Configuration

I needed a simple C# class for saving writable application settings. The first attempt was to use Project -> Properties -> Settings, but only user scoped settings are writable. Here’s a simple solution: you will need to add Newtonsoft’s Json.NET (Nuget Json.Net) to your project, if you are not already using it.

using System.IO;
using Newtonsoft.Json;
...

public class AppSettingsBase<T> where T : new()
{
    private const string DefaultSettingsFilename = "settings.json";

    public void Save(string fileName = DefaultSettingsFilename)
    {
        File.WriteAllText(fileName, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(this));
    }

    public static void Save(T settings, string fileName = DefaultSettingsFilename)
    {
        File.WriteAllText(fileName, JsonConvert.SerializeObject(settings));
    }

    public static T Load(string fileName = DefaultSettingsFilename)
    {
        return (File.Exists(fileName)) 
            ? JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<T>(File.ReadAllText(fileName)) : new T();
    }
}

Add your application defined settings to your settings class (derived from the base template):

public class AppSettings : AppSettingsBase<AppSettings>
{
    public Guid ClientId = Guid.Empty;
    public List<string> ServerList = new List<string>();
    public List<string> DatabasesToExclude = new List<string>();

    public bool IsAutoUpdate = true;
    public int AutoUpdaterCheckIntervalHours = 6; 
    public DateTime LastUpdateCheckTime = DateTime.MinValue;

    ...
}

Using your settings is simple:

    AppSettings settings = AppSettings.Load();

    settings.LastUpdateCheckTime = DateTime.UtcNow;
    settings.Save();