ConfigDb is an alternative to using XML configuration files and the Windows Registry for your .NET applications.  If you're like many people who don't like using XML config files for storing and retrieving application data, then ConfigDb is for you.  Using the Windows Registry can have its own issues with user permissions.  ConfigDb solves these issues by providing a simple yet powerful configuration database tool.

So what is it?  ConfigDb has two components:  A source code file which you include in your project and which uses FileDb as the database file.  The other is an Editor tool which you can use to view/edit ConfigDb files.  This is a free tool you can distribute the Editor with your applications if you need your users to be able to edit ConfigDb files.

ConfigDb.cs is a source code file you include in your project, rather than a compiled DLL.  This reduces the number of DLLs to ship - you only need to ship the FileDb DLL.

ConfigDb only supports two field types:  String and String array.  Even though FileDb supports other native types (e.g. Int, Bool, DateTime, etc.), we only need these two types for ConfigDb since all types can be represented as a String.

You use ConfigDb much like you do the Windows Registry.  That is, its organized by a tree of Keys which can have Values.  To get and set values, we use ConfigDb.OpenKey, ConfigDb.SetValue and ConfigDb.GetValue.  This makes it super easy to read and write application data from your ConfigDb files.  No more struggling with issues like "how can I write a setting to my XML config file?".  What about arrays of values?  Its all easy now with ConfigDb.  Here is a code snippet for opening a ConfigDb file and reading a value.

// open the file
string configFilename = Path.Combine( Application.StartupPath, "app.configdb" );
ConfigDb configDb = new ConfigDb();
configDb.Open( configFilename );

// open the Key
ConfigDbKey key = configDb.OpenKey( ConfigDbKey.CurrentUser, "Settings", false );

// get the value as a String
string value = configDb.GetValue( key, "CmdTimeout");

// get the same value as an Int
Int iValue = configDb.GetValueAsInt( key, "CmdTimeout");

// set a value
configDb.SetValue( key, "CmdTimeout", ConfigDbDataType.String, 90 );

// set an array value
configDb.SetValue( key, "StringArray", ConfigDbDataType.String, new String[] { "s1", "s2", "s3" } );
 

You can see how easy it is to use ConfigDb instead of XML config files.

 
ConfigDb Editor

We have developed the ConfigDb Editor tool so you can visualize and edit your ConfigDb files.  This as a FREE tool that you can distribute with your applications if you need to.   FileDb is very much like RegEdit, the Windows Registry editor which ships with Windows.