Loading default values from .INI Files

A bit of background:

I am currently working on an application that allows novice computer users to test their ping without having to go into the command prompt.

My application works, but I would very much like to take the application to the nex开发者_C百科t level and feed in default form values from a locally stored .INI file.

I can give people the existing code, but I stress that this application works - I am just interested in advancing the code so I can read in default form values.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Net;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Net.NetworkInformation;

namespace Ping_Application
{
  public partial class Form1 : Form
  {
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    private void pingButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (pingAddressTextBox.Text != "")
        {
            DataTable resultsList = new DataTable();
            resultsList.Columns.Add("Time", typeof(int));
            resultsList.Columns.Add("Status", typeof(string));

            for (int indexVariable = 1; indexVariable <= timesToPing.Value; indexVariable++)
            {
                string stat = "";
                Ping pinger = new Ping();

                PingReply reply = pinger.Send(pingAddressTextBox.Text);
                if (reply.Status.ToString() != "Success")
                    stat = "Failed";
                else
                    stat = reply.RoundtripTime.ToString();
                pinger.Dispose();
                resultsList.Rows.Add(Convert.ToInt32(reply.RoundtripTime), reply.Status.ToString());
            }

            resultsGrid.DataSource = resultsList;

            minPing.Text = resultsList.Compute("MIN(time)", "").ToString();

            maxPing.Text = resultsList.Compute("MAX(time)", "").ToString();

            avgPing.Text = resultsList.Compute("AVG(time)", "").ToString();
        }
        else
        {
            MessageBox.Show("You are required to enter an address.");
        }
    }
    private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
    }
  }
}

I am uncertain how to go about it? Where would the default.ini file be stored for my application?

Also any comments on the existing code are welcomed.

If anyone can help I would be grateful.

Many Thanks, J

---

You can store your default values in ini file (i.e config file), this default file will be stored in your system D or C folder...

and from that file you can get those default values from the ini file by the following method

 /// <summary>
/// This will read config.ini file and return the specific value
/// </summary>
/// <param name="MainSection">Main catergory name</param>
/// <param name="key">name of the key in main catergory</param>
/// <param name="defaultValue">if key is not in the section, then default value</param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static string getIniValue(string MainSection, string key, string defaultValue)
{
  IniFile inif = new IniFile(AppDataPath() + @"\config.ini");
  string value = "";

  value = (inif.IniReadValue(MainSection, key, defaultValue));
  return value;
}

public static string AppDataPath()
{
  gCommonAppDataPath = @"c:\" + gCompanyName + @"\" + gProductName; // your config file location path
  return gCommonAppDataPath;
}

make a class like this INifile.cs and place the below code in ini.cs

 public class IniFile
 {
    public string path;

    [DllImport("kernel32")]
    private static extern long WritePrivateProfileString(string section,string key,string val,string filePath);
    [DllImport("kernel32")]
    private static extern int GetPrivateProfileString(string section,string key,string def,StringBuilder retVal,int size,string filePath);

    /// <summary>
    /// INIFile Constructor.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="INIPath"></param>
    public IniFile(string INIPath)
    {
        path = INIPath;
    }
    /// <summary>
    /// Write Data to the INI File
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="Section"></param>
    /// Section name
    /// <param name="Key"></param>
    /// Key Name
    /// <param name="Value"></param>
    /// Value Name
    public void IniWriteValue(string Section,string Key,string Value)
    {
        WritePrivateProfileString(Section,Key,Value,this.path);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Read Data Value From the Ini File
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="Section"></param>
    /// <param name="Key"></param>
    /// <param name="Path"></param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public string IniReadValue(string Section,string Key,string Default)
    {
        StringBuilder temp = new StringBuilder(255);
        int i = GetPrivateProfileString(Section,Key,Default,temp,255,this.path);
        return temp.ToString();

    }
    public void IniWriteString(string Section, string Key, string Value)
    {
        WritePrivateProfileString(Section, Key, Value, this.path);
    }
    public string IniReadString(string Section, string Key, string Default)
    {
        StringBuilder temp = new StringBuilder(255);
        int i = GetPrivateProfileString(Section, Key, Default, temp, 255, this.path);
        return temp.ToString();
    }
 }

and the values in config file look like this ....

  [System]
  GroupCode=xx
  SiteCode=1234
  MemberPrefix=xxx
  AutoStart=no
  EnablePosButton=yes....

you can get this values like by using

string a = getIniValue("System", "Sitecode", "");

you will get the value like this 1234

pls let me know if this is unclear to understand

i hope it will helps you......

---

If you are using Visual Studio 2005/2008 or 2010, using INI might not be a good choice. Instead you can use the off-the-shelf tools provided by Visual Studio, by clicking:

Project> Properties > Settings Tab

where you can add user settings and bind it to your GUI form. Visual Studio takes care of most of the stuff for you, and when you want to reference that variable, use the below syntax:

string LocalString=Properties.Settings.Default.YourSettings;

Moreover, a single call helps to save all the staff to archives.

Properties.Settings.Default.Save();

For even more details, please refer to the book Windows Form 2.0 Data Binding.