I have a C# .NET Console application exe with an app.config specifying a handful of ApplicationSettings used as parameters.
I have an additional separate (Windows Forms) exe (residing in the same directory) to allow the ApplicationSettings used by the first exe to be modified by the user.
What it the cleanest way to go about modifying the first exe's app.config from the second exe?
Thanks.
you can use
public static Configuration OpenExeConfiguration(
string exePath
)
MSDN Link
Use:
Configuration cfg = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(path_to_exe_file_of_second_app);
// do whatever you need with that configuration
cfg.Save();
Please note that OpenExeConfiguration method takes a path to the second app exe file, not the config file itself.
Related
I have a program that I am going to deploy via a Windows installer. The program outputs files to a location specified in a app.config file.
Is it possible to change the value of the config file to the path selected during the install?
So the process would be as follows.
User runs windows installer
User selects path to install program
Output variable in app.config changed to location of install
User can then edit the config file to change output variable if they wish to change the output path.
Update: Ok so now I know how to create a custom install process as per this link:
Configure App.config Application Settings During MSI Install
This is fine if you want to just use the standard set of controls but I would like a file chooser for them to be able to choose the output path, how can I do this?
Ok I figured out what I needed to do... Heres the answer...
Add an installer class to the project you want to install as per instructions in the link.
Then override the install method in that class as follows to read the path that that user inputs as install directory..
public override void Install(System.Collections.IDictionary stateSaver)
{
base.Install(stateSaver);
string targetDirectory = Context.Parameters["targetdir"];
string exePath = string.Format("{0}BarcodeScanner.exe", targetDirectory);
Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(exePath);
config.AppSettings.Settings["ILPrintExportPath"].Value = targetDirectory;
config.Save();
}
Then follow the other stages in the above link :)
As Joe said I will have to either ensure the users run the app as an administrator or install outside the program files directory so its not a perfect solution but it does what I need it to do.
See this article Configure App.config Application Settings During MSI Install which shows how to do this using a C# custom action which uses the standard .Net ConfigurationManager class to open and update the app.config file.
Why not just use Assembly.Location to get the directory the EXE is running from? I don't see any need to add a configuration setting -- it's not like this is something you want to be user-configurable after your app is installed.
var exePath = Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location;
var exeDirectory = Path.GetDirectoryName(exePath);
If you want that path to be by default same as install directory, you may just use Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() if there is no entry in your config. But then, there will be no possibility to set other path during install (not sure if you wanted that).
Is there a way (maybe from command line) to start the same exe file twice using a different app config?
var configMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
configMap.ExeConfigFilename = #"myconfigpath";
var config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(configMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
Start it from a separate location, where the filename.exe.config is different.
THe configuration framework let you load the config from any file but you will have to handle that manually from within your application.
Look at ConfigurationManager class
You can load your process into a separate app domain. This allows you to redirect the configuration file. See http://www.codeproject.com/KB/IP/HostingMultipleServices.aspx for an example of doing this with a Windows service. It'll be similar for any kind of application.
I am creating one class library project.
Now by default I have one App.Config file so that I am putting all environment specific data in that Config file.
Now based on the Environment (whether Dev / Test / Production), I am planning to have three App.Config files in VS 2010 such as
App.Dev.Config
App.Test.Config
App.Prod.Config
Wondering how would the application know which config file to use.
Anyone implemented this scenario. Any Code samples / Articles would be helpful.
Thanks
The app will use the config file named YourExcecutable.exe.config which is by default the file App.config included in your (executable) project.
Note, that .NET only loads one config file for the whole application. You cannot use multiple configuration files (i.e. one per library project) without coding.
Option: You can use postbuild events and different solution configurations to copy one or another App.Config file to the output folder
Option: You can use the ConfigurationManager Class to load an alternate config file by code.
Loading a different application configuration file at run time can be done using the concept of mapped configuration file. To start with, you need to add reference to System.Configuration.dll in your project.
Set the value of Copy to Output Directory property to Copy if newer (Refer screenshot). This has to be done only for non-default configuration files e.g. App1.config, App2.config, etc. Leave the default configuration file namely App.config as it is . Due to this change, all the non-default application configuration files will be available in the project output directory (\bin\debug) when the project is built. Default value of this property is Do not copy.
Here is the code snippet on how to read configuration data from non-default configuration files:
ExeConfigurationFileMap configFileMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
configFileMap.ExeConfigFilename = "App1.config"; // app1.config should be present in root directory from where application exe is kicked off
// Get the mapped configuration file
var config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(configFileMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
//get the relevant section from the config object
AppSettingsSection section = (AppSettingsSection)config.GetSection("appSettings");
//get key value pair
var keyValueConfigElement = section.Settings["appSettingsKey"];
var appSettingsValue = keyValueConfigElement.Value;
If you have multiple application (aka app) configuration files then you can keep a setting in default App.config file with the help of which you can make a decision at run time about which non-default configuration file to load e.g. App1.config
Note: Now look at below code:
ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["DeployEnv"]
This code will still read the data from the default App.config file. This behavior can't be changed. There is no way to prohibit the Loading of default App.config file. You have to use alternate means as discussed in this post to read the data from non-default configuration files
Now there is an even better solution: SlowCheetah - XML Transforms
I have a config file in my C# class library called MyLibrary.config, in vs 2008.
I created another project, say a simple console app, add reference by "Browsing" the MyLibrary.dll in the bin directory of the class library project, and when I compile, the MyLibrary.config is not including in the bin directory of the output in the console app.
How can I set it so I can include it when I reference the dll?
Cheers
You can't. Your console application is expecting to find a config file with prefix the same as the name as the console application (MyConsoleApplication.exe -> MyConsoleApplication.exe.config.).
In some situations you can share a config file by using the file attribute on the appSettings element:
<appSettings
file="path">
</appSettings>
Note that path is relative to the executing assembly.
As a side note, DLLs do not even use the config file that you've defined in the project. Again, configuration information is read from the a config file with prefix the same as the executing assembly. Thus, even when MyLibrary.dll tries to yank configuration information out of a config file, it will be reading the config file for the executing assembly, not MyLibrary.dll.config.
For more on how config files work, see MSDN.
The standard way to use a config file is to have it the same as the executable, adding a reference to a dll will not include its config file and as far as I know dll's don't load config files on their own, rather they rely on the executable that reference them.
Beyond not being able to do this, I would also advise against this approach.
Rather than trying to tighly couple your settings to the DLL library, consider more of a "Dependency Injection" type approach - i.e. where you pass in the value dependencies (i.e. settings) to the code you are calling (i.e. the library).
The advantage in this is you are not tied to a single method of storing settings. You can then use a database, different config file formats... even hard-coding. It also makes unit testing easier by removing the external file dependency.
There are different ways to implement this, however one example is to pass the configuration settings into the constructor of the class(s) that uses them.
I have a .NET 3.5 class library I built that reads an App.config file for values it needs. It can pull the config values just fine when I test it in Visual Studio. To test it, I just change the project to a console application and execute a method call.
I have the need to call this class library from many other .NET programs, and I want the class library to be self sufficient (I should be able to call it from any other program, and it should use its own config file, not know about any calling config file etc.).
I can add a reference to the dll (since I am still development I am using VS 2008, haven't thrown anything into the GAC yet) but the App.config that the class library is reading is from the calling program's App.config, not the class library's App.config.
The class library dll has it's config file in the same directory, so it should be able to find it just fine, and the calling application is named differently. I am using the standard key value pairs in the App.config (e.g. name of config file myClassLibrary.dll.config) and getting values out with the following line of code:
String myVal = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["myConfigSetting"];
Does anyone know how to fix this?
An app domain in C# can have only one assembly level app.config file. See here on MSDN. An executable will always start up an AppDomain and by default look for a config file with name: EXECUTABLE_NAME.config. For example, SampleApp01.exe will look for SampleApp01.exe.config as its configuration file.
you can place your configs in the machine.config file inside the framework folder by this way you can globally use your configuration in all .Net applications running in that machine,
I believe app.config will always be used by the executable. Just drop it in that directory.
They would do that to ensure the dll can be shared and not have to share the same .config file.
You might be able to create a link from the executable .config file
<appSettings configSource="\lib\app.config">
Or change its name, i don't understand how you can have both app.config files in the same directory..don't they have the same name?
<appSettings configSource="\lib.app.config">
I can't find a way to avoid getting the app.config for the calling dll/exe etc. The only way I have found is to use a hardcoded path and load it that way. Here is code I am using to do that:
using System.Configuration;
...
public static KeyValueConfigurationCollection getAppSettingsFromAppConfig(String appConfigPath) {
ExeConfigurationFileMap fileMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
fileMap.ExeConfigFilename = appConfigPath;
Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(fileMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
AppSettingsSection section = config.AppSettings;
KeyValueConfigurationCollection appsettings = section.Settings;
return appsettings;
}
You then have a collection of KeyValueConfigurationElement, which you can use .Value to get the string from config file with.