Basic understanding of the authoring.json file

Question

I got a task to rename all the namespaces in a solution according to a new namespace strategy and after I was done the solution builds and starts but when I try to bootstrap the updated environmentfiles I get this error:

4 10:09:28 ERROR InvalidEnvironmentJson.Error: Message=Error resolving type specified in JSON 'XX.Commerce.Plugin.Payments.Adyen.AdyenClientPolicy, XX.Commerce.Plugin.Payments.Adyen'. Path 'Policies.$values[3].$type', line 70, position 105.|Trace=   at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.ResolveTypeName(JsonReader reader, Type& objectType, JsonContract& contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, String qualifiedTypeName)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.ReadMetadataProperties(JsonReader reader, Type& objectType, JsonContract& contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, Object existingValue, Object& newValue, String& id)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.CreateObject(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, JsonContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, Object existingValue)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.PopulateList(IList list, JsonReader reader, JsonArrayContract contract, JsonProperty containerProperty, String id)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.CreateList(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, JsonContract contract, JsonProperty member, Object existingValue, String id)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.ReadMetadataProperties(JsonReader reader, Type& objectType, JsonContract& contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, Object existingValue, Object& newValue, String& id)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.CreateObject(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, JsonContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, Object existingValue)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.SetPropertyValue(JsonProperty property, JsonConverter propertyConverter, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerProperty, JsonReader reader, Object target)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.PopulateObject(Object newObject, JsonReader reader, JsonObjectContract contract, JsonProperty member, String id)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.CreateObject(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, JsonContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, Object existingValue)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.Deserialize(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, Boolean checkAdditionalContent)    at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializer.DeserializeInternal(JsonReader reader, Type objectType)    at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(String value, Type type, JsonSerializerSettings settings)    at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject[T](String value, JsonSerializerSettings settings)    at Sitecore.Commerce.Core.ValidateEnvironmentJsonBlock.d__0.MoveNext() Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializationException: Error resolving type specified in JSON 'XX.Commerce.Plugin.Payments.Adyen.AdyenClientPolicy, XX.Commerce.Plugin.Payments.Adyen'. Path 'Policies.$values[3].$type', line 70, position 105. ---> Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializationException: Could not load assembly 'XX.Commerce.Plugin.Payments.Adyen'.    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.DefaultSerializationBinder.GetTypeFromTypeNameKey(TypeNameKey typeNameKey)    at System.Collections.Concurrent.ConcurrentDictionary2.GetOrAdd(TKey key, Func2 valueFactory)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.DefaultSerializationBinder.BindToType(String assemblyName, String typeName)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.ResolveTypeName(JsonReader reader, Type& objectType, JsonContract& contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, String qualifiedTypeName)    --- End of inner exception stack trace ---    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.ResolveTypeName(JsonReader reader, Type& objectType, JsonContract& contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, String qualifiedTypeName)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.ReadMetadataProperties(JsonReader reader, Type& objectType, JsonContract& contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, Object existingValue, Object& newValue, String& id)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.CreateObject(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, JsonContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, Object existingValue)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.PopulateList(IList list, JsonReader reader, JsonArrayContract contract, JsonProperty containerProperty, String id)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.CreateList(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, JsonContract contract, JsonProperty member, Object existingValue, String id)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.ReadMetadataProperties(JsonReader reader, Type& objectType, JsonContract& contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, Object existingValue, Object& newValue, String& id)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.CreateObject(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, JsonContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, Object existingValue)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.SetPropertyValue(JsonProperty property, JsonConverter propertyConverter, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerProperty, JsonReader reader, Object target)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.PopulateObject(Object newObject, JsonReader reader, JsonObjectContract contract, JsonProperty member, String id)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.CreateObject(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, JsonContract contract, JsonProperty member, JsonContainerContract containerContract, JsonProperty containerMember, Object existingValue)    at Newtonsoft.Json.Serialization.JsonSerializerInternalReader.Deserialize(JsonReader reader, Type objectType, Boolean checkAdditionalContent)    at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonSerializer.DeserializeInternal(JsonReader reader, Type objectType)    at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject(String value, Type type, JsonSerializerSettings settings)    at Newtonsoft.Json.JsonConvert.DeserializeObject[T](String value, JsonSerializerSettings settings)    at Sitecore.Commerce.Core.ValidateEnvironmentJsonBlock.d__0.MoveNext()

In order to understand what is wrong I need a deeper understanding about this:

The Commerce Authoring service requires access to the Sitecore instance during the initialization process. Information about the Sitecore instance is located in the CommerceAuthoring\wwwroot\data\Environments\PlugIn.Habitat.CommerceAuthoring-1.0.0.json file, and contains the following default values:

"$type": "Sitecore.Commerce.Plugin.Management.SitecoreConnectionPolicy, Sitecore.Commerce.Plugin.Management"

"Host": "cf.reference.storefront.com"

"SitecoreDatabase": "XXXXXX"

"UserName": "XXXXXX"

"Domain": "XXXXXX"

"Password": "XXX"

"PolicyId": "a12d609f37124c4fb9007519a8e18b69"

It is the first line ("$type":) that I am interested in. What represent the value of that line? The first part seem to Point to a specific class (SitecoreConnectionPolicy) but is the prefix (Sitecore.Commerce.Plugin.Management) a namespace or a path? And the second part (Sitecore.Commerce.Plugin.Management) is that a namespace, path or an assemblyname?

Many thanks in advance for any input that might shed a light on this.

Answer 1

The json files actually contain serialized .NET classes so what you see in the $type field is the namespace of a class, followed by the name of the assembly.

When this information is deserialized, the $type is used to instantiate the proper class.

The error you got indicates the .NET runtime cannot find the specified assembly or namespace in the bin folder of your solution.

Hope this helps, Erwin Werkman