Application Insights added ConnectedService.json file to my project, what does this do?

Question

I have added application insights to my asp.net 4.6 web application.

This also added the file Service References\Application Insights\ConnectedService.json

The contents of this file:

{
  "ProviderId": "Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.ConnectedService.ConnectedServiceProvider",
  "Version": "7.1.719.1",
  "GettingStartedDocument": {
    "Uri": "https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=613413"
  }
}

What is this file for? It does not seem to provide any logic to my application and does not seem to be required for anything to work.

Answer 1

This file is simply a marker to the Visual Studio "Connected Services" tooling that Application Insights (or any other connected service) was installed, what version of that service installed it, and where to go for getting started documents. The file is not compiled into your app, is not set to content included in the project or anything else, it is only there for Connected Services to know what things you've installed.

This info shows up in solution explorer in a folder called "Service References", and you'll see all of the connected services you have added that way. You can double click the node there to re-open the documentation.

To see what other services are available, you can right click the project, go to add->connected service and see more items there.

For more information, you can see this channel 9 video: https://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Visual-Studio-Toolbox/Connected-Services