Question

Anyone have any experience using the Microsoft Configuration Management Application Block? This is an older piece of code off of their website, but seems like it might be useful as a standard way of storing/reading configuration values for .Net applications. Is it a good/bad tool, overkill, what better options might be available in more recent versions of the framework, etc?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Answer 1

I’ve never felt limited by .NET’s standard Configuration features. Simple configuration is easily handled with appSettings and connectionString sections – encrypt-able if necessary.

For custom configuration, try this: http://haacked.com/archive/2007/03/12/custom-configuration-sections-in-3-easy-steps.aspx.

And if you need to store configuration data elsewhere, consider redirecting by implementing your own ProtectedConfigurationProvider:

• http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/Section/Redirecting-Configuration-with-a-Custom-Provider.id-291932.html
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/wfc2t3az.aspx
• http://www.blayd.co.uk/article.aspx?pageid=1012#sectionSix