Use ini/appconfig file or sql server file to store user config?

Posted by h2g2java on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by h2g2java
Published on 2010-05-16T04:48:40Z Indexed on 2010/05/16 4:50 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 251

Filed under:

c#

|

ini-file

|

app.config

|

sql-server

I know that the preference for INI or appconfig XML is their human readability.

Let's say user preferences stored for my app are hierarchical and numbers about a thousand items and it would be really confusing for a user to edit an INI to change things anyway.

I have always been using a combination of INI with appconfig.

I am leaning towards using sql server db file, now. Every time the user changes a preference while using the app, it would be stored into the db file - that's my line of thought. I am also thinking that such a config db file could move around with the app too, just like an INI.

Before I do that, any advice
1. If there are any disadvantages against using a db file over INI or appconfig.
2. If a shop uses mysql or oracle, do you think your colleagues would lift up their pro-mysql or pro-oracle eyebrow questioning why you would use sql server technology in a mysql or oracle shop? I mean, I am just using it like an INI file or app.config anyway, right?

© Stack Overflow or respective owner

Related posts about c#

.NET WebRequest.PreAuthenticate not quite what it sounds like

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
I’ve run into the problem a few times now: How to pre-authenticate .NET WebRequest calls doing an HTTP call to the server – essentially send authentication credentials on the very first request instead of waiting for a server challenge first? At first glance this sound like it should be easy:… >>> More
HttpWebRequest and Ignoring SSL Certificate Errors

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
Man I can't believe this. I'm still mucking around with OFX servers and it drives me absolutely crazy how some these servers are just so unbelievably misconfigured. I've recently hit three different 3 major brokerages which fail HTTP validation with bad or corrupt certificates at least according to… >>> More
Dynamic Type to do away with Reflection

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
The dynamic type in C# 4.0 is a welcome addition to the language. One thing I’ve been doing a lot with it is to remove explicit Reflection code that’s often necessary when you ‘dynamically’ need to walk and object hierarchy. In the past I’ve had a number of ReflectionUtils that used string based expressions… >>> More
The dynamic Type in C# Simplifies COM Member Access from Visual FoxPro

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
I’ve written quite a bit about Visual FoxPro interoperating with .NET in the past both for ASP.NET interacting with Visual FoxPro COM objects as well as Visual FoxPro calling into .NET code via COM Interop. COM Interop with Visual FoxPro has a number of problems but one of them at least got a lot… >>> More
Finding a Relative Path in .NET

as seen on West-Wind - Search for 'West-Wind'
Here’s a nice and simple path utility that I’ve needed in a number of applications: I need to find a relative path based on a base path. So if I’m working in a folder called c:\temp\templates\ and I want to find a relative path for c:\temp\templates\subdir\test.txt I want to receive back subdir\test… >>> More

Related posts about ini-file

Problem in retrieving the ini file through web page

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Hi All, I am using an .ini file to store some values and retrieve values from it using the iniparser. When I give (hardcode) the query and retrive the value through the command line, I am able to retrive the ini file and do some operation. But when I pass the query through http, then I am getting… >>> More
reading 2 lines from IniFile

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
Trying again. On advice, adding the piece of code that I do understand. I am fine with the fact that I have to save 4 bits of information in two lines like so: IniFile.WriteString('TestSection','Name','Country'); IniFile.WriteString('TestSection','City','Street'); My question is more about loading… >>> More
Including variables inside curly braces in a Zend config ini file on Linux

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
I am trying to include a variable in a .ini file setting by surrounding it with curly braces, and Zend is complaining that it cannot parse it properly on Linux. It works properly on Windows, though: welcome_message = Welcome, {0}. This is the error that is being thrown on Linux: : Uncaught exception… >>> More
Read line comments in INI file

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
The parse_ini_file function removes comments in configuration files. What would you do to keep the comments that are associated with the next line? For example: [email] ; Verify that the email's domain has a mail exchange (MX) record. validate_domain = true Am thinking of using X(HT)ML and… >>> More
How to translate a config.ini file into C#.NET objects

as seen on Stack Overflow - Search for 'Stack Overflow'
config.ini: [globalloads] plugin.SWPlugin = 1 plugin.SWPlugin.params.1 = true plugin.SWPlugin.params.2 = 10 [testz : globballoads] plugin.SWPlugin.params.2 = 20 Simple enough? // load testz config and programmatically create this equivalent code: SWPluginAbstract p = new SWPlugin(true, 20); If… >>> More