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Updating the <appname> .config file from the custom class of the installer class

I tried updating my application's .config file during installation ( using the .NET Installer class action ). But I cannot get the ConfigurationManager to display any properties or be able to set anything.

I learned about this approach from several stackoverflow posts that pointed me to this guide: http://raquila.com/software/configure-app-config-application-settings-during-msi-install/

I examined the differences between my project and it, and noticed that my configuration files were formatted differently. I believe that this is due to the fact that I use the "Settings" files.

The configuration files formatted in the manual are as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>     
<configuration>     
  <appSettings>      
    <add key="Param1" value="" />      
    <add key="Param2" value="" />      
    <add key="Param3" value="" />      
  </appSettings>      
</configuration>

Where my view is as follows:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <configSections>
        <sectionGroup name="userSettings" type="System.Configuration.UserSettingsGroup, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" >
            <section name="MyAppName.Properties.Settings" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" allowExeDefinition="MachineToLocalUser" requirePermission="false" />
            <section name="MyAppName.Settings1" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" allowExeDefinition="MachineToLocalUser" requirePermission="false" />
        </sectionGroup>
        <sectionGroup name="applicationSettings" type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" >
            <section name="MyAppName.Settings1" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />
        </sectionGroup>
    </configSections>
    <userSettings>
        <MyAppName.Properties.Settings>
            <setting name="TESTSETTING" serializeAs="String">
                <value>asdfasdfasdf</value>
            </setting>
        </MyAppName.Properties.Settings>
        <MyAppName.Settings1>
            <setting name="VerboseErrorMode" serializeAs="String">
                <value>False</value>
            </setting>
    <applicationSettings>
        <MyAppName.Settings1>
            <setting name="RunOnStartup" serializeAs="String">
                <value>True</value>
            </setting>
        </MyAppName.Settings1>
    </applicationSettings>
</configuration>

To shed light on what was happening ... I tried to print a list of settings, for example:

            Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(exePath);               

            // Try getting the Settings1 Section
            AppSettingsSection appSettings = (AppSettingsSection)config.GetSection("Settings1");  // Also tried myNamespace.Settings1
            if (appSettings != null)
            {
                valList = "Settings1: ";
                foreach (string key in appSettings.Settings.AllKeys)
                {
                    string value = appSettings.Settings[key].Value;
                    valList += ("Key: '" + key + "' = '" + value + "'\n");
                }
            }
            else
            {
                valList = "appSettings was null";
            }
            MessageBox.Show(valList);

        MessageBox.Show(valList);

I tried several permutations of this ... and in all cases the output of "appSettings was null".

I also tried to initialize the configuration manager in several ways ...

            Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(exePath);

            MessageBox.Show("Section Count: " + config.Sections.Count);
            MessageBox.Show("Has File: " + config.HasFile);
            MessageBox.Show("Namespace Declared: " + config.NamespaceDeclared);

            config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
            MessageBox.Show("Section Count: " + config.Sections.Count);
            MessageBox.Show("Has File: " + config.HasFile);
            MessageBox.Show("Namespace Declared: " + config.NamespaceDeclared);

For each of them, the returned number of sections was 20. (I do not know where 20 comes from ... I would expect it to be 3).
HasFile is true for the first case, and false for the second.
The namespace was false in both cases.

Thanks!

EDIT (6-18-09): Still studying this issue. Anyone else have any ideas? Thanks.

: " " < - .

+5
5

, (, app.config), XPath. , -, URL- -, app.config:

        <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <configuration>
      <configSections>
        <sectionGroup name="applicationSettings" type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089">
          <section name="ApplicationServer.Properties.Settings" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />
        </sectionGroup>
      </configSections>

      <applicationSettings>
        <ApplicationServer.Properties.Settings>
          <setting name="ApplicationServer_ApplicationServerUrl" serializeAs="String">
            <value>whatever comes from setup should go here</value>
          </setting>
        </ApplicationServer.Properties.Settings>
      </applicationSettings>
    </configuration>

:

public override void Install(System.Collections.IDictionary stateSaver)
    {
        base.Install(stateSaver);

        string targetDirectory = Context.Parameters["targetdir"];
        string param1 = Context.Parameters["param1"];

        string path = System.IO.Path.Combine(targetDirectory, "app.config");

        System.Xml.XmlDocument xDoc = new System.Xml.XmlDocument();

        xDoc.Load(path);

        System.Xml.XmlNode node = xDoc.SelectSingleNode("/configuration/applicationSettings/Intellisense.ApplicationServer.Properties.Settings/setting[@name='ApplicationServer_ApplicationServerUrl']/value");
        node.InnerText = (param1.EndsWith("/") ? param1 : param1 + "/");

        xDoc.Save(path); // saves the web.config file  
    }

, XML, XPath node .

+11

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+1

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: applicationSettings AppSettings, ClientSettingsSection.

//Open the application level config file
ExeConfigurationFileMap exeMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
exeMap.ExeConfigFilename = String.Format("{0}.config", 
    Context.Parameters["assemblypath"]);
Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(exeMap,
    ConfigurationUserLevel.None);

//Get the settings section
ClientSettingsSection settingsSection =
    config.GetSectionGroup("applicationSettings").Sections
         .OfType<ClientSettingsSection>().Single();

//Update "TheSetting"
//I couldn't get the changes to persist unless
//I removed then readded the element.

SettingElement oldElement = settingsSection.Get("TheSetting");
settingsSection.Settings.Remove(oldElement);

SettingElement newElement = new SettingElement("TheSetting", 
    SettingSerializeAs.String);
newElement.Value = new SettingValueElement();
newElement.Value.ValueXml = oldElement.Value.ValueXml.CloneNode(true);
newElement.Value.ValueXml.InnerText = "Some New Value";
settingsSection.Add(newElement);

//Save the changes
config.Save(ConfigurationSaveMode.Full);

, , .: -S

+1

, ConfigurationManager, Settings.Default. - Visual Studio, .NET... , , appSettings . , , .

Visual Studio , Properties.Settings.Default. , , :

Properties.Settings.Default.TESTSETTING
Properties.Settings.Default.VerboseErrorMode
Properties.Settings.Default.RunOnStartup

. , , "" , {yourapplication}.exe.config... User.config . C:\Documents and Settings {_} XP C:\Users {_} Vista, AppData. AppData , . , , .

, .:)

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