Why are app.config settings not available using MSDN instructions?

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

Hi,

I have been trying to follow the MSDN instructions for adding settings to my WPF desktop application. I have added a setting using the designer and this results in a file called MyApp.exe.config in the \bin project output directory. Opening this file, I find my setting. Everything good so far.

Then I go to this page Accessing settings at run-time, which explains how to read a setting at run-time. The problem is that I have a Properties instance in my application constructor but it has no Settings member?

What am I doing wrong?

Kind wishes ~ Patrick

What I have tried:

I have tried following the MSDN documentation.

Posted 14-Jul-16 22:29pm

Patrick Skelton

Updated 15-Jul-16 3:22am

v2

Add a Solution

Comments

G3Coder 15-Jul-16 5:39am

Hi Patrick,

Can't find anything in the MSDN explaining it. To me it looks like the data isn't loaded yet.

Even an attempt with System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings doesn't yield any proper results.

Depending on the whys and hows I suggest an old school file storing settings.

Good luck.
G

Patrick Skelton 15-Jul-16 5:41am

Thanks for the reply. Do you have any idea why the Properties.Settings member is not even present? Do you think the docs are wrong?

G3Coder 15-Jul-16 6:10am

I don't think it has been initialized yet so the .Settings isn't there yet. The documents don't say you can do this exactly - more they show examples once everything is up and running, so I would struggle to say they are wrong.
The Properties.Settings method does work in the constructor of the MainWindow() as per the documentation.

Patrick Skelton 15-Jul-16 7:26am

You are exactly right, sir. The MSDN example works fine when moved to the MainWindow. Seems like a pretty major flaw to me. My requirement to access a setting prior to displaying the first window doesn't seem unreasonable. What I am wanting to do in fact is change the StartupUri depending on a setting, so I will have to work around this. Thank you for your help.

G3Coder 15-Jul-16 7:55am

Pleasure :) Enjoy the weekend.

1 solution

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Richard Deeming · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-15T03:22:00

The issue is that the System.Windows.Application class[^] has a property called Properties[^], which is hiding your application's Properties namespace. Any code within the Application class which tries to access Properties is looking at the property, not the namespace.

To work around the problem, you can either use the fully-qualified name to refer to the settings:

C#

var aSetting = YourNamespace.Properties.Settings.Default.SomeSetting;

or you can add an alias for the Settings class:

C#

namespace YourNamespace
{
    using Settings = Properties.Settings;
    
    public partial class YourApplication : Application
    {
        public YourApplication()
        {
            var aSetting = Settings.Default.SomeSetting;
        }
    }
}