I currently have a Windows service (running as LocalSystem) which I'm installing using InstallSheild LE. This service is meant to read some data from a local database file, package it up, and post it to an external server on a set interval. Rather that have the database location, server url, etc. hard coded I want to read them from a settings file. I can do that easily enough with App.config, but from my research I'm getting the picture that modifying the App.config (or any file in Program Files) is difficult/impossible post installation.
My question is what would be the best way to have an application which I can run to modify the necessary settings for the service without having to "Run as Administrator". Should I be putting these settings in the Registry. Is putting them in AppData the right answer and if so how are those settings shared between the settings changing application and the service?
I'm more of a web application developer and don't yet have much experience with desktop application/service development so any point in the right direction would be much appreciated.
You can locate the App.Config outside of the application install directory and place it in a common folder (like AppData). You'll then tell your application to load it from there instead of just pulling it in from the application install directory.
ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfig allows you to load your config from a custom location.
// Access a configuration file using mapping.
// This function uses the OpenMappedExeConfiguration
// method to access a new configuration file.
// It also gets the custom ConsoleSection and
// sets its ConsoleEment BackgroundColor and
// ForegroundColor properties to green and red
// respectively. Then it uses these properties to
// set the console colors.
public static void MapExeConfiguration()
{
// Get the application configuration file.
System.Configuration.Configuration config =
ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(
ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
Console.WriteLine(config.FilePath);
if (config == null)
{
Console.WriteLine(
"The configuration file does not exist.");
Console.WriteLine(
"Use OpenExeConfiguration to create the file.");
}
// Create a new configuration file by saving
// the application configuration to a new file.
string appName =
Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[0];
string configFile = string.Concat(appName,
".2.config");
config.SaveAs(configFile, ConfigurationSaveMode.Full);
// Map the new configuration file.
ExeConfigurationFileMap configFileMap =
new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
configFileMap.ExeConfigFilename = configFile;
// Get the mapped configuration file
config =
ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(
configFileMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
// Make changes to the new configuration file.
// This is to show that this file is the
// one that is used.
string sectionName = "consoleSection";
ConsoleSection customSection =
(ConsoleSection)config.GetSection(sectionName);
if (customSection == null)
{
customSection = new ConsoleSection();
config.Sections.Add(sectionName, customSection);
}
else
// Change the section configuration values.
customSection =
(ConsoleSection)config.GetSection(sectionName);
customSection.ConsoleElement.BackgroundColor =
ConsoleColor.Green;
customSection.ConsoleElement.ForegroundColor =
ConsoleColor.Red;
// Save the configuration file.
config.Save(ConfigurationSaveMode.Modified);
// Force a reload of the changed section. This
// makes the new values available for reading.
ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection(sectionName);
// Set console properties using the
// configuration values contained in the
// new configuration file.
Console.BackgroundColor =
customSection.ConsoleElement.BackgroundColor;
Console.ForegroundColor =
customSection.ConsoleElement.ForegroundColor;
Console.Clear();
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Using OpenMappedExeConfiguration.");
Console.WriteLine("Configuration file is: {0}",
config.FilePath);
}
Sample Source: MSDN
Related
I have a class library which by default doesn't have an app.config. The calling app for this library is "explorer.exe" and I won't be able to use explorer.exe.config to add my settings.
Is there any way I can have my class library read an app.config? It needs to be an app.config because I intend on encrypting it during deployment using aspnet_regiis (I'll rename it web.config, encrypt it and rename it back to app.config).
In C# the only config that matters really is the app.config of the output project. In the case of a console app this will be the .exe config. Which will appear in the bin as {your app name}.exe.config.
You can read this file using the ConfigurationManager in the System.Configuration DLL. All the uses of this will point to the executing code's configuration file, even in a class library. So any additional configuration needed in an imported class library will need to be added to this file. This is the canonical way of dealing with config.
If you really want to have some other configuration file, you can use:
ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(
new ExeConfigurationFileMap
{
ExeConfigFilename = overrideConfigFileName
},
ConfigurationUserLevel.None)
Where overrideConfigFileName points to your other app.config file. You can set the file in the class library as Content and ensure it is copied into the output directory at build time. Then you will have to ensure that it is included in the final deploy package and all the paths match.
In the end (as per #Stand__Sure and #tigerswithguitars I created a new project within my solution which will be a console App. It will be executed at deployment.
Thanks to Stand__Sure for his link to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/security/how-to-use-data-protection
The console app does the following:
private static void Run()
{
try
{
// Get unencrypted data from Settings.dat
string[] unencrypted = File.ReadAllLines("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\theAPPSettings\\Settings.dat");
string unencryptedGuid = unencrypted[0]; //its only 1 setting that I'm interested in
// Create a file.
FileStream fStream = new FileStream("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\theAPPSettings\\ProtectedSettings.dat", FileMode.OpenOrCreate);
byte[] toEncrypt = UnicodeEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(unencryptedGuid);
byte[] entropy = UnicodeEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes("A Shared Phrase between the encryption and decryption");
// Encrypt a copy of the data to the stream.
int bytesWritten = Protection.EncryptDataToStream(toEncrypt, entropy, DataProtectionScope.CurrentUser, fStream);
fStream.Close();
File.Delete("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\theAPPSettings\\Settings.dat");
//Console.ReadKey();
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine("ERROR: " + e.Message);
}
}
The calling app decrypts it as follows:
FileStream fStream = new FileStream("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\theAPPSettings\\ProtectedSettings.dat", FileMode.Open);
byte[] entropy = UnicodeEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes("A Shared Phrase between the encryption and decryption");
// Read from the stream and decrypt the data.
byte[] decryptData = Protection.DecryptDataFromStream(entropy, DataProtectionScope.CurrentUser, fStream, Length_of_Stream);
fStream.Close();
string temp = UnicodeEncoding.ASCII.GetString(decryptData);
I wanted to know if there was a way to have multiple .settings files based on configuration that are honored at runtime. So, at the moment I have a Settings.settings and a Release.settings file under the Properties folder. I'm not saying this is right by any means, I'm just saying that's what I currently have.
But, when running this line of code I always get the value out of the Settings.settings file.
Properties.Settings.Default.Setting
I realize that the Settings part of that line is explicitly defining the file I want, but I'm trying to find a way to get an abstracted line of code that will pull it out based off of the configuration.
So, unlike a config transform where it can be used to simply produce a different version of the file on deployment, I need to be able to actually see different values at runtime based on the configuration I'm running under.
I hope somebody can help, and thanks!
Yes it is possible. I was just wanting to do the same thing myself.
From the Project menu, choose Add New Item. The Add New Item dialog
box opens.
In the Add New Item dialog box, select Settings File, type in a name
for the file, and click Add to add a new settings file to your
solution.
In Solution Explorer, drag the new Settings file into the Properties
folder. This allows your new settings to be available in code.
Add and use settings in this file as you would any other settings
file. You can access this group of settings via the
Properties.Settings object.
Then you can reference each settings file by its prefix.
Config config = new Config();
if (Debugger.IsAttached)
{
config = new Config()
{
Interval = Dev.Default.Interval,
Username = Dev.Default.Username,
Password = Dev.Default.Password,
Directory = Dev.Default.Directory
};
}
else
{
config = new Config()
{
Interval = Settings.Default.Interval,
Username = Settings.Default.Username,
Password = Settings.Default.Password,
Directory = Settings.Default.Directory
};
}
I am working with C# & WPF and, of course, an app.config file. I have not been able to find an example of encrypted connection strings, stored in the app.config. There's plenty of examples for ASP.NET and web.config but nothing solid for app.config. The only examples I have come across clearly state that the string is only "decode-able" (is that even a word?) on the same machine that it was first encrypted on. Are there any viable options for working with encrypted connection strings (or other data) in an app.config?
Encrypt ConnectionStrings in App.config
private void ProtectSection(String sSectionName)
{
// Open the app.config file.
Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
// Get the section in the file.
ConfigurationSection section = config.GetSection(sSectionName);
// If the section exists and the section is not readonly, then protect the section.
if (section != null)
{
if (!section.IsReadOnly())
{
// Protect the section.
section.SectionInformation.ProtectSection("RsaProtectedConfigurationProvider");
section.SectionInformation.ForceSave = true;
// Save the change.
config.Save(ConfigurationSaveMode.Modified);
}
}
}
Im trying to reference this config file that is in the same folder as the class that contains this code. I'd like to do some type of relative reference to it, so I can use it from other places. When I try using just the file name without the path, the application doesn't find the file. I debugged and the folder it seems to be looking in IIS folder which makes sense as Im using it in an IIS hosted wcf service. Anyways, how I can properly reference this config file without hard coding the path? So it looks in the project location. Thanks for any help. Have a great weekend!
public void Init()
{
var fileMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap { ExeConfigFilename = #"C:\workspace\new\UnityDemo-v1.0.0.1\src\Core\unity.config" };
Configuration configuration = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(fileMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
var unitySection = (UnityConfigurationSection)configuration.GetSection("unity");
_container = new UnityContainer().LoadConfiguration(unitySection);
}
Cheers,
~ck
Using config files with services hosted in IIS is tricky, because the application directory is the one IIS runs in and that will be heavily protected against placing any files there. There may be other ways but for me it works to name the file web.config and copy it to the directory the .svc file resides in and then you can read the settings directly without having to reference the config file. I do not know of any way to do this copying from within the program itself. The installer will be able to do it though.
See: this question
Use Application.StartupPath to get the path the application started in then simply combine with the filename to get the full path:
var filePath = Path.Combine(Application.StartupPath, "unity.config");
var fileMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap { ExeConfigFilename = filePath };
This will work only in winforms.
Another option is to use Environment.CurrentDirectory - by default it will be set to the process startup directory. Note that this property is mutable:
var filePath = Path.Combine(Environment.CurrentDirectory, "unity.config");
var fileMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap { ExeConfigFilename = filePath };
Another option that worked for me in .NET is using Server.MapPath. This returns the full path of the given relative virtual path in the web application.
var filePath = Server.MapPath("/unity.config")
This physical file path can then be used to create the file map as above.
I have a WinForms .exe with an App.config that has a bunch of User Scoped Settings that are set at runtime and saved.
I want to be able to use the WinForms app to change and save the settings and then click on button to do some work based on the those settings.
I also want to read the user settings in the same .config file from a sep. console app so I can schedule to work to be done as a scheduled task.
What is the best way to be able to do this?
Update:
I tried the reccommendation of using ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration as described in some of the answers like so.
Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration("F:\\Dir\\App.exe");
but when I try to retrieve a User Setting like so.
string result = config.AppSettings.Settings["DB"].ToString();
I get a Null reference error.
From code in the exe however the following correctly returns the DB name.
Properties.Settings.Default.DB
Where am I going wrong?
Update 2:
So based on some of the answers below I now can use the following to retrieve the raw XML of the section of the user.config file I am interested in from sep. ConsoleApp.
System.Configuration.ExeConfigurationFileMap fileMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
fileMap.ExeConfigFilename = #"D:\PathHere\user.config";
Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(fileMap,ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
System.Configuration.DefaultSection configSection = (System.Configuration.DefaultSection)config.GetSection("userSettings");
string result = configSection.SectionInformation.GetRawXml();
Console.WriteLine(result);
But I am still unable to just pull the value for the specific element I am interested in.
this should do it :
var clientSettingsSection = (System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection)(ConfigurationManager.GetSection("userSettings/YourApplicationName.Properties.Settings"));
var setting = clientSettingsSection.Settings.Get("yourParamName_DB_");
string yourParamName_DB = ((setting.Value.ValueXml).LastChild).InnerText.ToString();
You can use the ConfigurationManager class to open the configuration file of another executable.
Configuration conf = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(exeFilePath);
// edit configuration settings
conf.Save();
See ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration
If you are setting these values per user basis you may need to use the ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel) method instead of the current method you are using now.
ExeConfigurationFileMap fileMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
fileMap.ExeConfigFilename = Environment.CurrentDirectory + "\\MyApp.exe.config";
//i have config in the same directory as my another app
System.Configuration.Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(fileMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
var settingsSection = (System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection)config.GetSection("userSettings/MyApp.Properties.Settings");
var setting = settingsSection.Settings.Get("MySetting");
var param = ((setting.Value.ValueXml).LastChild).InnerText.ToString();
If you know the path to the config file try:
System.Configuration.Configuration config = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration("configPath");
string myValue = config.AppSettings.Settings[ "myValue" ].Value;