Configuration File Question

[Ian]

I have an application called "Test.exe" and this application has a config
file called "Test.exe.confi g" and it holds the connection string for the
database calls in there. To get the conectionstring out of the config file
the following lines of code are utilized.

Private settings As New System.Configur ation.AppSettin gsReader
Private o As Object = settings.GetVal ue("ConnectionS tring", GetType(String) )
Private strConnection As String = o.ToString()

This works fine.... But I also have an exception assembly that I imported
into this application "Test.exe". The assembly is called
"CallExceptionH andling.dll" and it also has a config file called
"CallExceptionH andling.dll.con fig" and inside sits the connectionstrin g that
pertains to the generic exception handler assembly. The code used in the
assembly to get the connectionstrin g is the same code as used for the
application.

But when I run the application and the exception assembly goes and gets the
connectionstrin g it is looking to the "Test.exe" config file and not the dll
config file.

Where am I going wrong?

Thanks

[Tian Min Huang]

Hello Ian,

Thanks for your post. I'd like to share the following information with you:

1. Generally speaking, DLLs do not have config files in a .NET application.
Rather, they share the configuration information of the EXE that is being
used. Because the AppDomainSetup. ConfigurationFi le specifies the EXE.Config
by default. The AppSettingsRead er class reads the application settings when
the default AppDomain is loaded, and then those settings are cached for the
lifetime of the AppDomain.

2. Based on my experience and research, there are two methods to work
around this problem:

Method 1
========
I strongly recommend you create a custom Application Configuration class
which loads the configuration from another file. The following code snippet
demonstrate load a .Config file and deserialize XML to get the value:

//-----------------code snippet-------------------
// Create an XmlSerializer for the ApplicationSett ings type.
mySerializer = new XmlSerializer(t ypeof(Applicati onSettings));
FileInfo fi = new FileInfo(Applic ation.LocalUser AppDataPath
+ @"\CallExceptio nHandling.dll.c onfig");
// If the config file exists, open it.
if(fi.Exists)
{
myFileStream = fi.OpenRead();
// Create a new instance of the ApplicationSett ings by
// deserializing the config file.
ApplicationSett ings myAppSettings =
(ApplicationSet tings)mySeriali zer.Deserialize (
myFileStream);
// Assign the property values to this instance of
// the ApplicationSett ings class.
String myConnectionStr ing = myAppSettings.C onnectionString ;
}
//----------------end of ----------------------

I believe the article below is very helpful:

Persisting Application Settings in the .NET Framework
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...us/dndotnet/ht
ml/persistappsettn et.asp

Method 2
========
Another method is to create a new AppDomain with the
AppDomainSetup. ConfigurationFi le set to "CallExceptionH andling.dll.con fig",
and run the dll in the new AppDomain.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any problems or concerns.

Have a nice day!

Regards,

HuangTM
Microsoft Online Partner Support
MCSE/MCSD

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