asp.net core 2.0 - Value cannot be null. Parameter name: connectionString

Question

I had the following error in package manager console when Add-Migration

Value cannot be null. Parameter name: connectionString

Answer 1

I had a similar problem after trying to use new created project for ASP.NET Core 2.0 Web Api. As far as I found, the cause of the problem was that application settings specified for development environment were not added. I fixed it by updating startup file to the following:

public Startup(IHostingEnvironment env)
{
    var builder = new ConfigurationBuilder()
        .SetBasePath(env.ContentRootPath)
        .AddJsonFile("appsettings.json", optional: false, reloadOnChange: true)
        .AddJsonFile($"appsettings.{env.EnvironmentName}.json", optional: true)
        .AddEnvironmentVariables();
    this.Configuration = builder.Build();
}

In my case program class looks like the following:

public class Program
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        BuildWebHost(args).Run();
    }

    public static IWebHost BuildWebHost(string[] args) =>
        WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
            .UseStartup()
            .Build();
}