Storing application settings in C#

Question

What is the best practice to store application settings (such as user name and password, database location ...) in C# ?

Hint: I am new to .net and C#

Answer 1

Application Configuration Settings that are application wide (non-user specific) belong in either app.config (for Desktop apps) or web.config (for Web apps).

Encrypting sections of a web.config file is quite simple as outlined in this Super Simple Example.

If you need to store User specific settings (like application settings, etc.) or Application wide settings not related to application configuration you can use a Settings file as described here:

User Settings in C#

Answer 2

I'm not sure what version of .net/Visual Studio it was introduced in, but you can right click on your project, choose 'Add New Item' and select 'Settings File' from the "Add New Item" window. This provides your project with a (named by default) Settings.settings file that you can configure all the settings you want to expose in.

You can define settings that you create to be either Application or User which means you can use this single interface to control global and user settings. Once you've created a setting in the Settings.settings file using the editor that Visual Studio provides, you can access it in code like this:

// Get a Setting value
var valueOfSetting1 = Settings1.Default.Setting1;

// Modify and save a Setting value
Settings1.Default.Setting1 = "New Value";
Settings1.Default.Save();