CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#winforms
J4N
J4N

Reputation: 20717

Winform app: Compiled App.Config-like file?

I would like to know if there is some kind of built-in compiled "App.Config" file?

The goal is to be able to have one of our library which can have some of its default values overriden when being used in some client application. Thoses DLL are loaded dynamically, so I cannot just give a parameter in the constructor.

I don't want to use the App.config file because the user can edit those values(otherwise it would have been just fine).

Upvotes: 1

Views: 224

Answers (2)

Kjartan
Kjartan

Reputation: 19111

There are several different ways to solve this.

If you like the idea of config-files, but do not want to have it accessible by end users in the compiled application, perhaps you can create your own settings-file in a format that suits your needs, and include it as an embedded resource?

An upside of this would be that you can access it as a regular XML or config file or whatever in Visual Studio, while it will be hidden from the end user. Personally I think I would prefer this to using special code / classes to store config-data.

To include a file as an embedded resource, include it into one of your Visual Studio projects, right click the included file and select Properties. Now under Build Action, select Embedded Resource. When you build your project now, the file will be included internally in the produced .dll-file.

I'm sure you'll be able to find lot's of info about how to access an embedded resource from code. As an example, there are some useful examples in this SO question. Note especially this answer, which also mentions an alternative way to include a resource.

Upvotes: 1

Nyerguds
Nyerguds

Reputation: 5629

Expanding on my comment... you could just make an interface for a settings class with hardcoded values, and then make different implementations of that interface. To actually change which one to use, all you'd need to do is comment/uncomment the line that instantiates an object into your settings variable before you build the dll:

public class MainDllProject
{
    ISettings m_Settings;

    public MainDllProject()
    {
        // Change this before compiling
        this.m_Settings = new DebugSettings();
        //this.m_Settings = new DeploySettings();

        // use settings from the settings class
        String setting1 = this.m_Settings.Setting1
        Int32 setting2 = this.m_Settings.Setting2
        //...
    }
}

public interface ISettings
{
    String Setting1 { get; }
    Int32 Setting2 { get; }
}


public class DebugSettings: ISettings
{
    public String Setting1
    { get { return "data_debug";} }
    public Int32 Setting2
    { get { return 2;} }
}

public class DeploySettings: ISettings
{
    public String Setting1
    { get { return "data_deploy";} }
    public Int32 Setting2
    { get { return 1;} }
}

On finding "a built-in way of solving this", as you said, maybe this will be useful for you...

You can actually use the Visual Studio build configuration manager to build with different settings. Using the #If directives, you can automatically make it select which lines of code to use based on the configuration. A simple example based on the default debug configuration, which adds the "DEBUG=True" variable automatically:

public MainDllProject()
{
    #If DEBUG Then
    this.m_Settings = new DebugSettings();
    #ElseIf
    this.m_Settings = new DeploySettings();
    #End if
}

You can actually make your own custom-named variables to check on just like that DEBUG one: after making a configuration, open the Project properties window, go to the Compile tab, select that specific configuration in the dropdown, and then at the bottom select "Advanced Compile Options". In there is a line "Custom constants" in which you can add such variables. For simple if-statements, you can just make a boolean like "CLIENTDEPLOY=True", and then you can use #If CLIENTDEPLOY Then in your code.

Upvotes: 0

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