Targeting properties to segments

You can create and manage properties, add them to collections and use them in your app by using SDKs. You can use them in your infrastructure by using terraform plug-in or CLI. Using properties, you can manage the configuration properties of your infrastructure or applications centrally by using App Configuration.

By default, the properties window lists all properties in an environment in the current App Configuration service instance. Attributes for each property like Name, Value, Date of creation, Last evaluated, Segments that are targeted, and Type are displayed.

Property types:

A Boolean type has two values and you can set the default value as 'true' or 'false'.
A String type property supports data in the form of text, and JSON or YAML files.
A Numeric property supports integer values.
A Secret reference property supports Secrets Manager integration.

For selecting Secret reference property, you need have a Secrets Manager instance with Viewer access to the resource group where Secret Manager instance is created or exists. Also, you need to have Reader access to the Secrets Manager instance.

An example use case of properties can be to decide the number of instances of your application in a specific region. Create a property in App Configuration, with type as numeric, and assign segments based on region value.

Create a property

To create a property, complete these steps:

In the App Configuration console, click Properties.
Select the Current Environment to display the list of properties in that environment.
Click Create. The side panel opens with fields for creating a new property.

Creating a new property
Provide the property details:
- Name - name of the property.
- Property ID - the property ID value is auto suggested based on the entered property name. You can modify the same, if needed. Use the Property ID value as the identifier in your SDK or API code.
- Property type - specify the type of the property. Supported type includes Boolean, String, Numeric, and Secret reference. For more information about property type and default values, see Selecting property type.
- Default value - specify the default value for the property type selected. For more information, see Selecting property type.
- Optionally, you can add the property to one or more collections by selecting in the Add to collection list.
- Description - add a description of the property, which is optional.
- Optionally, define Tags that can help you to identify the property.
Click Create.

Selecting property type

You can have one of the following property types that is associated to a property:

Boolean
String
Numeric
Secret reference

Each of the Property type is having a default value.

The value for the Property value is required, which can be overridden while targeting to a segment.

Boolean

When you select the Property type as Boolean, the Default value details are displayed:

Select the Property value from the list (True or False). This value is returned by default and can be overridden when targeting to a segment.

String

When you select the Property type as String, the Default value details are displayed:

Specify the Default value. This value is returned by default and be overridden while targeting to a segment.
- Format: select the format of the string type from the list. Options are: Text, JSON, and YAML.
- Property value: specify the property value based on the format selected.

Numeric

When you select the Property type as Numeric, the Default value details are displayed:

Specify the Property value. This value is returned by default and can be overridden while targeting to a segment.

Secret reference

When you select the Property type as Secret reference, the Secrets Manager instance, and Default value details are displayed:

Specify the Secrets Manager instance information from where the values need to be pulled.
- Resource group: select the resource group from where the Secrets Manager instance to be used.
- Secrets Manager instance: select the Secrets Manager instance to be used for the specified property.
Specify the Default value. This value is returned by default and can be overridden while targeting to a segment.
- Secret type: select the secret type from the list. For more information about secret types, see Working with secrets of different types.
- Secret name: select the secret name from the dropdown.

Target collections to properties

You can add properties to one or more collections either during the creation of property or during editing a property details.

For adding collections to the properties, for the Availability across collections field, select the collection from the list.

If you try to target a property that is not linked to a collection, a window is displayed to add a property to a collection.

Targeting a segment with properties

You can roll out property to one or more target segments. You can set different property values for different segments, if needed.

From the App Configuration console, go to Properties to display the list of properties available in the current environment of the App Configuration service instance.
Click Add targeting in the required property row to display the Target property to segments side panel.

Target property to segments
Select Segments from the list. If no segments are available to target, click Create segment. For more information about creating a segment, see Create a segment.
Select the Property value (Inherited from property or Override).
Click Save rule to save the changes to the rules.
Click Add targeting.