Question

I have set up my VS Solution with the common layers in separate projects: Presentation, Business, Entities, and Data Access Layers. I have this static class AppSettings in the DAL which i want to call its Load() method at Application_Start in the Globla.asax.cs. It basically loads up my application settings from the web.config.

My question is: Should i be making a business logic class to access it from my Presentation Layer or can i access my AppSettings directly from my Presentation Layer to the DataAccess Layer (ignoring the Business Layer).

If so, does the same go for everything? Must i always go through the business layer to get to the Data Layer?

public static class AppSettings
{
    public static int ApplicationID { get; set; }
    public static string ServiceEndpoint { get; set; }
    public static string ServiceCode { get; set; }
    public static string ConnectionString { get; set; }

    public static void Load()
    {
        //Connection String
        AppSettings.ConnectionString = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["USpace"].ConnectionString;

        //Applicatin Settings
        AppSettings.ApplicationID = Convert.ToInt32(System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["AppID"]);
        AppSettings.ServiceEndpoint = (string)System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["ServiceEndpoint"];
        AppSettings.ServiceCode = (string)System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["ServiceCode"];
    }
}

If i must go through the business logic Layer the BLL’s class will look like this?:

public static class BLLAppSettings
{
    public static int ApplicationID
    {
        get
        {
            AppSettings.ApplicationID
        }
    }
 ...

Answer 1

If your focus is Design Patterns, then by all means, have fun pounding those square pegs in the little round holes.

If your focus is on Application Design, then you focus on the Design Patterns that make sense for your Application, and even for individual parts of your Application.

Knowing the patterns is knowledge. Knowing when, and when not, to use them is wisdom…

It’s one man’s oppinion, but I hope it helps…