Storing User Settings in C# Application

Question

After spending countless hours changing my code and removing everything that wont serialize and changing them to strings and writing functions to convert from Font/Color to strings and back again i've got fed up and decided to make my own basic serializer..

private void saveSettings()
{
    PropertyInfo[] properties = typeof(settingsObj).GetProperties();
    foreach (settingsObj s in settings)
    {
        foreach (PropertyInfo property in properties)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(s.[property.Name]);
        }
    }
}

How do i refer to a variable using a string, in PHP i'd do:

$varIWantToRead = "foobar";
$varName = "varIWantToRead";
print $$varName;

posible duplicate http://stackoverflow.com/questions/453161/best-practice-to-save-application-settings-in-a-windows-forms-application — spajce, Jan 22 '13 at 19:12

Botonomous · Answer 1 · 2013-01-23T18:04:02.047

1

This can easily be done in the exe.config file. Here is a write up from Microsoft:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa730869.aspx

You could also create your own class or struct and serialize them into XML:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/815813

Edit to answer your new question: Im not quite sure I know what your talking about but here we go:

In PHP: 
$varIWantToRead = "foobar";
$varName = "varIWantToRead";
print $$varName;


in c#: 
string varIWantToRead = "foobar"; 
string varName = varIWantToRead; 
Console.WriteLine(varName); // Outputs foobar

edited Jan 23 '13 at 18:04

answered Jan 22 '13 at 19:07

Botonomous

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Yes thats exactly what i meant, in PHP its called a variable variable, i meant it as an example of what i'm after: `MessageBox.Show(s.[property.Name]);` that doesnt actually work.. – Dean Bayley Jan 23 '13 at 17:05
what type is s.[Property.Name] You may need to call .ToString() – Botonomous Jan 23 '13 at 17:33

Mahdi Tahsildari · Answer 2 · 2013-01-22T19:54:57.170

0

You can use the default behaviour of winforms setting, Application Settings. Take a look at what microsoft says in brief and also goes into more details in another link

XML is a dynamic way of keeping data, there are lots of samples online like this tutorial and this microsoft link

edited Jan 22 '13 at 19:54

answered Jan 22 '13 at 19:08

Mahdi Tahsildari

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I need to programatically add profiles and from what I can see you have to define all the settings at design time.. – Dean Bayley Jan 22 '13 at 19:26
well in the case of dynamic profiles you can use serialization/deserialization an XML to save user information in a flexible format. – Mahdi Tahsildari Jan 22 '13 at 19:36
That's what I'm trying to do, what object type can I use to store a class, so I can do something like: `profiles['profile1'].FontColor = Color.FromArgb(255, 0, 0, 0);` – Dean Bayley Jan 22 '13 at 19:42

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:34

0

This is exactly what i was looking for.

Thanks Guys.

Serializing Lists of Classes to XML

edited May 23 '17 at 10:34

Community

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answered Jan 22 '13 at 21:10

Dean Bayley

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Would you mind selecting the user who answered your question. – Botonomous Jan 22 '13 at 21:51
I haven't gotten my solution to work correctly as yet, i'll post my solution when i have finished and select then. – Dean Bayley Jan 23 '13 at 13:11
What problems are you having? – Botonomous Jan 23 '13 at 14:33

Storing User Settings in C# Application

3 Answers3