www.mihavalencic.com

Configuration v0.1

Configuration in Windows .Net applications is not that easy as one would expect. Of course, you have .config files, which are read-only through API. Java programmers have .properties files that can be read through ResourceBundles. Write access? No sir.

Java example:

Properties propList = new Properties();
propList.load(new FileInputStream("PropertyTest.properties"));
propList.list(System.out);
propList.store(new FileOutputStream("PropertyTest.properties"), "Stored by this program");

So, I wrote my own Configuration class for .Net, which allows a user to load and save properties to a file. It is very simple. It uses SoapFormatter to serialize Hashtable in a file.

Using it is very strait forward:

Configuration config = new Configuration();

// you can also pass a filename here (by default, it uses
// config.xml in the application directory Console.WriteLine(config.Get("Key"));
config.Put("key2", 25);
config.Save(); // Save is also called automagically

I might add events for when the configuration changes in the future, but for now, that is enough, I guess.

Source code

Source code + compiled binary is in the zip.

Example usage

For example, I use this class in FileDownloader. In the constructor of the form, I try to load the values from the file. This of course fails on the first attempt and that is why I use createConfig method, plus I use Get method with default parameters as well. On form.Closing event, I save user supplied data so when the user starts the app next time, the values he/she last filled in are there.

		public Form1()
		{
			config = new Configuration.Configuration(System.Environment.GetFolderPath(System.Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData) + "\\FileDownloaderConfig.xml", false);

			try 
			{
				config.Load();
			} 
			catch (System.IO.FileNotFoundException)
			{
				textBox1.Text += "[INFO] Configuration file not found!\r\n";
				textBox1.Text += "[INFO] Creating new config...\r\n";
				config.CreateConfig();
			}
			txtSource.Text = (string) config.Get("sourceDir", "");
			txtDestination.Text = (string) config.Get("destinationDir", "");
			txtPattern.Text = (string) config.Get("pattern", "yyyy_MM_dd");
		}

		private void Form1_Closed(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
		{
			if(config != null) 
			{
				config.Put("sourceDir", txtSource.Text);
				config.Put("destinationDir", txtDestination.Text);
				config.Put("pattern", txtPattern.Text);
				config.Save();
			}
		}