When building Logic Apps in VS Code, there’s a key detail you should understand—especially when using the Designer. It’s not just about how the Designer looks, but how it behaves depending on your setup.
Let’s say your Logic App needs to connect to an operation in API Management (APIM). The process is pretty straightforward:
- Search for the APIM connector in the Designer, select your APIM instance, give the connection a name, and choose the API you want to work with.
- This creates an entry like this in your
connections.json:
"apiManagementConnections": {
"apiManagementOperation": {
"apiId": "/subscriptions/xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/test-dev-rg/providers/Microsoft.ApiManagement/service/apim-dev/apis/postapi",
"baseUrl": "https://apim-test.demo.pt/dev/operation/createpost",
"subscriptionKey": "@appsetting('apiManagementOperation_SubscriptionKey')",
"displayName": "CN-APIM"
}
}
Now, if you prefer using app settings instead of hardcoding values (which is a best practice), your connection would look like this:
"apiManagementConnections": {
"apiManagementOperation": {
"apiId": "@appsetting('post-api-Id')",
"baseUrl": "@appsetting('post-api-baseUrl')",
"subscriptionKey": "@appsetting('post-api-SubscriptionKey')",
"displayName": "CN-APIM",
"authentication": {
"type": "ManagedServiceIdentity"
}
}
}
📝 One-Minute Brief
Logic Apps Standard workflows in Visual Studio Code may fail to save when the designer can’t resolve an API ID. This Friday Fact explains why this validation happens, how it impacts local development, and what developers can do to fix the issue.
After deploying your Logic App, make sure the app settings match the values you previously hardcoded. If they don’t, the Logic App may behave unexpectedly.
Now comes a common gotcha. While you’re still developing, you might switch to app settings early. At that point, the Designer may stop working correctly. This happens because the apiId now points to a variable instead of a real API path. As a result, changes such as adding variables or scopes may fail to save. Frustrating, right?
The fix is simple: just add those app setting values to your local local.settings.json file. For example:
"post-api-Id": "/subscriptions/xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxx/resourceGroups/test-dev-rg/providers/Microsoft.ApiManagement/service/apim-dev/apis/postapi",
"post-api-baseUrl": "https://apim-test.demo.pt/dev/operation/createpost"
With this in place, the Designer will recognize the API again, and you’ll be able to make changes and save without issues.
Bonus tip:
- If your APIM lives in a different subscription than the rest of your resources, you can also update the
WORKFLOWS_SUBSCRIPTION_IDvalue inlocal.settings.jsonto match the subscription where your APIM is. That’ll resolve the issue where the Designer isn’t displaying your API correctly.
Hope you enjoyed this Friday Fact!
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