unable to save settings in app.exe.config

app-config, c#, configuration

Solution

According to the MSDN: ConfigurationManager.GetSection Method,

The `ConfigurationManager.GetSection` method accesses run-time configuration information that it cannot change. To change the configuration, you use the `Configuration.GetSection` method on the configuration file that you obtain by using one of the following Open methods:

OpenExeConfiguration

OpenMachineConfiguration

OpenMappedExeConfiguration

However, if you want to update app.config file, I would read it as an xml document and manipulate it as a normal xml document.

Please see the following example: Note: this sample is just for proof-of-concept. Should not be used in production as it is.

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Xml.Linq;

namespace ChangeAppConfig
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            MyConfigSetting.CustomerName = "MyCustomer";
            MyConfigSetting.EmailAddress = "MyCustomer@Company.com";
            MyConfigSetting.TimeStamp = DateTime.Now;
            MyConfigSetting.Save();
        }
    }

    //Note: This is a proof-of-concept sample and 
    //should not be used in production as it is.  
    // For example, this is not thread-safe. 
    public class MyConfigSetting
    {
        private static string _CustomerName;
        public static string CustomerName
        {
            get { return _CustomerName; }
            set
            {
                _CustomerName = value;
            }
        }

        private static string _EmailAddress;
        public static string EmailAddress
        {
            get { return _EmailAddress; }
            set
            {
                _EmailAddress = value;
            }
        }

        private static DateTime _TimeStamp;
        public static DateTime TimeStamp
        {
            get { return _TimeStamp; }
            set
            {
                _TimeStamp = value;
            }
        }

        public static void Save()
        {
            XElement myAppConfigFile = XElement.Load(Utility.GetConfigFileName());
            var mySetting = (from p in myAppConfigFile.Elements("MySettings")
                            select p).FirstOrDefault();
            mySetting.Attribute("CustomerName").Value = CustomerName;
            mySetting.Attribute("EmailAddress").Value = EmailAddress;
            mySetting.Attribute("TimeStamp").Value = TimeStamp.ToString();

            myAppConfigFile.Save(Utility.GetConfigFileName());

        }
    }

    class Utility
    {        
        //Note: This is a proof-of-concept and very naive code. 
        //Shouldn't be used in production as it is. 
        //For example, no null reference checking, no file existence checking and etc. 
        public static string GetConfigFileName()
        {            
            const string STR_Vshostexe = ".vshost.exe";
            string appName = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[0];

            //In case this is running under debugger. 
            if (appName.EndsWith(STR_Vshostexe))
            {
                appName = appName.Remove(appName.LastIndexOf(STR_Vshostexe), STR_Vshostexe.Length) + ".exe";
            }

            return appName + ".config";
        }
    }
}

I also added "TimeStamp" attribute to MySettings in app.config to check the result easily.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="MySettings" type="TestApp.MySettings, TestApp"/>
  </configSections>

  <MySettings CustomerName="" EmailAddress="" TimeStamp=""/>
</configuration>

Problem

i am facing one problem. i want to save settings in app.config file i wrote separate class and defined section in config file.. but when i run the application. it does not save the given values into config file here is SettingsClass ``` public class MySetting:ConfigurationSection { private static MySetting settings = ConfigurationManager.GetSection("MySetting") as MySetting; public override bool IsReadOnly() { return false; } public static MySetting Settings { get { return settings; } } [ConfigurationProperty("CustomerName")] public String CustomerName { get { return settings["CustomerName"].ToString(); } set { settings["CustomerName"] = value; } } [ConfigurationProperty("EmailAddress")] public String EmailAddress { get { return settings["EmailAddress"].ToString(); } set { settings["EmailAddress"] = value; } } public static bool Save() { try { System.Configuration.Configuration configFile = Utility.GetConfigFile(); MySetting mySetting = (MySetting )configFile.Sections["MySetting "]; if (null != mySetting ) { mySetting .CustomerName = settings["CustomerName"] as string; mySetting .EmailAddress = settings["EmailAddress"] as string; configFile.Save(ConfigurationSaveMode.Full); return true; } return false; } catch { return false; } } } ``` and this is the code from where i am saving the information in config file ``` private void SaveCustomerInfoToConfig(String name, String emailAddress) { MySetting .Settings.CustomerName = name; MySetting .Settings.EmailAddress = emailAddress MySetting .Save(); } ``` and this is app.config ``` <configuration> <configSections> <section name="MySettings" type="TestApp.MySettings, TestApp"/> </configSections> <MySettings CustomerName="" EmailAddress="" /> </configuration> ``` can u tell me where is the error.. i tried alot and read from internet. but still unable to save information in config file.. i ran the application by double clicking on exe file also.

Original source