How to get a List string collection of values from app config in WPF

Question

The following example fills the ItemsControl with a List of BackupDirectories which I get from code   How can I change this so that I get the same information from the app config file   XAML    lt Window x Class  TestReadMultipler2343 Window1      xmlns  http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml presentation      xmlns x  http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml      Title  Window1  Height  300  Width  300  gt       lt Grid Margin  10  gt           lt Grid RowDefinitions gt               lt RowDefinition Height  30   gt               lt RowDefinition Height  Auto   gt           lt  Grid RowDefinitions gt           lt Grid ColumnDefinitions gt               lt ColumnDefinition Width  120   gt               lt ColumnDefinition Width  160   gt           lt  Grid ColumnDefinitions gt           lt TextBlock              Grid Row  0              Grid Column  0              Text  Title    gt           lt TextBlock              Grid Row  0              Grid Column  1               Text   Binding Title    gt           lt TextBlock              Grid Row  1              Grid Column  0              Text  Backup Directories    gt           lt ItemsControl              Grid Row  1              Grid Column  1              ItemsSource   Binding BackupDirectories    gt       lt  Grid gt   lt  Window gt    code-behind   using System Collections Generic  using System Windows  using System Configuration  using System ComponentModel   namespace TestReadMultipler2343       public partial class Window1   Window  INotifyPropertyChanged                 region ViewModelProperty  Title         private string  title          public string Title                       get                               return  title                             set                                title   value                  OnPropertyChanged  Title                                     endregion           region ViewModelProperty  BackupDirectories         private List lt string gt   backupDirectories   new List lt string gt             public List lt string gt  BackupDirectories                       get                               return  backupDirectories                             set                                backupDirectories   value                  OnPropertyChanged  BackupDirectories                                     endregion          public Window1                         InitializeComponent                DataContext   this               Title   ConfigurationManager AppSettings Get  title                 GetBackupDirectoriesInternal                       void GetBackupDirectoriesInternal                         BackupDirectories Add   C  test1                BackupDirectories Add   C  test2                BackupDirectories Add   C  test3                BackupDirectories Add   C  test4                       void GetBackupDirectoriesFromConfig                           BackupDirectories   ConfigurationManager AppSettings GetValues  backupDirectories                         region INotifiedProperty Block         public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged           protected void OnPropertyChanged string propertyName                        PropertyChangedEventHandler handler   PropertyChanged               if  handler    null                                handler this  new PropertyChangedEventArgs propertyName                                     endregion            app config    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8    gt   lt configuration gt     lt appSettings gt       lt add key  title  value  Backup Tool    gt       lt  -- lt add key  backupDirectories  gt         lt add value  C  test1   gt         lt add value  C  test2   gt         lt add value  C  test3   gt         lt add value  C  test4   gt       lt  add gt -- gt     lt  appSettings gt   lt  configuration gt

User · Accepted Answer

You can create your own custom config section in the app.config file. There are quite a few tutorials around to get you started. Ultimately, you could have something like this:

<configSections>
    <section name="backupDirectories" type="TestReadMultipler2343.BackupDirectoriesSection, TestReadMultipler2343" />
  </configSections>

<backupDirectories>
   <directory location="C:\test1" />
   <directory location="C:\test2" />
   <directory location="C:\test3" />
</backupDirectories>

To complement Richard's answer, this is the C# you could use with his sample configuration:

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Xml;

namespace TestReadMultipler2343
{
    public class BackupDirectoriesSection : IConfigurationSectionHandler
    {
        public object Create(object parent, object configContext, XmlNode section)
        {
            List<directory> myConfigObject = new List<directory>();

            foreach (XmlNode childNode in section.ChildNodes)
            {
                foreach (XmlAttribute attrib in childNode.Attributes)
                {
                    myConfigObject.Add(new directory() { location = attrib.Value });
                }
            }
            return myConfigObject;
        }
    }

    public class directory
    {
        public string location { get; set; }
    }
}

Then you can access the backupDirectories configuration section as follows:

List<directory> dirs = ConfigurationManager.GetSection("backupDirectories") as List<directory>;

User · Answer

Had the same problem  but solved it in a different way  It might not be the best solution  but its a solution    in app config     lt add key  errorMailFirst  value  test test no   gt   lt add key  errorMailSeond  value  krister tets no   gt    Then in my configuration wrapper class  I add a method to search keys            public List lt string gt  SearchKeys string searchTerm                        var keys   ConfigurationManager AppSettings Keys              return keys Cast lt object gt                            Where key   gt  key ToString   ToLower                           Contains searchTerm ToLower                             Select key   gt  ConfigurationManager AppSettings Get key ToString     ToList                For anyone reading this  i agree that creating your own custom configuration section is cleaner  and more secure  but for small projects  where you need something quick  this might solve it

User · Answer

In App config    lt add key  YOURKEY  value  a b c   gt    In C    string   InFormOfStringArray   ConfigurationManager AppSettings  YOURKEY   Split      Select s   gt  s Trim    ToArray    List lt string gt  list   new List lt string gt  InFormOfStringArray

User · Answer

Thank for the question  But I have found my own solution to this problem   At first  I created a method      public T GetSettingsWithDictionary lt T gt    where T new                 IConfigurationRoot  configurationRoot   new ConfigurationBuilder            AddXmlFile    Assembly GetExecutingAssembly   Location  config   false  true  Build             var instance   new T            foreach  var property in typeof T  GetProperties                          if  property PropertyType    typeof Dictionary lt string  string gt                                  property SetValue instance   configurationRoot GetSection typeof T  Name  Get lt Dictionary lt string  string gt  gt                      break                                   return instance          Then I used this method to produce an instance of a class  var connStrs   GetSettingsWithDictionary lt AuthMongoConnectionStrings gt       I have the next declaration of class   public class AuthMongoConnectionStrings       public Dictionary lt string  string gt  ConnectionStrings   get  set        and I store my setting in App config   lt configuration gt         lt AuthMongoConnectionStrings   First  first    Second  second    Third  33    gt   lt  configuration gt

User · Answer

There s actually a very little known class in the BCL for this purpose exactly  CommaDelimitedStringCollectionConverter  It serves as a middle ground of sorts between having a ConfigurationElementCollection  as in Richard s answer  and parsing the string yourself  as in Adam s answer     For example  you could write the following configuration section   public class MySection   ConfigurationSection        ConfigurationProperty  MyStrings         TypeConverter typeof CommaDelimitedStringCollectionConverter        public CommaDelimitedStringCollection MyStrings               get   return  CommaDelimitedStringCollection base  MyStrings                You could then have an app config that looks like this    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8    gt   lt configuration gt     lt configSections gt       lt section name  foo  type  ConsoleApplication1 MySection  ConsoleApplication1   gt     lt  configSections gt     lt foo MyStrings  a b c hello world   gt   lt  configuration gt    Finally  your code would look like this   var section    MySection ConfigurationManager GetSection  foo    foreach  var s in section MyStrings      Console WriteLine s     for example

User · Answer

I love Richard Nienaber s answer  but as Chuu pointed out  it really doesn t tell how to accomplish what Richard is refering to as a solution  Therefore I have chosen to provide you with the way I ended up doing this  ending with the result Richard is talking about  The solution In this case I m creating a greeting widget that needs to know which options it has to greet in  This may be an over-engineered solution to OPs question as I am also creating an container for possible future widgets  First I set up my collection to handle the different greetings public class GreetingWidgetCollection   System Configuration ConfigurationElementCollection       public List lt IGreeting gt  All   get   return this Cast lt IGreeting gt    ToList             public GreetingElement this int index                get                       return base BaseGet index  as GreetingElement                    set                       if  base BaseGet index     null                                base BaseRemoveAt index                             this BaseAdd index  value                        protected override ConfigurationElement CreateNewElement                 return new GreetingElement               protected override object GetElementKey ConfigurationElement element                return   GreetingElement element  Greeting           Then we create the acutal greeting element and it s interface  You can omit the interface  that s just the way I m always doing it   public interface IGreeting       string Greeting   get  set       public class GreetingElement   System Configuration ConfigurationElement  IGreeting        ConfigurationProperty  quot greeting quot   IsRequired   true       public string Greeting               get   return  string this  quot greeting quot              set   this  quot greeting quot     value             The greetingWidget property so our config understands the collection We define our collection GreetingWidgetCollection as the ConfigurationProperty greetingWidget so that we can use  quot greetingWidget quot  as our container in the resulting XML  public class Widgets   System Configuration ConfigurationSection       public static Widgets Widget   gt  ConfigurationManager GetSection  quot widgets quot   as Widgets        ConfigurationProperty  quot greetingWidget quot   IsRequired   true       public GreetingWidgetCollection GreetingWidget               get   return  GreetingWidgetCollection  this  quot greetingWidget quot              set   this  quot greetingWidget quot     value             The resulting XML  lt  xml version  quot 1 0 quot  encoding  quot utf-8 quot    gt   lt configuration gt      lt widgets gt          lt greetingWidget gt              lt add greeting  quot Hej quot    gt              lt add greeting  quot Goddag quot    gt              lt add greeting  quot Hello quot    gt                             lt add greeting  quot Konnichiwa quot    gt              lt add greeting  quot Namaskaar quot    gt          lt  greetingWidget gt       lt  widgets gt   lt  configuration gt   And you would call it like this List lt GreetingElement gt  greetings   Widgets GreetingWidget All

User · Answer

You could have them semi-colon delimited in a single value  e g   App config   lt add key  paths  value  C  test1 C  test2 C  test3    gt    C   var paths   new List lt string gt  ConfigurationManager AppSettings  paths   Split new char

[c#] How to get a List<string> collection of values from app.config in WPF?

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