[Bug]: DAB CLI .env file not loading

[jrmurdoch]

What happened?

Running the following:

dab start -c "swa-db-connections\staticwebapp.database.config.json"

E:\Software\testapp>dab start -c "swa-db-connections\staticwebapp.database.config.json"
Information: Microsoft.DataApiBuilder 1.3.19
Information: User provided config file: swa-db-connections\staticwebapp.database.config.json
Loading config file from E:\Software\testapp\swa-db-connections\staticwebapp.database.config.json.
Deserialization of the configuration file failed during a post-processing step.
Message:
 Environmental Variable, DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING, not found.

.env file at path "swa-db-connections.env"

DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING=<actual connection sting here>
DAB_ENVIRONMENT=Development

config file:

"$schema": "https://github.com/Azure/data-api-builder/releases/latest/download/dab.draft.schema.json",
"data-source": {
  "database-type": "mssql",
  "connection-string": "@env('DATABASE_CONNECTION_STRING')",
  "options": {
    "set-session-context": false
  }

Version

1.3.19

What database are you using?

Azure SQL

What hosting model are you using?

Local (including CLI)

Which API approach are you accessing DAB through?

No response

Relevant log output

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[jrmurdoch]

I found the error.... the documentation says "Create a file named .env in the same directory as your DAB CLI configuration files."

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/data-api-builder/how-to-use-environments#create-environment-variables-file

Although its loaded from the folder where "dab start" is run.

so as above, need to "cd swa-db-connections" then run:

dab start -c "staticwebapp.database.config.json"

then the .env file load correctly.

[JerryNixon]

I think the .env file needs to be in the working folder of the cli when calling it. Meaning if it is in /one you can change directory to /one then run dab start -c /two/config.json. I think.