Question

i am facing one problem.

i want to save settings in app.config file

i wrote separate class and defined section in config file..

but when i run the application. it does not save the given values into config file

here is SettingsClass

public class MySetting:ConfigurationSection
    {
        private static MySetting settings = ConfigurationManager.GetSection("MySetting") as MySetting;

        public override bool IsReadOnly()
        {
            return false;
        }

        public static MySetting Settings
        {
            get
            {
                return settings;
            }
        }


        [ConfigurationProperty("CustomerName")]
        public String CustomerName
        {
            get
            {
                return settings["CustomerName"].ToString();
            }
            set
            {
                settings["CustomerName"] = value;
            }
        }


        [ConfigurationProperty("EmailAddress")]
        public String EmailAddress
        {
            get
            {                
                return settings["EmailAddress"].ToString();
            }
            set
            {
                settings["EmailAddress"] = value;
            }
        }


        public static bool Save()
        {
            try
            {
                System.Configuration.Configuration configFile = Utility.GetConfigFile();
                MySetting mySetting = (MySetting )configFile.Sections["MySetting "];

                if (null != mySetting )
                {
                    mySetting .CustomerName = settings["CustomerName"] as string;
                    mySetting .EmailAddress = settings["EmailAddress"] as string;                    

                    configFile.Save(ConfigurationSaveMode.Full);
                    return true;
                }

                return false;
            }
            catch
            {
                return false;
            }
        }
    }

and this is the code from where i am saving the information in config file

private void SaveCustomerInfoToConfig(String name, String emailAddress)
        {            

            MySetting .Settings.CustomerName = name;
            MySetting .Settings.EmailAddress = emailAddress
            MySetting .Save();
        }

and this is app.config

<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="MySettings" type="TestApp.MySettings, TestApp"/>
  </configSections> 

  <MySettings CustomerName="" EmailAddress="" />  
</configuration>

can u tell me where is the error.. i tried alot and read from internet. but still unable to save information in config file..

i ran the application by double clicking on exe file also.

Answer 1

According to the MSDN: ConfigurationManager.GetSection Method,

The ConfigurationManager.GetSection method accesses run-time configuration information that it cannot change. To change the configuration, you use the Configuration.GetSection method on the configuration file that you obtain by using one of the following Open methods:

• OpenExeConfiguration

• OpenMachineConfiguration

• OpenMappedExeConfiguration

However, if you want to update app.config file, I would read it as an xml document and manipulate it as a normal xml document.

Please see the following example:
Note: this sample is just for proof-of-concept. Should not be used in production as it is.

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Xml.Linq;

namespace ChangeAppConfig
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            MyConfigSetting.CustomerName = "MyCustomer";
            MyConfigSetting.EmailAddress = "[e-mail]";
            MyConfigSetting.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now;
            MyConfigSetting.Save();
        }
    }

    //Note: This is a proof-of-concept sample and 
    //should not be used in production as it is.  
    // For example, this is not thread-safe. 
    public class MyConfigSetting
    {
        private static string _CustomerName;
        public static string CustomerName
        {
            get { return _CustomerName; }
            set
            {
                _CustomerName = value;
            }
        }

        private static string _EmailAddress;
        public static string EmailAddress
        {
            get { return _EmailAddress; }
            set
            {
                _EmailAddress = value;
            }
        }

        private static DateTime _TimeStamp;
        public static DateTime TimeStamp
        {
            get { return _TimeStamp; }
            set
            {
                _TimeStamp = value;
            }
        }

        public static void Save()
        {
            XElement myAppConfigFile = XElement.Load(Utility.GetConfigFileName());
            var mySetting = (from p in myAppConfigFile.Elements("MySettings")
                            select p).FirstOrDefault();
            mySetting.Attribute("CustomerName").Value = CustomerName;
            mySetting.Attribute("EmailAddress").Value = EmailAddress;
            mySetting.Attribute("TimeStamp").Value = TimeStamp.ToString();

            myAppConfigFile.Save(Utility.GetConfigFileName());

        }
    }

    class Utility
    {        
        //Note: This is a proof-of-concept and very naive code. 
        //Shouldn't be used in production as it is. 
        //For example, no null reference checking, no file existence checking and etc. 
        public static string GetConfigFileName()
        {            
            const string STR_Vshostexe = ".vshost.exe";
            string appName = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[0];

            //In case this is running under debugger. 
            if (appName.EndsWith(STR_Vshostexe))
            {
                appName = appName.Remove(appName.LastIndexOf(STR_Vshostexe), STR_Vshostexe.Length) + ".exe";
            }

            return appName + ".config";
        }
    }
}

I also added “TimeStamp” attribute to MySettings in app.config to check the result easily.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="MySettings" type="TestApp.MySettings, TestApp"/>
  </configSections>

  <MySettings CustomerName="" EmailAddress="" TimeStamp=""/>
</configuration>