
foo: `$FOO|bar`
You can load and query the above configuration using iex:
Loading a configuration
The configuration above can be loaded as shown below. In the REPL shell:
iex(1)> alias CFG.Config
CFG.Config
iex(2)> {:ok, cfg} = Config.from_file("test0.cfg")
{:ok, #PID<0.218.0>}
The successful call returns a Config
which can be used to query the configuration.
Access elements with keys
Accessing elements of the configuration with a simple key is not much harder than using a map:
iex(3)> Config.get(cfg, "a")
{:ok, "Hello, "}
iex(4)> Config.get(cfg, "b")
{:ok, "world!"}
Access elements with paths
As well as simple keys, elements can also be accessed using path strings:
iex(5)> Config.get(cfg, "c.d")
{:ok, "e"}
Here, the desired value is obtained in a single step, by (under the hood) walking the path c.d
– first getting the mapping at key c
, and then the value at d
in the resulting mapping.
Note that you can have simple keys which look like paths:
iex(6)> Config.get(cfg, "f.g")
{:ok, "h"}
If a key is given that exists in the configuration, it is used as such, and if it is not present in the configuration, an attempt is made to interpret it as a path. Thus, f.g
is present and accessed via key, whereas c.d
is not an existing key, so is interpreted as a path.
Access to date/time objects
You can also get native Elixir date/time objects from a configuration, by using an ISO date/time pattern in a backtick-string:
iex(7)> Config.get(cfg, "christmas_morning")
{:ok, ~U[2019-12-25 08:39:49.000000Z]}
Access to other Elixir/Erlang objects
Access to other Elixir/Erlang objects is also possible using the backtick-string syntax, provided that they are one of:
- Environment variables
- Public functions in public modules which take no arguments
iex(8)> {:ok, dt} = Config.get(cfg, "now")
{:ok, ~U[2021-10-16 12:37:37.781391Z]}
iex(9)> DateTime.diff(DateTime.utc_now, dt)
6
Access to environment variables
To access an environment variable, use a backtick-string of the form $VARNAME
:
iex(10)> elem(Config.get(cfg, "home"), 1) == System.get_env("HOME")
true
You can specify a default value to be used if an environment variable isn’t present using the $VARNAME|default-value
form. Whatever string follows the pipe character (including the empty string) is returned if the VARNAME is not a variable in the environment.
iex(11)> Config.get(cfg, "foo")
{:ok, "bar"}
For more information, see the CFG documentation.
Libraries
- cfg_lib
- Support for doing something awesome.