specific config by environment in Scala

Question

What is a good way to set up a project in Scala which uses different configuration depending on environments.

I need to specifically have different databases for development, test and production environment (similar to what is done in Rails)

Answer 1

Another strategy I'm using consists of using includes. I usually store my DEV settings in the default application.conf file then I create a new conf file for other environments and include the default one.

Let's say my DEV conf application.conf looks like this:

myapp {
    server-address = "localhost"
    server-port = 9000

    some-other-setting = "cool !"
}

Then for the PROD, I could have another file called prod.conf:

include "application"

# override default (DEV) settings
myapp {
    server-address = ${PROD_SERVER_HOSTNAME}
    server-port = ${PROD_SERVER_PORT}
}

Note that I override only the settings that change in the PROD environment (some-other-setting is thus the same as in DEV).

The config bootstrap code doesn't test anything

...
val conf = ConfigFactory.load()
...

To switch from the DEV to the PROD conf, simply pass a system property with the name of the config file to load:

java -Dconfig.resource=prod.conf ...

In DEV, no need to pass it since application.conf will be loaded by default.

So here we're using Typesafe Config's default loading mechanism to achieve this.

I've created a simple project to demonstrate this technique. Feel free to clone and experiment.

Answer 2

Use typesafe Config. Create a Config object like this:

import com.typesafe.config._

object Config {
  val env = if (System.getenv("SCALA_ENV") == null) "development" else System.getenv("SCALA_ENV")

  val conf = ConfigFactory.load()
  def apply() = conf.getConfig(env)
}

Then create the application.conf file in src/main/resources folder:

development {
  your_app {
    databaseUrl = "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/dev_db"
    databaseUser = "xxxx"
    databasePassword = "xxxx"
  }
}
test {
  your_app {
    databaseUrl = "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/test_db"
    databaseUser = "xxxxx"
    databasePassword = "xxxx"
  }
}

Now from anywhere in your application, you can access configuration:

Config().getString("your_app.databaseUrl")

If you have your environment set up (e.g. export SCALA_ENV=test) when you run your application, it will consider the right configuration section. The default is development

Answer 3

I wasn't happy with how Daniel Cukiers solution did not allow defaults and overrides, so I changed it around to make full use of those.

The only configuration you have to do is set a ENVIRONMENT variable on the system (defaults to 'dev' if none is set)

(Java solution, compatible with Scala):

import com.typesafe.config.Config;
import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory;

public class MyCompanyConfig {
    public final static Config base = ConfigFactory.load().getConfig("mycompany");
    public final static String environment = System.getenv("ENVIRONMENT") == null ? "dev" : System.getenv("ENVIRONMENT");

    /**
     * Returns a subtree of the base configuration with environment settings applied.
     *
     * @param setting The subtree to return config for.
     * @return A config with base in given setting, with environment modifications applied.
     */
    public static Config load(String setting) {

        Config config = base.getConfig(setting);

        if (config.hasPath(environment)) {
            return config.getConfig(environment).withFallback(config);
        }

        return config;
    }
}

This allows a single reference.conf in a library looking like this:

mycompany.module1 {
    setting1 : "adefaultvalue"
    url : "localhost"

    test {
        // will be used where ENVIRONMENT="test"
        url : "test.mycompany.com"
    }

    prod {
        // will be used where ENVIRONMENT="prod"
        setting1 : "changethedefault"
        url : "www.mycompany.com"
    }
}

Usage:

Config conf = MyCompanyConfig.load("module1")