C# External Config File

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Objective

The objective of this is just to try to get the data from a config file for the database connection.

The situation is where one would have a C# executable on a server that would be executed by the webpage.

The security standards are that we don’t want the connection string in the SVN/GIT repository at all (besides these “test” ones that are dummy).

That also includes having the connection string in the code that will be in the repository (SVN/GIT).

The security standards and common sense also say we shouldn’t have the config file with the connection string in a directory accessible via the web.

Only something that would be accessible by the EXE.

The XML config file is the format provided below….

    <configuration>
        <connectionStrings>
            <add name="webDB" connectionString="Data Source=101.1.1.1;Initial Catalog=myDb;User ID=mySecureID;Password=password" />
        </connectionStrings>
    </configuration>

NOTE: Change the Data Source string to what you need it, mine was changed for example purposes.
NOTE: Change the “name=“webDB”” part of the config file to whatever you want it to be so it can be referenced later on easier.

In this example, I am going to pull the information from the config file.
Then I am going to just output the values to the console as a test.
This is just meant to be a basic example and template. Hopefully to help and teach people, as well as myself.

Get the contents of the config file.

    // set the location of the configuration file
    string configFileLocale = @"C:\GDrive\work\db.config";

    // create object for the filemap and the config
    System.Configuration.Configuration config;
    var fileMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();

    // set file map to the given location of the file
    fileMap.ExeConfigFilename = configFileLocale;

    // initiate config by using the config manager and opening a mapped configuration
    config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(fileMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);

    // do a check and see if the config object has a file
    if (config.HasFile)
    {
        // do work
    }

Test looping through the object that we just got…..by calling a function….

    // function to just write the to output the object
    private static void WriteLineOfConfig(System.Configuration.Configuration config)
    {
        // Output different things to see what we get based on the config file
        Console.WriteLine(config.ToString());                                       // Output = System.Configuration.Configuration
        Console.WriteLine(config.ConnectionStrings.ToString());                     // Output = System.Configuration.CongigurationStringsSection
        Console.WriteLine(config.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings.ToString());   // Output = System.Congifuration.ConfigurationSettingsCollection

        // explicitly look for the connection object and set to a setting
        ConnectionStringSettings setting1 = config.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings["webDB"];

        // Output different things to see what the "setting" object is made up of
        Console.WriteLine(setting1);                                                // Output = "Data Source=........" (without quotes)
        Console.WriteLine(setting1.ToString());                                     // Output = "Data Source=........" (without quotes)

        // loop through each setting in the config file
        foreach (ConnectionStringSettings setting in config.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(setting.ToString());                                  // Output = "Data Source=........" and the current data sources inside the C# program(???) (without quotes)
        }
    }

Put it all together now in one single function.

    // adding a full example of a function to get the information
    private static string GetDBConn(string configFileLocale, string dbConnName)
    {
        // initiate the connection string to be returned
        string connString = "";

        // setup default value - if nothing is passed then use this generic location (potentially not have a file there)
        if (configFileLocale == null)
        {
            // set the location of the configuration file
            configFileLocale = @"C:\GDrive\work\db.config";
        }

        // create object for the filemap and the config
        System.Configuration.Configuration config;
        var fileMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();

        // set file map to the given location of the file
        fileMap.ExeConfigFilename = configFileLocale;

        // initiate config by using the config manager and opening a mapped configuration
        config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(fileMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);

        // do a check and see if the config object has a file
        if (config.HasFile)
        {
            // explicitly look for the connection object and set to a setting
            ConnectionStringSettings setting1 = config.ConnectionStrings.ConnectionStrings[dbConnName];

            // the Connection String Settings object from above needs to be converted to a string
            connString = setting1.ToString();
        }

        // return the connection string
        return connString;
    }