Question

I have a large config file (user) that i needed to go to the right location and have some default values.

Since i have a installer class, i added some parameter setting to the config file in it, but created the config files in the installers folder.

What is the best way to ensure these default parameters will be written only once, and in the right location?

Answer 1

A standard way of using defaults in the app.config. For example, here’s a default value per version I use to ensure the code copies user settings between upgrades:

<userSettings>
    <Software.Namespace.Properties.UserSettings>
      <setting name="RequiresUpgrade" serializeAs="String">
        <value>True</value>
      </setting>
    </Software.Namespace.Properties.UserSettings>
  </userSettings>
  <-- .... -->
  <userSettings>
    <Software.Namespace.Properties.UserSettings>
      <setting name="RequiresUpgrade" serializeAs="String">
        <value>True</value>
      </setting>
    </Software.Namespace.Properties.UserSettings>
  </userSettings>
</configuration>

You will need to add a .settings file to your project, or go to your project properties -> Settings and configure them from there.

The location of the user’s own settings file is usually placed within their AppSettings folder in their profile. I’m not sure if this can be changed, but I seem to remember reading out it.

EDIT

There’s some more information about it here: Application Settings Architecture

It also shows the following example if you want to keep it simple:

[UserScopedSetting()]
[DefaultSettingValue("white")]
public Color BackgroundColor
{
    get
    {
        return ((Color)this["BackgroundColor"]);
    }
    set
    {
        this["BackgroundColor"] = (Color)value;
    }
}

And this looks like it’s very important to note when using this (quote):

For a Windows Forms-based application
copied onto the local computer,
app.exe.config will reside in the same
directory as the base directory of the
application’s main executable file,
and user.config will reside in the
location specified by the
Application.LocalUserAppDataPath
property. For an application installed
by means of ClickOnce, both of these
files will reside in the ClickOnce
Data Directory underneath
%InstallRoot%\Documents and
Settings\username\Local Settings.

The storage location of these files is
slightly different if a user has
enabled roaming profiles, which
enables a user to define different
Windows and application settings when
he or she is using other computers
within a domain. In that case, both
ClickOnce applications and
non-ClickOnce applications will have
their app.exe.config and user.config
files stored under
%InstallRoot%\Documents and
Settings\username\Application Data.