What is the best way to store user settings for a .NET application?

Question

I have a .NET 2.0 Windows Forms application. Where is the best place the store user settings (considering Windows guidelines)?

Some people pointed to Application.LocalUserAppDataPath. However, that creates a folder structure like:

C:\Documents and Settings\user_name\Local Settings\Application Data\company_name\product_name\product_version\

If I release version 1 of my application and store an XML file there, then release version 2, that would change to a different folder, right? I'd prefer to have a single folder, per user, to store settings, regardless of the application version. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Answer 1

I love using the built-in Application Settings. Then you have built in support for using the settings designer if you want at design-time, or at runtime to use:

// read setting string setting1 = (string)Settings.Default["MySetting1"]; // save setting Settings.Default["MySetting2"] = "My Setting Value";  // you can force a save with Properties.Settings.Default.Save(); 

It does store the settings in a similar folder structure as you describe (with the version in the path). However, with a simple call to:

Properties.Settings.Default.Upgrade();  

The app will pull all previous versions settings in to save in.