Question

I have this class:

using System.IO;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

    namespace ssscc.Settings
    {
      public class AppSettings
      {
        private string _companyName;
        public string CompanyName
        {
          set { _companyName = value; }
          get
          {
            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(_companyName))
            {
              LoadSettings();
            }
            return _companyName;
          }
        }

        private string _companyPhone;
        public string CompanyPhone
        {
          set
          {

            _companyPhone = value;
          }
          get
          {
            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(_companyPhone))
            {
              LoadSettings();
            }
            return _companyPhone;
          }
        }

        private string GetSettingsFile()
        {
          var exePath = System.Windows.Forms.Application.StartupPath;
          var sharedDirectory = Path.Combine(exePath, "shared");
          var settingsDirectory = Path.Combine(sharedDirectory, "settings");
          var settingsFile = Path.Combine(settingsDirectory, "ssscc.xml");

          if (!Directory.Exists(sharedDirectory))
          {
            Directory.CreateDirectory(sharedDirectory);
          }

          if (!Directory.Exists(settingsDirectory))
          {
            Directory.CreateDirectory(settingsDirectory);
          }

          return settingsFile;
        }

        internal void SaveSettings(AppSettings settings)
        {
          var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(AppSettings));
          using (var stream = File.OpenWrite(GetSettingsFile()))
          {
            serializer.Serialize((Stream) stream, (object) settings);
          }
        }

        internal void LoadSettings()
        {
          if (!File.Exists(GetSettingsFile()))
          {
            return;
          }

          var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(AppSettings));
          using (var stream = File.OpenRead(GetSettingsFile()))
          {
            var appsetting = (AppSettings) serializer.Deserialize(stream);
            CompanyPhone = appsetting.CompanyPhone;
            CompanyName = appsetting.CompanyName;
          }
        }

      }
    }

My question is about this code:

   var appsetting = (AppSettings) serializer.Deserialize(stream);
    CompanyPhone = appsetting.CompanyPhone;
    CompanyName = appsetting.CompanyName;

I am pretty sure there is a way to return the appsettings directly to the class that contains the method so I do not have to loop through each property such as this:

    CompanyPhone = appsetting.CompanyPhone;
    CompanyName = appsetting.CompanyName;

Can I assign the properties directly without having to maintain this code?

Answer 1

You are getting a new instance of AppSettings while deserializing from file. You may use it, can’t you? Try to replace LoadSettings with a static factory method like this:

internal static AppSettings GetInstance()
{
    if (!File.Exists(GetSettingsFile()))
        return null;

    var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(AppSettings));
    using (var stream = File.OpenRead(GetSettingsFile()))
        return (AppSettings)serializer.Deserialize(stream);
}

while to save your settings, you have no need to pass the settings object as an argument. I guess the following code should do the job:

internal void SaveSettings()
{
    var serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(AppSettings));
    using (var stream = File.OpenWrite(GetSettingsFile()))
        serializer.Serialize((Stream)stream, this);
}

Use the factory GetInstance method to initialize settings (well, as an example):

var s = AppSettings.GetInstance();
if (s == null)
{
    s = new AppSettings
    {
        CompanyName = "MyCompany",
        CompanyPhone = "######"
    };
    s.SaveSettings();
}

P.S.: if properties getters and setters have no additional logic (LoadSettings method no longer exists), you could use auto-properties:

public string CompanyName { get; set; }

public string CompanyPhone { get; set; }

and GetSettingsFile may be declared as static, as it does not operate any of the instance class members:

private static string GetSettingsFile()
{
    //...
    return settingsFile;
}