CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#windowspluginsconfigurationapp-config
πάντα ῥεῖ
πάντα ῥεῖ

Reputation: 1

Declaring per-user (roaming user) configuration settings for a plugin DLL?

How can I setup support for per (roaming) user configuration settings for a particular plugin .DLL loaded from another application?

I have a .DLL that is loaded as add-in/plugin from another application, and want to persist configuration settings particular for this one independently of the main application that loads it, based on machine, .dll (=executable), roaming user or user profile.

I have found the System.Configuration.ExeConfigurationFileMap class that looks likely to provide what I need, but I can't figure out how to setup the right paths specific for my (plugin) application.

What code I have so far is:

public class MyConfigurationSettings : ConfigurationSection
{
    public static MyConfigurationSettings GetSection (ConfigurationUserLevel ConfigLevel) 
    {
        string configFile = Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(MyConfigurationSettings)).Location + ".config";
        ExeConfigurationFileMap configFileMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
        configFileMap.ExeConfigFilename = configFile;
        configFileMap.LocalUserConfigFilename = <localUserConfigFile>; // ??? What filename to place here and how to get it based on the current environment ???
        configFileMap.RoamingUserConfigFilename = <roamingUserConfigFile>; // ???;

        System.Configuration.Configuration Config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(configFileMap, ConfigLevel);
        // ...
    }
}

Can anyone point me into the right direction? The available documentation and search results are too confusing or insufficient for me to get this right. Sorry , if this seems to be a silly question, but my C# (.NET) skills are going to get rusty after 4+ years not using it for earning daily bread.

I also believe it's not primarily an issue about configuration settings management, but how to get paths for installation specific application instance configurations.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2793

Answers (2)

abatishchev
abatishchev

Reputation: 100366

You set RoamingUserConfigFilename = RoamingName.config and put it under Roaming Profile:

%AppData%\[AppName]\[Vendor]\[CodedPath]\[Version]\RoamingName.config

Also you set LocalUserConfigFilename = LocalName.config and put it under Local Profile:

%LocalAppData%\[AppName]\[Vendor]\[CodedPath]\[Version]\LocalName.config

Now calling

ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(
    exeMap,
    ConfigurationUserLevel.PerUserRoamingAndLocal);

config will be read in the following order:

Source on MSDN blogs.

For samples search for User.config under c:\Users\[User]\AppData. Also see CP article.

Code Sample: 

public static MyConfigurationSettings GetSection (ConfigurationUserLevel ConfigLevel) 
{
    try
    {
        string appDataPath = System.Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ApplicationData);
        string localDataPath = System.Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.LocalApplicationData);
        System.Configuration.ExeConfigurationFileMap exeMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
        exeMap.ExeConfigFilename = System.IO.Path.Combine(appDataPath, @"MyCompany\MyPlugin\Default.config");
        exeMap.RoamingUserConfigFilename = System.IO.Path.Combine(appDataPath, @"MyCompany\MyPlugin\Roaming.config");
        exeMap.LocalUserConfigFilename = System.IO.Path.Combine(localDataPath, @"MyCompany\MyPlugin\Local.config");

        System.Configuration.Configuration Config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(exeMap,ConfigLevel);

        return (MyConfigurationSettings)Config.GetSection("MyConfigurationSettings");

    }
    catch (Exception ex) {
        // ...
    }
    return null; // or throw an appropriate exception
}

Upvotes: 4

TomTom
TomTom

Reputation: 62159

Generally load the configuration from the special folder where you put it in and put it into one of the roaming (i.e. non local) locations. The OS handles the rest as per roaming specifications.

The usage of ConfigSections is totally irrelevant unless there is a very very special need to use the config file for that. In any .NET project I have seen in the last 10 years this file was never used for user specific settings.

Upvotes: -2

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