config fiels in .Net

Hello All I am developing an application in C# and I have my project split the following way :

1. Windows project which contains all of the UI stuff
2. Core project which contains the core functinality
3. Service project which contains all the stuff related to a service which needs to be running in the backgroud


THe issue is that I need to have the user enter some data during installation and the application uses that data. ( all three of the projects need that data)

I have created a Settings file which has the fields that are needed and then during installation I
collect the information and override the config file.

So I have name.Windows.exe -
name.Service.exe
name.Core.dll projects


and they all need to use the data entered by the user during installation.

how can I achieve that?

I have tried creating two config files - one for the service and one for the WIndows

but HOw do I get the information to my Core.dll

There seems to be a problem when I do that - the .dll never updates with the user information but always uses the default values I had during design time.

THanks very much in advance....I really need help with this

Susan

I assume that the Windows application calls methods of the DLL core project. If that is the case, you could achieve it bij making an 'initializer/constructor' of the DLL. When the Windows application starts, pass the information from the windows config file to the DLL, thus somethin like this

core.dll

Code:

---

public void InitializeCore(int configValue1, string configValue2){
  //do somethign with the values, store them in the rigth fields that you need to use
}

---

windows.exe

Code:

---

      static void Main() {

        // initialize the DLL
        core.InitializeCore(Properties.Settings.Default.myIntConfig, Properties.Settings.Default.myStringConfig);

        Application.EnableVisualStyles();
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
        Application.Run(new frmMain());              }

---

I don't know if there are other possibiltys to do this, but this is a working solution

I just wanna tell u that u saved my day....thank u like 1000 times.
I took your idea and implemented it a bit differently.

I created a static class in the core with all the properties that I needed and had that class parse the config file directly and assign the variables.

I still kept the configs for the Service and the UI projets and they still get updated from the install....but the core is not using a settings file anymore.

.dll libraries are supposed to work fine with settings but in reality they don't

Anyway ...thanks again for saving me lotsa trouble.

Susan