Where to store configuration for a simple .NET application?

Question

I'm programming a fairly simple application which I want to cut to just one simple EXE file + some data storage (XML for example).

My question is regarding configuration files. Where to put those files? I saw a few applications that have just an EXE file (uTorrent, Media Player Classic - I can use them without any installation), but they store their config somewhere else. How to achieve this?

How would you approach such situation? Is it better to try to achieve the thing I described above, or simply use a configuration file and data storage in the same directory as the EXE file?

Answer 1

Creating or using a file in the same folder (or in the App_Data) is pretty standard practice.

You use an installer like Inno Setup (free) to create a single exe installer (http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php)

If you want a DB rather than XML, have a look at SQLite (http://www.sqlite.org/) a file based DB or use an MS Access DB.