EnvFile

Description

Env File is a plugin for JetBrains IDEs that allows you to set environment variables for your run configurations from one or multiple files.

Supported Formats

• .env
• YAML dictionary
• JSON dictionary (parsed with YAML parser since JSON is subset of YAML)

All formats assume that both keys and values are strings.

Supported Platforms

Installation

• Using IDE built-in plugin system:

  • Preferences > Plugins > Browse repositories... > Search for "Env File" > Install Plugin

• Manually:

  • Download the latest release and install it manually using Preferences > Plugins > Install plugin from disk...

Restart IDE.

Usage

0. Add new Run/Debug configuration: + Add new configuration > ...
1. Switch to EnvFile tab
2. Select Enable EnvFile checkbox
3. Select Substitute Environment Variables checkbox (if needed)
4. Select Process JetBrains path macro references checkbox (if needed)
5. Select Ignore missing files checkbox (if needed)
6. Select Enable experimental integrations checkbox (if needed)
7. Click on + to add a file
8. Adjust order as needed
9. Even variables defined within run configuration can be processed, ordered and substituted

Caveats

Hidden files

Hidden files (starting with a dot) are not displayed in Finder on macOS by default. To toggle hidden files in the Open dialog, press COMMAND + SHIFT + .. Alternatively, one can either tweak macOS to show hidden files or select any file using standard Finder dialog and then manually edit path by double-clicking on the entry in the table.

Experimental Integrations

Not all run configurations available in IDEA-based IDEs are implemented similarly. Some of them differ significantly. In certain cases (so far, only Gradle has been confirmed) the implementation exposes interfaces to integrate the EnvFile UI but doesn't provide interfaces for it to actually make its work. Luckily, it was possible to make few assumptions about IDEA's internal implementation and make it work. Such integration is very fragile and it's not immediately clear if it will affect any existing integrations and when it will break. For that reason there is a special option to Enable Experimental Integrations that can be enabled when desired and should prevent other integrations from breaking.

Examples

.env

# This line is ignored since it's a comment
SECRET_KEY=hip-hip-env-files
VERSION=1.0

or

# This line is ignored since it's a comment
SECRET_KEY hip-hip-env-files
VERSION 1.0

JSON

{
    # JSON doesn't have comments but since JSON is subset of YAML
    # We parse it with YAML parser and therefore have comments
    # And even trialling commas in objects :)
    "SECRET_KEY": "hip-hip-env-files",
    "VERSION": "1.0", # All non-string literals should be enclosed in quotes; btw this is ignored too
}

YAML

# This line is ignored since it's a comment
SECRET_KEY: hip-hip-env-files
VERSION: "1.0" # All non-string literals should be enclosed in quotes; btw this is ignored too

Bash (workaround)

There was a number of requests to support extracting environment variables from bash scripts like:

export SECRET_KEY="hip-hip-env-files"
export VERSION="1.0"

The feasible way to do that is yet to be discovered (if any at all) so the plugin does not support that at the moment. On the other hand there is a simple workaround that can be used for the time being. The example bash script from above can be split into an .env file and a generic script that can be used to set environment variables on a command line:

.env

SECRET_KEY="hip-hip-env-files"
VERSION="1.0"

set-env.sh

while read -r line; do export $line; done < .env

usage

$ . set-env.sh
$ echo $VERSION
1.0

Variable Expansion

EnvFile also supports environment variable substitution. It's optional and disabled by default. Implementation is based on StringSubstitutor so it's the best reference for how it works.

Examples

Syntax is derived from Bash but is way more primitive:

A=${FOO}            # A=""        <- unknown variables replaced by empty strings
B=${FOO:-default}   # B="default" <- default values can be set as in Bash
C=${B}              # C="default" <- it's possible to refer to other variables that were previously evaluated
D=$${C}             # D="$${C}"   <- double dollar serves as an escape character
E=$C                $ E="$C"      <- curly brackets are required

Precedence

Environment variables are evaluated in the order they are defined in files. Files are evaluated in the order defined in EnvFile UI. Environment variables defined in run configuration can be ordered relatively to files. Order between environment variables defined in run configuration is not defined.

It is possible to refer to any environment variables that were evaluated previously - within same file or from other sources.

Path Macro Substitution

EnvFile can substitute JetBrains path macro references such as $PROJECT_DIR$ etc. It's optional and disabled by default. For details - see "Working with $PROJECT_DIR$ in plugin configuration options".

Further Development

• Add more formats (upon requests)
• Add support for other JetBrains products/plugins (upon requests)
• Add more tests (¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Building

EnvFile uses Gradle for building.

$ ./gradlew clean test build
  
  BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 22s
  59 actionable tasks: 59 executed
  
$ ls -1 build/distributions
  Env File-2.1.1-SNAPSHOT.zip

In order to open plugin's project in IDE one should generate skeleton and then open it and import Gradle project:

$ ./gradlew setup
  
  BUILD SUCCESSFUL in 1s
  3 actionable tasks: 3 executed

This generates a very basic .idea project definition that is sufficient enough to ensure that IDEA would recognize this as a plugin after Gradle import.

Feedback

Any feedback, bug reports and feature requests are highly appreciated!

Feel free to create an issue, contact me using Github or just drop me an email to the address specified in plugin.xml/idea-plugin/[email protected].

License

Copyright (c) 2017 Borys Pierov. See the LICENSE file for license rights and limitations (MIT).