Get values from the web.config section in an app.config file? - c#

I'm trying to unit test values that will eventually wind up in a web.config file. In my test project, I created an app.config file with a web.config section to hold the settings. In a normal situation, I would call System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings, but in this case, that doesn't work. I saw this question, which is very similar, but doesn't address how to get the NameValueCollection out of the config file. Here is an example of the config file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<system.web>
<membership defaultProvider="CustomMembershipProvider">
<providers>
<clear/>
<add
name="CustomMembershipProvider"
applicationName="SettlementInfo"
enablePasswordRetrieval="false"
enablePasswordReset="false"
requiresQuestionAndAnswer="true"
writeExceptionsToEventLog="true" />
</providers>
</membership>
</system.web>
</configuration>
Has anyone dealt with this before?

I guess I'm confused here; it looks like you're trying to test that ASP.NET is using your custom membership provider appropriately. Correct?
If so, I'm 99.999% sure that you cannot unit test this using the MS framework; you must integration test it by deploying it to the webserver (or running Cassini in VS) and typing a username/password into your login page.
Now, it's possible I've misunderstood your request. If so, let me know and I'll edit my answer accordingly.
Edit:
For right now, I'm really just trying
to test the NameValue pairs coming out
of the config file, to make sure that
if the values aren't present, my
defaults are being applied. In other
words, I want to try to pull
applicationName, and verify that it
equals "SettlementInfo", and so on.
After that, I will be using
integration testing to ensure that
ASP.NET is using the custom framework
in place of the default one. Does that
make sense?
I need more than a comment to reply, so I'm editing. If I read you correctly, you are wanting to unit test your program to ensure that it deals with configuration correctly, yes? Meaning you want to ensure that your code grabs, for example, the correct AppSettings key and handles a null value therein, correct?
If that's the case, you're in luck; you don't need an app.config or web.config at all, you can set the values you need as part of your test setup.
For example:
[TestMethod]
public void Test_Configuration_Used_Correctly()
{
ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["MyConfigName"] = "MyConfigValue";
MyClass testObject = new MyClass();
testObject.ConfigurationHandler();
Assert.AreEqual(testObject.ConfigurationItemOrDefault, "MyConfigValue");
}
[TestMethod]
public void Test_Configuration_Defaults_Used_Correctly()
{
// you don't need to set AppSettings for a non-existent value...
// ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["MyConfigName"] = "MyConfigValue";
MyClass testObject = new MyClass();
testObject.ConfigurationHandler();
Assert.AreEqual(testObject.ConfigurationItemOrDefault, "MyConfigDefaultValue");
}

I believe you only have access to the webconfig file while your application is actually beeing started up. The solution is rather easy -> "Fake" your config. Use a NameValueCollection and use that instead:
private static NameValueCollection CreateConfig()
{
NameValueCollection config = new NameValueCollection();
config.Add("applicationName", "TestApp");
config.Add("enablePasswordReset", "false");
config.Add("enablePasswordRetrieval", "true");
config.Add("maxInvalidPasswordAttempts", "5");
config.Add("minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters", "2");
config.Add("minRequiredPasswordLength", "6");
config.Add("requiresQuestionAndAnswer", "true");
config.Add("requiresUniqueEmail", "true");
config.Add("passwordAttemptWindow", "10");
return config;
}
Now you could easily pass that collection into your class that parses data from it.

You should be able to use the ConfigurationManager.GetSection() method to pull out whatever you want.

Actually, if you are using NUnit, you can stick that in an App.config in your test project.
Then add this line to your Post-build event:
copy /Y “$(ProjectDir)App.config” “$(TargetDir)$(TargetFileName).config”
When you create the new provider in your tests, NUnit will pass the values in your app.config to the provider in the initialize method.

Why not just stick it in the web.config file?

Related

Is it possible to use a parameter from a vs studio project in a c# code [duplicate]

I'm working on a C# class library that needs to be able to read settings from the web.config or app.config file (depending on whether the DLL is referenced from an ASP.NET web application or a Windows Forms application).
I've found that
ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings.Get("MySetting")
works, but that code has been marked as deprecated by Microsoft.
I've read that I should be using:
ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["MySetting"]
However, the System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager class doesn't seem to be available from a C# Class Library project.
What is the best way to do this?
For a sample app.config file like below:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="countoffiles" value="7" />
<add key="logfilelocation" value="abc.txt" />
</appSettings>
</configuration>
You read the above application settings using the code shown below:
using System.Configuration;
You may also need to also add a reference to System.Configuration in your project if there isn't one already. You can then access the values like so:
string configvalue1 = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["countoffiles"];
string configvalue2 = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["logfilelocation"];
You'll need to add a reference to System.Configuration in your project's references folder.
You should definitely be using the ConfigurationManager over the obsolete ConfigurationSettings.
Update for .NET Framework 4.5 and 4.6; the following will no longer work:
string keyvalue = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["keyname"];
Now access the Setting class via Properties:
string keyvalue = Properties.Settings.Default.keyname;
See Managing Application Settings for more information.
Right click on your class library, and choose the "Add References" option from the Menu.
And from the .NET tab, select System.Configuration. This would include the System.Configuration DLL file into your project.
I'm using this, and it works well for me:
textBox1.Text = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Name"];
Read From Config:
You'll need to add a reference to the configuration:
Open "Properties" on your project
Go to "Settings" Tab
Add "Name" and "Value"
Get Value with using following code:
string value = Properties.Settings.Default.keyname;
Save to the configuration:
Properties.Settings.Default.keyName = value;
Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
You must add a reference to the System.Configuration assembly to the project.
You might be adding the App.config file to a DLL file. App.Config works only for executable projects, since all the DLL files take the configuration from the configuration file for the EXE file being executed.
Let's say you have two projects in your solution:
SomeDll
SomeExe
Your problem might be related to the fact that you're including the app.config file to SomeDLL and not SomeExe. SomeDll is able to read the configuration from the SomeExe project.
Try this:
string keyvalue = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["keyname"];
In the web.config file this should be the next structure:
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="keyname" value="keyvalue" />
</appSettings>
</configuration>
Step 1: Right-click on references tab to add reference.
Step 2: Click on Assemblies tab
Step 3: Search for 'System.Configuration'
Step 4: Click OK.
Then it will work.
string value = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["keyname"];
I had the same problem. Just read them this way:
System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["MySetting"]
web.config is used with web applications. web.config by default has several configurations required for the web application. You can have a web.config for each folder under your web application.
app.config is used for Windows applications. When you build the application in Visual Studio, it will be automatically renamed to <appname>.exe.config and this file has to be delivered along with your application.
You can use the same method to call the app settings values from both configuration files:
System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["Key"]
As I found the best approach to access application settings variables in a systematic way by making a wrapper class over System.Configuration as below
public class BaseConfiguration
{
protected static object GetAppSetting(Type expectedType, string key)
{
string value = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings.Get(key);
try
{
if (expectedType == typeof(int))
return int.Parse(value);
if (expectedType == typeof(string))
return value;
throw new Exception("Type not supported.");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw new Exception(string.Format("Config key:{0} was expected to be of type {1} but was not.",
key, expectedType), ex);
}
}
}
Now we can access needed settings variables by hard coded names using another class as below:
public class ConfigurationSettings:BaseConfiguration
{
#region App setting
public static string ApplicationName
{
get { return (string)GetAppSetting(typeof(string), "ApplicationName"); }
}
public static string MailBccAddress
{
get { return (string)GetAppSetting(typeof(string), "MailBccAddress"); }
}
public static string DefaultConnection
{
get { return (string)GetAppSetting(typeof(string), "DefaultConnection"); }
}
#endregion App setting
#region global setting
#endregion global setting
}
Also, you can use Formo:
Configuration:
<appSettings>
<add key="RetryAttempts" value="5" />
<add key="ApplicationBuildDate" value="11/4/1999 6:23 AM" />
</appSettings>
Code:
dynamic config = new Configuration();
var retryAttempts1 = config.RetryAttempts; // Returns 5 as a string
var retryAttempts2 = config.RetryAttempts(10); // Returns 5 if found in config, else 10
var retryAttempts3 = config.RetryAttempts(userInput, 10); // Returns 5 if it exists in config, else userInput if not null, else 10
var appBuildDate = config.ApplicationBuildDate<DateTime>();
If your needing/wanting to use the ConfigurationManager class...
You may need to load System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager by Microsoft via NuGet Package Manager
Tools->NuGet Package Manager->Manage NuGet Packages for Solution...
Microsoft Docs
One thing worth noting from the docs...
If your application needs read-only access to its own configuration,
we recommend that you use the GetSection(String) method. This method
provides access to the cached configuration values for the current
application, which has better performance than the Configuration
class.
I strongly recommend you to create a wrapper for this call. Something like a ConfigurationReaderService and use dependency injection to get this class. This way you will be able to isolate this configuration files for test purposes.
So use the ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["something"]; suggested and return this value. With this method you can create some kind of default return if there isn't any key available in the .config file.
Just for completeness, there's another option available for web projects only:
System.Web.Configuration.WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings["MySetting"]
The benefit of this is that it doesn't require an extra reference to be added, so it may be preferable for some people.
I always create an IConfig interface with typesafe properties declared for all configuration values. A Config implementation class then wraps the calls to System.Configuration. All your System.Configuration calls are now in one place, and it is so much easier and cleaner to maintain and track which fields are being used and declare their default values. I write a set of private helper methods to read and parse common data types.
Using an IoC framework you can access the IConfig fields anywhere your in application by simply passing the interface to a class constructor. You're also then able to create mock implementations of the IConfig interface in your unit tests so you can now test various configuration values and value combinations without needing to touch your App.config or Web.config file.
Please check the .NET version you are working on. It should be higher than 4. And you have to add the System.Configuration system library to your application.
You can use the below line. In my case it was working:
System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["yourKeyName"]
You must take care that the above line of code is also the old version and it's deprecated in new libraries.
The ConfigurationManager is not what you need to access your own settings.
To do this you should use
{YourAppName}.Properties.Settings.{settingName}
I was able to get the below approach working for .NET Core projects:
Steps:
Create an appsettings.json (format given below) in your project.
Next create a configuration class. The format is provided below.
I have created a Login() method to show the usage of the Configuration Class.
Create appsettings.json in your project with content:
{
"Environments": {
"QA": {
"Url": "somevalue",
"Username": "someuser",
"Password": "somepwd"
},
"BrowserConfig": {
"Browser": "Chrome",
"Headless": "true"
},
"EnvironmentSelected": {
"Environment": "QA"
}
}
public static class Configuration
{
private static IConfiguration _configuration;
static Configuration()
{
var builder = new ConfigurationBuilder()
.AddJsonFile($"appsettings.json");
_configuration = builder.Build();
}
public static Browser GetBrowser()
{
if (_configuration.GetSection("BrowserConfig:Browser").Value == "Firefox")
{
return Browser.Firefox;
}
if (_configuration.GetSection("BrowserConfig:Browser").Value == "Edge")
{
return Browser.Edge;
}
if (_configuration.GetSection("BrowserConfig:Browser").Value == "IE")
{
return Browser.InternetExplorer;
}
return Browser.Chrome;
}
public static bool IsHeadless()
{
return _configuration.GetSection("BrowserConfig:Headless").Value == "true";
}
public static string GetEnvironment()
{
return _configuration.GetSection("EnvironmentSelected")["Environment"];
}
public static IConfigurationSection EnvironmentInfo()
{
var env = GetEnvironment();
return _configuration.GetSection($#"Environments:{env}");
}
}
public void Login()
{
var environment = Configuration.EnvironmentInfo();
Email.SendKeys(environment["username"]);
Password.SendKeys(environment["password"]);
WaitForElementToBeClickableAndClick(_driver, SignIn);
}
Another possible solution:
var MyReader = new System.Configuration.AppSettingsReader();
string keyvalue = MyReader.GetValue("keyalue",typeof(string)).ToString();
I have been trying to find a fix for this same issue for a couple of days now. I was able to resolve this by adding a key within the appsettings tag in the web.config file. This should override the .dll file when using the helper.
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="loginUrl" value="~/RedirectValue.cshtml" />
<add key="autoFormsAuthentication" value="false"/>
</appSettings>
</configuration>
extra : if you are working on a Class Library project you have to embed the settings.json file.
A class library shouldn't really be directly referencing anything in
app.config - the class doesn't have an app.config, because it's not an
application, it's a class.
Go to the JSON file's properties.
Change Build Action -> Embedded resource.
Use the following code to read it.
var assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
var resourceStream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("Assembly.file.json");
string myString = reader.ReadToEnd();
now we have a JSON string we can Deserialize it using JsonConvert
if you didn't embed the file inside the assembly you can't use only the DLL file without the file
I'm using Visual Studio for Mac version 17.0.6.
As you can see on this screenshot it is not possible to add a reference to System.Configuration.
Solution:
install NuGet Package - System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.
Create app.config file and set "Build action" to "EmbeddedResource"
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="name" value="Joe"/>
</appSettings>
</configuration>
using System.Configuration;
enjoy)
string name = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["name"];
BTW: Do not add an app.config for a library
I found the answer in this link https://stackoverflow.com/a/1836938/1492229
It's not only necessary to use the namespace System.Configuration. You have also to add the reference to the assembly System.Configuration.dll , by
Right-click on the References / Dependencies
Choose Add Reference
Find and add System.Configuration.
This will work for sure.
Also for the NameValueCollection you have to write:
using System.Collections.Specialized;
Here's an example: App.config
<applicationSettings>
<MyApp.My.MySettings>
<setting name="Printer" serializeAs="String">
<value>1234 </value>
</setting>
</MyApp.My.MySettings>
</applicationSettings>
Dim strPrinterName as string = My.settings.Printer

How to get all sections of a specific type

Let's say I have the following in my config:
<configSections>
<section name="interestingThings" type="Test.InterestingThingsSection, Test" />
<section name="moreInterestingThings" type="Test.InterestingThingsSection, Test" />
</configSections>
<interestingThings>
<add name="Thing1" value="Seuss" />
</interestingThings>
<moreInterestingThings>
<add name="Thing2" value="Seuss" />
</moreInterestingThings>
If I want to get either section, I can get them by name pretty easily:
InterestingThingsSection interesting = (InterestingThingsSection)ConfigurationManager.GetSection("interestingThings");
InterestingThingsSection more = (InterestingThingsSection)ConfigurationManager.GetSection("moreInterestingThings");
However, this relies on my code knowing how the section is named in the config - and it could be named anything. What I'd prefer is the ability to pull all sections of type InterestingThingsSection from the config, regardless of name. How can I go about this in a flexible way (so, supports both app configs and web configs)?
EDIT: If you have the Configuration already, getting the actual sections isn't too difficult:
public static IEnumerable<T> SectionsOfType<T>(this Configuration configuration)
where T : ConfigurationSection
{
return configuration.Sections.OfType<T>().Union(
configuration.SectionGroups.SectionsOfType<T>());
}
public static IEnumerable<T> SectionsOfType<T>(this ConfigurationSectionGroupCollection collection)
where T : ConfigurationSection
{
var sections = new List<T>();
foreach (ConfigurationSectionGroup group in collection)
{
sections.AddRange(group.Sections.OfType<T>());
sections.AddRange(group.SectionGroups.SectionsOfType<T>());
}
return sections;
}
However, how do I get the Configuration instance in a generally-applicable way? Or, how do I know if I should use ConfigurationManager or WebConfigurationManager?
So far, this appears to be the best way:
var config = HostingEnvironment.IsHosted
? WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration(null) // Web app.
: ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None); // Desktop app.
Try to use ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None) method. It opens the configuration file for the current application as a Configuration object.
MSDN documentation: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms134265%28v=vs.110%29.aspx
Maybe not the best way to do it but you can read your configuration file as a normal xml and then parse the sections you want. For example if it were a web application:
XmlDocument myConfig= new XmlDocument();
myConfig.Load(Server.MapPath("~/Web.config"));
XmlNode xnodes = myConfig.SelectSingleNode("/configSections");
Now you can see the nodes that you care about discovering the names at runtime and then access the specific node of your configuration file.
Another solution is:
Path.GetFileName(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetupInformation.ConfigurationFile)
If this returns "web.config", it is probably a web application.
However, HostingEnvironment.IsHosted is intended to indicate whether an appdomain is configured to run under ASP.NET so it is not sure that yours is a web application.

Change a Line of Code based on Configuration selected

In my ASP.NET MVC 3 application, I have 2 configurations setup; Play and Live.
Right now, I have to change the following code before loading my application with a configuration based on what I currently have selected:
Mailer.SendMessageTo("playEmailAddress", "MailBody");
// Mailer.SendMessageTo("liveEmailAddress", "MailBody");
So if I have Play configuration selected I'll comment out the liveEmailAddress line and vice versa
What I'd like to do is perhaps make use of the web.config file to change this code for me without manually doing it every time I load up my application with a different configuration by putting the lines of code in the config file and then reading it from the config file from within my class
You should add the "app key" in your web configuration file. Give it anyname like "OptionalEmail" and set the value accordingly.
When you send the email check the value in the configuration file like
If(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["OptionalEmail"]=="PlayEmail")
SendEmail using PlayEmail address else SendEmail using Work emai
Address.
Hope this help. "ConfigurationManager.AppSettings[use key or index]
Please keep in mind, Config Transformations "xdt" works only when you deploy your web application.
it's generally a good idea to have a configuration parameter named "environment" (or the like).
This link explains how to read from the web.config: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/610xe886.aspx.
one way to implement this would be:
var env = "play";
if( ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["environment"]=="live" ) env="live";
var email = env + "EmailAddress";
Mailer.SendMessageTo(email, "MailBody");
as an additional note, if you have multiple developers that each want their own "play"-Address, then you can extend the setting to include the developers machine name:
<appSettings>
<add key="environment" value="play"/>
<add key="liveEmailAddress" value="a#b.com"/>
<add key="myCoolPC-playEmailAddress" value="c#d.com"/>
<add key="otherDevPC-playEmailAddress" value="bubba#test.com"/>
</appSettings>
but then you would have to change the implementation above to prefix the hostname before getting the setting, but only if currently in play-mode.

How to write and configure a custom provider for ASP.Net Healthmonitoring?

I'm looking for a walkthrough on how to create and use a custom provider for ASP.Net Healthmonitoring.
So far I've only worked with the e-mail provider that generates e-mails on errors. Basically I want to do the same, but with more flexibility:
I want to use the HealthMonitoring features (I don't want to use the Application_OnError event in the global.asax) in a way that allows me have access to an event, that gets thrown like "OnNewHealthMonitoringEntry" with all the information provided in the e-mail, to run custom code.
Edit:
Based on the source code provided here http://www.asp.net/general/videos/how-do-i-create-a-custom-provider-for-logging-health-monitoring-events I was able to build my own custom provider and implement it. Now I want to add some new attributes to configure my custom provider.
Here is what the web.config looks like:
<healthMonitoring>
<bufferModes>
<add name="Log Notification" maxBufferSize="1" maxFlushSize="1" urgentFlushThreshold="1" regularFlushInterval="Infinite" urgentFlushInterval="00:00:10"/>
</bufferModes>
<providers>
<add name="FileEventProvider" buffer="true" bufferMode="Log Notification" type="healthmonitoringtest.FileHealthMonitorEventProvider"/>
</providers>
<profiles>
<add name="Custom" minInstances="1" maxLimit="Infinite" minInterval="00:00:00"/>
</profiles>
<rules>
<add name="File Event Provider" eventName="All Errors" provider="FileEventProvider" profile="Custom"/>
</rules>
</healthMonitoring>
If I attempt to add an attribute to the provider, like this
<providers>
<add name="FileEventProvider" buffer="true" bufferMode="Log Notification" foo="bar" type="healthmonitoringtest.FileHealthMonitorEventProvider"/>
</providers>
I'll get an error saying:
An exception of type
'System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException'
occurred in System.Web.dll but was not
handled in user code Additional
information: Unexpected attribute foo
in the configuration of the
FileEventProvider.
Is it possible to store configuration necessary for custom provider close to the healthMonitoring section? I guess I could include the settings into the appSettings node, but I'd like to configure it somehow with attributes (inside the healthMonitoring node). Is that possible?
Edit2:
You might take a look at this article: http://www.tomot.de/en-us/article/6/asp.net/how-to-create-a-custom-healthmonitoring-provider-that-sends-e-mails
The following series of articles will take you through the basics of using the Health Monitoring System upto creating Custom Events.
Then the following 26 minute video will take you through creating a custom provider that records events to a text-based log file.
UPDATE Based on Comment
Looking at your update and using Reflector to look at the source for the BufferedWebEventProvider class that you base your custom provider on, I have found that the Initialize method in BufferedWebEventProvider does a check at the end to see if there are any attributes that it doesn't recognize. This is done by removing values from the config NameValueCollection parameter as soon as they are assigned to the properties or fields of the BufferedWebEventProvider. Then a check is done to see if the config parameter is empty and if not that means that there are extra attributes added, which causes an exception to be thrown.
As to how to fix this problem, one option is to:
Move the call to base.Initialize to the end of the method
Remove the additional attributes as soon as you assign them to variables just like the provider does.
Something like the following would work:
public override void Initialize(string name, System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection config)
{
foo = config["foo"];
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(foo))
{
// You can set a default value for foo
}
//remove foo from the config just like BufferedWebEventProvider with the other
//attributes. Note that it doesn't matter if someone didn't proivde a foo attribute
//because the NameValueCollection remains unchanged if you call its Remove method
//and the name doesn't exist.
config.Remove("foo");
base.Initialize(name, config);
}
Hopefully this works out for you.

Reading settings from app.config or web.config in .NET

I'm working on a C# class library that needs to be able to read settings from the web.config or app.config file (depending on whether the DLL is referenced from an ASP.NET web application or a Windows Forms application).
I've found that
ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings.Get("MySetting")
works, but that code has been marked as deprecated by Microsoft.
I've read that I should be using:
ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["MySetting"]
However, the System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager class doesn't seem to be available from a C# Class Library project.
What is the best way to do this?
For a sample app.config file like below:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="countoffiles" value="7" />
<add key="logfilelocation" value="abc.txt" />
</appSettings>
</configuration>
You read the above application settings using the code shown below:
using System.Configuration;
You may also need to also add a reference to System.Configuration in your project if there isn't one already. You can then access the values like so:
string configvalue1 = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["countoffiles"];
string configvalue2 = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["logfilelocation"];
You'll need to add a reference to System.Configuration in your project's references folder.
You should definitely be using the ConfigurationManager over the obsolete ConfigurationSettings.
Update for .NET Framework 4.5 and 4.6; the following will no longer work:
string keyvalue = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["keyname"];
Now access the Setting class via Properties:
string keyvalue = Properties.Settings.Default.keyname;
See Managing Application Settings for more information.
Right click on your class library, and choose the "Add References" option from the Menu.
And from the .NET tab, select System.Configuration. This would include the System.Configuration DLL file into your project.
I'm using this, and it works well for me:
textBox1.Text = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Name"];
Read From Config:
You'll need to add a reference to the configuration:
Open "Properties" on your project
Go to "Settings" Tab
Add "Name" and "Value"
Get Value with using following code:
string value = Properties.Settings.Default.keyname;
Save to the configuration:
Properties.Settings.Default.keyName = value;
Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
You must add a reference to the System.Configuration assembly to the project.
You might be adding the App.config file to a DLL file. App.Config works only for executable projects, since all the DLL files take the configuration from the configuration file for the EXE file being executed.
Let's say you have two projects in your solution:
SomeDll
SomeExe
Your problem might be related to the fact that you're including the app.config file to SomeDLL and not SomeExe. SomeDll is able to read the configuration from the SomeExe project.
Try this:
string keyvalue = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["keyname"];
In the web.config file this should be the next structure:
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="keyname" value="keyvalue" />
</appSettings>
</configuration>
Step 1: Right-click on references tab to add reference.
Step 2: Click on Assemblies tab
Step 3: Search for 'System.Configuration'
Step 4: Click OK.
Then it will work.
string value = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["keyname"];
I had the same problem. Just read them this way:
System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["MySetting"]
web.config is used with web applications. web.config by default has several configurations required for the web application. You can have a web.config for each folder under your web application.
app.config is used for Windows applications. When you build the application in Visual Studio, it will be automatically renamed to <appname>.exe.config and this file has to be delivered along with your application.
You can use the same method to call the app settings values from both configuration files:
System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["Key"]
As I found the best approach to access application settings variables in a systematic way by making a wrapper class over System.Configuration as below
public class BaseConfiguration
{
protected static object GetAppSetting(Type expectedType, string key)
{
string value = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings.Get(key);
try
{
if (expectedType == typeof(int))
return int.Parse(value);
if (expectedType == typeof(string))
return value;
throw new Exception("Type not supported.");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw new Exception(string.Format("Config key:{0} was expected to be of type {1} but was not.",
key, expectedType), ex);
}
}
}
Now we can access needed settings variables by hard coded names using another class as below:
public class ConfigurationSettings:BaseConfiguration
{
#region App setting
public static string ApplicationName
{
get { return (string)GetAppSetting(typeof(string), "ApplicationName"); }
}
public static string MailBccAddress
{
get { return (string)GetAppSetting(typeof(string), "MailBccAddress"); }
}
public static string DefaultConnection
{
get { return (string)GetAppSetting(typeof(string), "DefaultConnection"); }
}
#endregion App setting
#region global setting
#endregion global setting
}
Also, you can use Formo:
Configuration:
<appSettings>
<add key="RetryAttempts" value="5" />
<add key="ApplicationBuildDate" value="11/4/1999 6:23 AM" />
</appSettings>
Code:
dynamic config = new Configuration();
var retryAttempts1 = config.RetryAttempts; // Returns 5 as a string
var retryAttempts2 = config.RetryAttempts(10); // Returns 5 if found in config, else 10
var retryAttempts3 = config.RetryAttempts(userInput, 10); // Returns 5 if it exists in config, else userInput if not null, else 10
var appBuildDate = config.ApplicationBuildDate<DateTime>();
If your needing/wanting to use the ConfigurationManager class...
You may need to load System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager by Microsoft via NuGet Package Manager
Tools->NuGet Package Manager->Manage NuGet Packages for Solution...
Microsoft Docs
One thing worth noting from the docs...
If your application needs read-only access to its own configuration,
we recommend that you use the GetSection(String) method. This method
provides access to the cached configuration values for the current
application, which has better performance than the Configuration
class.
I strongly recommend you to create a wrapper for this call. Something like a ConfigurationReaderService and use dependency injection to get this class. This way you will be able to isolate this configuration files for test purposes.
So use the ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["something"]; suggested and return this value. With this method you can create some kind of default return if there isn't any key available in the .config file.
Just for completeness, there's another option available for web projects only:
System.Web.Configuration.WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings["MySetting"]
The benefit of this is that it doesn't require an extra reference to be added, so it may be preferable for some people.
I always create an IConfig interface with typesafe properties declared for all configuration values. A Config implementation class then wraps the calls to System.Configuration. All your System.Configuration calls are now in one place, and it is so much easier and cleaner to maintain and track which fields are being used and declare their default values. I write a set of private helper methods to read and parse common data types.
Using an IoC framework you can access the IConfig fields anywhere your in application by simply passing the interface to a class constructor. You're also then able to create mock implementations of the IConfig interface in your unit tests so you can now test various configuration values and value combinations without needing to touch your App.config or Web.config file.
Please check the .NET version you are working on. It should be higher than 4. And you have to add the System.Configuration system library to your application.
You can use the below line. In my case it was working:
System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["yourKeyName"]
You must take care that the above line of code is also the old version and it's deprecated in new libraries.
The ConfigurationManager is not what you need to access your own settings.
To do this you should use
{YourAppName}.Properties.Settings.{settingName}
I was able to get the below approach working for .NET Core projects:
Steps:
Create an appsettings.json (format given below) in your project.
Next create a configuration class. The format is provided below.
I have created a Login() method to show the usage of the Configuration Class.
Create appsettings.json in your project with content:
{
"Environments": {
"QA": {
"Url": "somevalue",
"Username": "someuser",
"Password": "somepwd"
},
"BrowserConfig": {
"Browser": "Chrome",
"Headless": "true"
},
"EnvironmentSelected": {
"Environment": "QA"
}
}
public static class Configuration
{
private static IConfiguration _configuration;
static Configuration()
{
var builder = new ConfigurationBuilder()
.AddJsonFile($"appsettings.json");
_configuration = builder.Build();
}
public static Browser GetBrowser()
{
if (_configuration.GetSection("BrowserConfig:Browser").Value == "Firefox")
{
return Browser.Firefox;
}
if (_configuration.GetSection("BrowserConfig:Browser").Value == "Edge")
{
return Browser.Edge;
}
if (_configuration.GetSection("BrowserConfig:Browser").Value == "IE")
{
return Browser.InternetExplorer;
}
return Browser.Chrome;
}
public static bool IsHeadless()
{
return _configuration.GetSection("BrowserConfig:Headless").Value == "true";
}
public static string GetEnvironment()
{
return _configuration.GetSection("EnvironmentSelected")["Environment"];
}
public static IConfigurationSection EnvironmentInfo()
{
var env = GetEnvironment();
return _configuration.GetSection($#"Environments:{env}");
}
}
public void Login()
{
var environment = Configuration.EnvironmentInfo();
Email.SendKeys(environment["username"]);
Password.SendKeys(environment["password"]);
WaitForElementToBeClickableAndClick(_driver, SignIn);
}
Another possible solution:
var MyReader = new System.Configuration.AppSettingsReader();
string keyvalue = MyReader.GetValue("keyalue",typeof(string)).ToString();
I have been trying to find a fix for this same issue for a couple of days now. I was able to resolve this by adding a key within the appsettings tag in the web.config file. This should override the .dll file when using the helper.
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="loginUrl" value="~/RedirectValue.cshtml" />
<add key="autoFormsAuthentication" value="false"/>
</appSettings>
</configuration>
extra : if you are working on a Class Library project you have to embed the settings.json file.
A class library shouldn't really be directly referencing anything in
app.config - the class doesn't have an app.config, because it's not an
application, it's a class.
Go to the JSON file's properties.
Change Build Action -> Embedded resource.
Use the following code to read it.
var assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
var resourceStream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream("Assembly.file.json");
string myString = reader.ReadToEnd();
now we have a JSON string we can Deserialize it using JsonConvert
if you didn't embed the file inside the assembly you can't use only the DLL file without the file
I'm using Visual Studio for Mac version 17.0.6.
As you can see on this screenshot it is not possible to add a reference to System.Configuration.
Solution:
install NuGet Package - System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.
Create app.config file and set "Build action" to "EmbeddedResource"
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
<appSettings>
<add key="name" value="Joe"/>
</appSettings>
</configuration>
using System.Configuration;
enjoy)
string name = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["name"];
BTW: Do not add an app.config for a library
I found the answer in this link https://stackoverflow.com/a/1836938/1492229
It's not only necessary to use the namespace System.Configuration. You have also to add the reference to the assembly System.Configuration.dll , by
Right-click on the References / Dependencies
Choose Add Reference
Find and add System.Configuration.
This will work for sure.
Also for the NameValueCollection you have to write:
using System.Collections.Specialized;
Here's an example: App.config
<applicationSettings>
<MyApp.My.MySettings>
<setting name="Printer" serializeAs="String">
<value>1234 </value>
</setting>
</MyApp.My.MySettings>
</applicationSettings>
Dim strPrinterName as string = My.settings.Printer

Categories