Storing Application Settings in Project Folder rather than AppData

Question

I have a Settings.cs file in my project, and I access the data in it from my program via

Properties.Settings.Default.MyProperty

The generated settings file is stored in the following location

C:\Users\Foo\AppData\Local\MyApp\MyApp.exe_Url_jknwq2raeohczydfp1loj02nf05zldfk\1.0.0.0\user.config

The problem is that this is not only user specific, but it also results in the program having many user.config files for every signature (debug/release, etc.), which forces the developer-user to populate the whole settings again each time he launches a "version" of the program that does not have a specific user.config yet. (If I am not being clear enough, I'll be glad to give more details)

I would like my application to have a single settings files for all users and no matter the "version" (debug/release, or else). This way, the dev-user would have to set the settings one single time and these settings would be effective each time the application is launched, without the need to re-enter them for the other signatures/users.

Answer 1

You can save and read setting like all advanced programs in Registry, and that is how to do it:

public object GetRegistryValue(string KeyName, object DefaultValue)
        {
            object res = null;
            try
            {
                Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices.Computer c = new Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices.Computer();
                Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey k = c.Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey("Software\\YourAppName", true);
                if (k != null)
                {
                    res = k.GetValue(KeyName, DefaultValue);
                }
                else
                {
                    k = c.Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey("Software\\YourAppName");
                }
                if (k != null)
                    k.Close();
                // ex As Exception
            }
            catch
            {
                //PromptMsg(ex)
            }
            return res;
        }

public void SetRegistryValue(string KeyName, object _Value)
        {
            try
            {
                Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices.Computer c = new Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices.Computer();

                Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey k = c.Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey("Software\\YourAppName", true);
                if (k != null)
                {
                    k.SetValue(KeyName, _Value);
                }
                else
                {
                    k = c.Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey("Software\\YourAppName");
                    k.SetValue(KeyName, _Value);
                }
                if (k != null)
                    k.Close();
                // ex As Exception
            }
            catch
            {
                //PromptMsg(ex)
            }
        }

Another choice you have that you make a serializable class ([Serializable()] attrib) that contains all of your settings as properties, then save it in your app directory, with the BinaryFormatter class.

public void saveBinary(object c, string filepath)
{
    try
    {
        using (System.IO.Stream sr = System.IO.File.Open(filepath, System.IO.FileMode.Create))
        {
            System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter bf = new System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter();
            bf.Serialize(sr, c);
            sr.Close();
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        throw ex;
    }
}

public object loadBinary(string path)
{
    try
    {
        if (System.IO.File.Exists(path))
        {
            using (System.IO.Stream sr = System.IO.File.Open(path, System.IO.FileMode.Open))
            {
                System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter bf = new System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter();
                object c = bf.Deserialize(sr);
                sr.Close();
                return c;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            throw new Exception("File not found");
        }
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        throw ex;
    }
    return null;
}