Reading Custom Config Files in C# .NET 2.0

Lemming

Hi guys,

I'm have a configuration file called myApp.exe.config which looks something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
	<configSections>
		<section name="directory" type="MyApp.DirectoryConfigSection, DirectoryConfigSection" />
	</configSections>
	<directory>
		<add key="monitored" value="C:\Temp\bleh1" />
		<add key="xml" value="XML Files" />
		<add key="log" value="Logs" />	
	</directory>
	<appSettings>
		<add key="title" value="MyApp Title Test Name" />
	</appSettings>
</configuration>

I have set up the following class, inherited from ConfigurationSection with which to read the directory xml node into:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Text;

namespace MyApp
{
    public class DirectoryConfigSection : ConfigurationSection
    {
        // Constructor
        public DirectoryConfigSection()
            : base()
        {
        }

        // Monitored application directory
        public String Monitored
        {
            get { return (String)base["monitored"]; }
            set { base["monitored"] = value; }
        }

        // Directory for placing generated
        // XML files
        public String XML
        {
            get { return (String)base["xml"]; }
            set { base["xml"] = value; }
        }

        // Log file directory
        public String Log
        {
            get { return (String)base["log"]; }
            set { base["log"] = value; }
        }
    }
}

And a half-arsed implementation (since I can't seem to get the bloody thing working) that attempts to read the config file, which goes something like this:

private void GetAppSettings()
{
	Configuration config;
	DirectoryConfigSection dirSection;
        ConfigurationSection conf;

        try
        {
        	config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None)
                    as Configuration;

                dirSection = (DirectoryConfigSection)config.GetSection("directory");

                conf = config.GetSection("directory") as ConfigurationSection;
        }
        catch(ConfigurationErrorsException exConfig)
        {
        	// Write log error here
                Close();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
        	// Write log error here
                Close();
        }
}

I suspect the problem is that i am not picking up the app.exe.config file since when I debug and inspect the values assigned to 'config' after its initial assignment, the 'hasPath' value is set to false. Even if I assign the file name, I cannot seem to get anything. But in any case, neither the 'dirSection' or 'conf' variables seem to populate and I have been banging my head against this for far, far too long. Perhaps I'm doing this completely arse about-face but I cannot seem to find a definitive answer on how to go about doing this.

Anyone have any input?

Smoggy

will you be looking to have multiple directories monitored ?

Also are you looking to write back into the app.config ? as I see you have set sections in your class.

If your just looking to monitor a single dir :

<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="monitored" value="C:\Temp\bleh1" />
<add key="xml" value="XML Files" />
<add key="log" value="Logs" />

Reading them in the same way you will with :

<add key="title" value="MyApp Title Test Name" />

Obviously if your looking to monitor multiple directories this short cut will not work.

Lemming

Smoggy wrote:

will you be looking to have multiple directories monitored ?

Also are you looking to write back into the app.config ? as I see you have set sections in your class.

If your just looking to monitor a single dir :

<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="monitored" value="C:\Temp\bleh1" />
<add key="xml" value="XML Files" />
<add key="log" value="Logs" />

Reading them in the same way you will with :

<add key="title" value="MyApp Title Test Name" />

Obviously if your looking to monitor multiple directories this short cut will not work.

I'm monitoring a single directory, although that xml file I showed is a bit smaller than the actual one, however is structuered same as above. I put in the custom entries for logical grouping

Smoggy

Right it seems that c# / vs.net 2005 is way different from vb.net / vs.net 2003, but summat like this should get you going :

using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.Configuration;

NameValueCollection section = (NameValueCollection)
ConfigurationSettings.GetConfig("Directories");

for (int i = 0; i < section.Keys.Count; i++)
{
string key = section.Keys;
string name = section.GetValues (key)[0];
}

For a multiple directory monotoring system use the above.

For getting single values, use the following :

strMonDirectory = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["monitored"];

VS.net 2003 doesnt allow you to write values into the .config files, they are read only and you have to look at the registry for stroring user details. This may have changed with vs.net 2005, but I doubt it.

Hope thats of some help.

Lemming

ConfigurationsSettings has been depreciated and replaced by ConfigurationManager, but I'll take a look and see if I can get inspiration from it. Thanks for the input!

stevenmu

For simplicity's sake would it not be easier to just put your config data into it's own seperate XML file and treat it as any other XML data source ?

Lemming

I could stevenmu, but I'd like to get my head around configuration files if I can help it.