Application Global Properties

[John Baird]

Hello: Is there a way to set application properties that are global and accessible from all points in the program. I have tried public static classes, constants, properties on the main form, properties in the app object, but it always tells me that the "prop" is not in scope. How do you guys handle this kind of problem for setting application wide defaults. It was easy in vfp, but i'm pulling my hair out here (what's left of it anyway). Thanks.

[CWIZO]

Having one class with static fields is good. Just make shure that all class'es are in the same namespace. Q:What does the derived class in C# tell to it's parent? A:All your base are belong to us!

[John Baird]

The classes are in different namespaces. I thought adding a reference to the individual namespaces would allow me access to the class from anywhere. Is that not true?

[CWIZO]

By adding refrence you mean: using YourNameSpace; ? the using statment is only aplied to one file if it is placed outside the namespace {} block! Q:What does the derived class in C# tell to it's parent? A:All your base are belong to us!

[John Baird]

Thanks for replying, but I'm still lost. I'm trying to load the values into a static structure now. The values are loaded, but when I try to access them from the watchwindow, I get the "out of score" error. Pardon me, but here is the code. Can you tell me what's wrong?

using System;
using System;
using AMS.Profile;


namespace MySpace
{
	/// 
	/// Summary description for AppStartUp.
	/// 
	public class AppStartUp
	{
		public AppStartUp()
		{
			//
			// TODO: Add constructor logic here
			//
		}

		public struct AppDefaults
		{
			public static string server = "";
			public static string dataBase = "";
			
			public static string adminPath = "c:\vsdevelop";
			public static string sqlConn = "";		
		}

		public static void SetAppDefaults()
		{
			Registry profile = new Registry();
			AppDefaults.server = profile.GetValue("DBSettings","DBServer","");
			AppDefaults.dataBase = profile.GetValue("DBSettings","DBName","");
			
			AppDefaults.adminPath = "c:\vsdevelop";
			AppDefaults.sqlConn = "SERVER=" + AppDefaults.server.ToUpper().Trim() + ";UID=uid; PWD=pwd;DATABASE=database";
		}
		
		public static void LoadProgramSettings()
		{
			SetAppDefaults();
			
		}
	}
}

[CWIZO]

You are trying to set a value to a field that is inside the structure, onyl specifying the class ... And even so I think you must declare the structure as static too ... but I really don't know why you are using a structure in the above code (dump it)... Q:What does the derived class in C# tell to it's parent? A:All your base are belong to us!

[John Baird]

Thanks for your help. I've finally been able to get it to work. Dump it in favor of what? classes. There has been some discussion on speed using structures for static storage. It seems that most favor the structure. You reasons?

[CWIZO]

It has no sense in using a structure like that. There is no need for you to "group" fields inside a structure, becouse you already have them inside your class. Maybe you should read some article that covers the OO aproach to desigening programms :) Q:What does the derived class in C# tell to it's parent? A:All your base are belong to us!

[Heath Stewart]

To add, you may want to consider caching the settings instead of reading them from the registry each time. If they can be changed throughout your application, then have additional methods on this class that can reset some flag so that the values would be read and cached again. Also, use a private constructor so that callers can't instantiate this class since that would serve no purpose. In .NET 2.0, you don't need to do this if you use static classes (prefix your class declaration with static). This will be out early next year, just FYI.

Microsoft MVP, Visual C# My Articles

[Anonymous]

Hello: Thanks for responding. I'm loading the values into the global properties one time at application startup. In that instance, would caching the values give me any benefit?

[Heath Stewart]

Well first, you need to expose them. You're simply setting them on a struct, which goes out of scope so they can never be read again. While I don't particularly find this approach to settings at all attractive from an OO standpoint, the least you can do is provide static properties on this class using the guidelines I outlined. What you're doing right now won't work at all because the struct simply goes out of scope like in the rest of your thread the other replier mentioned.

Microsoft MVP, Visual C# My Articles