# YAML config files with environment specific settings **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [March 21, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/yaml-config-files-with-environment-specific-settings/163506 "2009-03-21T03:23:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![calvin98115](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/7ea924/32.png) [@calvin98115](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/calvin98115)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/yaml-config-files-with-environment-specific-settings/163506/1 "2009-03-21T03:23:31Z")
I need to store settings by environment but started off simply with my config file at: \config\config.yml. The only setting I had was this: attachment\_volume: \attach\transfers With this, cod I’m able to load the file within my initializer and reference it just fine from calling code within an ActiveRecord model class. So far so good. Since this setting is a server location that varies by environment, I tried to use the by-environment structure and changed my config file to this: development: attachment\_volume: \attach\transfers test: attachment\_volume: \attach\test\transfers I get the following error during that indicates it didn’t like the second instance of the colon on the second line. Here is the real error: Uncaught exception: syntax error on line 1, col 20: ` attachment\_volume: \atlas\transfer\greenlight\predevelopment\attachments’ Here is full error stack: Exiting C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/yaml.rb:133:in `load' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/yaml.rb:133:in`load’ C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/yaml.rb:144:in `load_file' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/yaml.rb:143:in`open’ C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/yaml.rb:143:in `load_file' C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/config/initializers/load_config.rb:2 C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:142:in`load\_without\_new\_constant\_marking’ C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active\_support/dependencies.rb:142:in `load' C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:521:in`new\_constants\_in’ C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active\_support/dependencies.rb:142:in `load' ./script/../config/../vendor/rails/railties/lib/initializer.rb:550:in`load\_application\_initializers’ ./script/…/config/…/vendor/rails/railties/lib/initializer.rb:549:in `each' ./script/../config/../vendor/rails/railties/lib/initializer.rb:549:i n`load\_application\_initializers’ ./script/…/config/…/vendor/rails/railties/lib/initializer.rb:167:in `process' ./script/../config/../vendor/rails/railties/lib/initializer.rb:112:in`send’ ./script/…/config/…/vendor/rails/railties/lib/initializer.rb:112:in `run' C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/config/environment.rb:16 C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in`gem\_original\_require’ C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:31:in `require' C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:153:in`require’ C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active\_support/dependencies.rb:521:in `new_constants_in' C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:153:in`require’ C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.5-x86-mswin32-60/bin/…/lib/mongrel/rails.rb:147:in `rails' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.5-x86-mswin32-60/bin/mongrel_rails:113:in`cloaker\_’ C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.5-x86-mswin32-60/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:149:in `call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.5-x86-mswin32-60/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:149:in`listener’ C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.5-x86-mswin32-60/bin/mongrel\_rails:99:in `cloaker_' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.5-x86-mswin32-60/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:50:in`call’ C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.5-x86-mswin32-60/lib/mongrel/configurator.rb:50:in `initialize' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.5-x86-mswin32-60/bin/mongrel_rails:84:in`new’ C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.5-x86-mswin32-60/bin/mongrel\_rails:84:in `run' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.5-x86-mswin32-60/lib/mongrel/command.rb:212:in`run’ C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mongrel-1.1.5-x86-mswin32-60/bin/mongrel\_rails:281 C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active\_support/dependencies.rb:142:in `load_without_new_constant_marking' C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:142:in`load’ C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active\_support/dependencies.rb:521:in `new_constants_in' C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:142:in`load’ C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/railties/lib/commands/servers/mongrel.rb:64 C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:31:in `gem_original_require' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in`require’ C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active\_support/dependencies.rb:153:in `require' C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:521:in`new\_constants\_in’ C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/activesupport/lib/active\_support/dependencies.rb:153:in `require' C:/TFS/GreenLight/DEV/server/vendor/rails/railties/lib/commands/server.rb:49 C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in`gem\_original\_require’ C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:31:in `require' ./script/server:3 C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-debug-ide-0.4.4/lib/ruby-debug.rb:101:in`debug\_load’ C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-debug-ide-0.4.4/lib/ruby-debug.rb:101:in `debug_program' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/ruby-debug-ide-0.4.4/bin/rdebug-ide:82 C:\Ruby\bin\rdebug-ide:19:in`load’ C:\Ruby\bin\rdebug-ide:19 -e:2:in `load' -e:2 Uncaught exception: syntax error on line 1, col 20:` attachment\_volume: \atlas\transfer\greenlight\predevelopment\attachments’ Has anyone been able to get the by environment structure load to work? Please advise? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![calvin98115](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/7ea924/32.png) [@calvin98115](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/calvin98115)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/yaml-config-files-with-environment-specific-settings/163506/2 "2009-03-21T03:36:55Z")
Calvin N. wrote: ---
**Author:** ![calvin98115](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/7ea924/32.png) [@calvin98115](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/calvin98115)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/yaml-config-files-with-environment-specific-settings/163506/3 "2009-03-21T03:38:06Z")
> error: Uncaught exception: syntax error on line 1, col 20: ` > attachment\_volume: > \atlas\transfer\greenlight\predevelopment\attachments’ Is that a transmission error, or does \atlas really start in the first text column? directly under the ‘a’ in attachment? Put it on the same line as volume:. Next, in terms of style, you should use / if at all possible. MS’s experiment with \ has failed, and even their own tools respect /. ---
**Author:** ![calvin98115](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/7ea924/32.png) [@calvin98115](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/calvin98115)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/yaml-config-files-with-environment-specific-settings/163506/4 "2009-03-21T04:28:37Z")
Phlip wrote: > > error: Uncaught exception: syntax error on line 1, col 20: ` > > attachment\_volume: > > \atlas\transfer\greenlight\predevelopment\attachments’ > > Is that a transmission error, or does \atlas really start in the first > text > column? directly under the ‘a’ in attachment? > > Put it on the same line as volume:. > > Next, in terms of style, you should use / if at all possible. MS’s > experiment > with \ has failed, and even their own tools respect /. That’s a transmission error. Strange thing I just realized for me ( on windows) if i remove all whitespace, then the YAML config file load succeeds but my APP\_CONFIG structure that loads up is nil. Here is how I’m loading up my hash: APP\_CONFIG = YAML.load\_file("#{RAILS\_ROOT}/config/config.yaml")[RAILS\_ENV] when i excecute this, the exception is thrown: self.volume = APP\_CONFIG[‘attachment\_volume’] What am I missing?