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| Florida Coder |
I have the need to store some application specific configuration data to be used by a class library and or a windows service. I would like to do this in a fashion similar to the way we do with applications and web services without having to use the machine.config file.
I know that I could use the code below to do this but the problem then becomes that when using a shared assembly both the assembly and the config file need to be put in the GAC. I do not want operations to have to GAC after changes to the config.
Any advice, links or samples would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
using System;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Collections;
using System.Xml;
using System.Configuration;
// AssemblySettings usage:
//
// If you know the keys you're after, the following is probably
// the most convenient:
//
// AssemblySettings settings = new AssemblySettings();
// string someSetting1 = settings["someKey1"];
// string someSetting2 = settings["someKey2"];
//
// If you want to enumerate over the settings (or just as an
// alternative approach), you can do this too:
//
// IDictionary settings = AssemblySettings.GetConfig();
//
// foreach( DictionaryEntry entry in settings )
// {
// // Use entry.Key or entry.Value as desired...
// }
//
// In either of the above two scenarios, the calling assembly
// (the one that called the constructor or GetConfig) is used
// to determine what file to parse and what the name of the
// settings collection element is. For example, if the calling
// assembly is c:\foo\bar\TestLib.dll, then the configuration file
// that's parsed is c:\foo\bar\TestLib.dll.config, and the
// configuration section that's parsed must be named <assemblySettings>.
//
// To retrieve the configuration information for an arbitrary assembly,
// use the overloaded constructor or GetConfig method that takes an
// Assembly reference as input.
//
// If your assembly is being automatically downloaded from a web
// site by an "href-exe" (an application that's run directly from a link
// on a web page), then the enclosed web.config shows the mechanism
// for allowing the AssemblySettings library to download the
// configuration files you're using for your assemblies (while not
// allowing web.config itself to be downloaded).
//
// If the assembly you are trying to use this with is installed in, and loaded
// from, the GAC then you'll need to place the config file in the GAC directory where
// the assembly is installed. On the first release of the CLR, this directory is
// <windir>\assembly\gac\libName\verNum__pubKeyToken]]>. For example,
// the assembly "SomeLib, Version=1.2.3.4, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=abcd1234"
// would be installed to the c:\winnt\assembly\gac\SomeLib\1.2.3.4__abcd1234 diretory
// (assuming the OS is installed in c:\winnt). For future versions of the CLR, this
// directory scheme may change, so you'll need to check the <code>CodeBase</code> property
// of a GAC-loaded assembly in the debugger to determine the correct directory location.
//
public class AssemblySettings
{
private IDictionary settings;
public AssemblySettings()
: this(Assembly.GetCallingAssembly())
{
}
public AssemblySettings( Assembly asm )
{
settings = GetConfig(asm);
}
public string this[ string key ]
{
get
{
string settingValue = null;
if( settings != null )
{
settingValue = settings[key] as string;
}
return(settingValue == null ? "" : settingValue);
}
}
public static IDictionary GetConfig()
{
return GetConfig(Assembly.GetCallingAssembly());
}
public static IDictionary GetConfig( Assembly asm )
{
// Open and parse configuration file for specified
// assembly, returning collection to caller for future
// use outside of this class.
//
try
{
string cfgFile = asm.CodeBase + ".config";
const string nodeName = "assemblySettings";
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.Load(new XmlTextReader(cfgFile));
XmlNodeList nodes = doc.GetElementsByTagName(nodeName);
foreach( XmlNode node in nodes )
{
if( node.LocalName == nodeName )
{
DictionarySectionHandler handler = new DictionarySectionHandler();
return (IDictionary)handler.Create(null, null, node);
}
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
Console.WriteLine ("Error: " + e.Message);
}
return(null);
}
}
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| Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP] (VIP) |
Florida,
Quite simply, you can not do what you want. With Services, you can, because they are the managed entry point for an application. However, for class libraries, since they are loaded by an application, they are subject to the configuration of that application.
Basically, if your class libraries have configuration options that need to be set, you need to retrieve them separately from a well known location. Either that, or you should depend on the settings being in the configuration of the application, defaulting to something else if they are not available.
Hope this helps.
-- - Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP] - Click here to reveal e-mail address
"Florida Coder" <Click here to reveal e-mail address> wrote in message news:Click here to reveal e-mail address... [Original message clipped]
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| Richard Blewett [DevelopMentor] (VIP) |
Mike Woodring wrote someting that does what you're after. Check out:
http://www.bearcanyon.com/dotnet/#AssemblySettings
Regards
Richard Blewett - DevelopMentor
http://staff.develop.com/richardb/weblog
nntp://news.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.csharp/<Click here to reveal e-mail address>
Florida,
Quite simply, you can not do what you want. With Services, you can, because they are the managed entry point for an application. However, for class libraries, since they are loaded by an application, they are subject to the configuration of that application.
Basically, if your class libraries have configuration options that need to be set, you need to retrieve them separately from a well known location. Either that, or you should depend on the settings being in the configuration of the application, defaulting to something else if they are not available.
Hope this helps.
-- - Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP] - Click here to reveal e-mail address
"Florida Coder" <Click here to reveal e-mail address> wrote in message news:Click here to reveal e-mail address... [Original message clipped]
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