Merge pull request #532 from roel-de-vries/add-environment-explanation

Added information about setting up environment variables

Author: thinkingserious

ExampleCoreProject/Example.cs

@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@ private static void Main()
 
         static async Task Execute()
         {
+            // Retrieve the API key from the environment variables. See the project README for more info about setting this up.
             var apiKey = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SENDGRID_APIKEY");
+
             var client = new SendGridClient(apiKey);
 
             // Send a Single Email using the Mail Helper

ExampleNet45ASPNetProject/README.md

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 ##  Setup Environment Variables
 
-Update the development Environment with your SENDGRID_API_KEY.
+Update the "SendGridApiKey" appSettings variable within the web.config file.
 
 ## Steps
 
@@ -22,4 +22,4 @@ You may need to download the latest Nuget executable and run `nuget.exe restore`
 
 ## Happy coding
 
-Big thanks to [paritosh baghel](https://github.com/paritoshmmmec) for contributing this example code!
+Big thanks to [paritosh baghel](https://github.com/paritoshmmmec) for contributing this example code!

ExampleNet45ASPNetProject/SendGrid.ASPSamples/Service/SendGridEmailService.cs

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ namespace SendGrid.ASPSamples
     public class SendGridEmailService
     {
         private readonly SendGridClient _client;
-        private string apiKey = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SENDGRID_API_KEY");
+        private string apiKey = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["SendGridApiKey"];
         private static readonly string MessageId = "X-Message-Id";
 
         public SendGridEmailService()
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ public EmailResponse Send(EmailContract contract)
             return ProcessResponse(_client.SendEmailAsync(emailMessage).Result);
         }
 
-        private  EmailResponse ProcessResponse(Response response)
+        private EmailResponse ProcessResponse(Response response)
         {
             if (response.StatusCode.Equals(System.Net.HttpStatusCode.Accepted)
                 || response.StatusCode.Equals(System.Net.HttpStatusCode.OK))

ExampleNet45ASPNetProject/SendGrid.ASPSamples/Web.config

@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
     <add name="DefaultConnection" connectionString="Data Source=(LocalDb)\MSSQLLocalDB;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\aspnet-SendGrid.ASPSamples-20170430084902.mdf;Initial Catalog=aspnet-SendGrid.ASPSamples-20170430084902;Integrated Security=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
   </connectionStrings>
   <appSettings>
-     <add key="SendGridApiKey" value="SendGridApiKey" />
+    <add key="SendGridApiKey" value="YOUR_API_KEY" />
     <add key="webpages:Version" value="3.0.0.0" />
     <add key="webpages:Enabled" value="false" />
     <add key="ClientValidationEnabled" value="true" />

ExampleNet45Project/Example.cs

@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@ private static void Main()
 
         static async Task Execute()
         {
+            // Retrieve the API key from the environment variables. See the project README for more info about setting this up.
             var apiKey = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SENDGRID_APIKEY");
+
             var client = new SendGridClient(apiKey);
 
             // Send a Single Email using the Mail Helper

README.md

@@ -71,6 +71,29 @@ For sample implementations, see the [.NET Core Example](https://github.com/sendg
 
 <a name="quick_start"></a>
 # Quick Start
+## Manage keys using Environment Variables
+The examples found below in this quick start and in the example projects all make use of storing their API keys as an environment variable.
+
+Environment variables are usually part of the OS and are available to programs within that same OS.
+It gives the option to bypass hardcoding credentials, and making them easy to manage.
+
+This example will go through adding an environment variable in Windows (10).
+
+If we look at a code example from the quick start we see that the second line of the `Execute()` method tries to retrieve an enviroment variable:
+```csharp
+var apiKey = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("NAME_OF_THE_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE_FOR_YOUR_SENDGRID_KEY");
+```
+`NAME_OF_THE_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE_FOR_YOUR_SENDGRID_KEY` isn't a variable of your OS environment yet, so let's add it.
+
+Press `win + R` (or search for "run"), fill in "SystemPropertiesAdvanced", press enter and then click on "Enviroment variables".
+You'll get two lists of variables, but we'll focus on the User Variables for this example.
+
+Click the "New" button beneath the User Variables list. Give it the name `NAME_OF_THE_ENVIRONMENT_VARIABLE_FOR_YOUR_SENDGRID_KEY` (or rename the variable in both the environment and code to a more generic name).
+For value insert your SendGrid API key. Click on "Ok", and again in the variable overview and lastly close the system properties window.
+
+You maybe have to restart your IDE you were working in to make use of the new variable.
+
+Now, if all went well you can access the just added variable in your C# SendGrid projects! Ready for some examples?
 
 ## Hello Email
 
@@ -228,4 +251,4 @@ sendgrid-csharp is guided and supported by the SendGrid [Developer Experience Te
 
 sendgrid-csharp is maintained and funded by SendGrid, Inc. The names and logos for sendgrid-csharp are trademarks of SendGrid, Inc.
 
-![SendGrid Logo](https://uiux.s3.amazonaws.com/2016-logos/email-logo%402x.png)
+![SendGrid Logo](https://uiux.s3.amazonaws.com/2016-logos/email-logo%402x.png)