Adding and reading from a Config file

Question

I have created a C# console based project. In that project i have some variables like companyName, companyType which are Strings.

companyName="someCompanyName";
companyType="someCompanyType";

I need to create a config file and read values from it, and then initialize the variables companyName, companyType in the code.

1. How can i create a config file (or equivalent) ?
2. How can i read from the config file ?

Answer 1

1. Add an Application Configuration File item to your project (right click project > add item). This will create a file called app.config in your project.

2. Edit the file by adding entries like <add key="keyname" value="someValue" /> within the <appSettings> tag.

3. Add a reference to the System.Configuration dll, and reference the items in the config using code like ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["keyname"]

Answer 2

1. Right click on the project file -> Add -> New Item -> Application Configuration File. This will add an app.config (or web.config) file to your project.

2. The ConfigurationManager class would be a good start. You can use it to read different configuration values from the configuration file.

I suggest you start reading the MSDN document about Configuration Files.

Answer 3

Configuration configManager = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
KeyValueConfigurationCollection confCollection = configManager.AppSettings.Settings;

confCollection["YourKey"].Value = "YourNewKey";


configManager.Save(ConfigurationSaveMode.Modified);
ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection(configManager.AppSettings.SectionInformation.Name);