Cogwheel

Cogwheel (formerly Tyrrrz.Settings) is a simple library for storing and retrieving settings in desktop applications. It serves as a replacement for the built-in System.Configuration.SettingsBase class, and offers more customization and flexibility.

Terms of use[?]

By using this project or its source code, for any purpose and in any shape or form, you grant your implicit agreement to all the following statements:

• You condemn Russia and its military aggression against Ukraine
• You recognize that Russia is an occupant that unlawfully invaded a sovereign state
• You support Ukraine's territorial integrity, including its claims over temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas
• You reject false narratives perpetuated by Russian state propaganda

To learn more about the war and how you can help, click here. Glory to Ukraine! 🇺🇦

Install

• 📦 NuGet: dotnet add package Cogwheel

Usage

To define your own application settings, create a class that inherits from SettingsBase:

using Cogwheel;

public class MySettings() : SettingsBase("path/to/settings.json")
{
    public string StringSetting { get; set; } = "foo";

    public int IntSetting { get; set; } = 42;
}

Using an instance of this class, you can load, modify, and save settings:

var settings = new MySettings();

settings.Load();

settings.StringSetting = "bar";
settings.IntSetting = 1337;

settings.Save();

You can also restore settings to their default values:

var settings = new MySettings();

settings.StringSetting = "bar";
settings.IntSetting = 1337;

settings.Reset();

// settings.StringSetting == "foo"
// settings.IntSetting == 42

Customizing behavior

Under the hood, Cogwheel uses System.Text.Json to serialize and deserialize settings. You can use various attributes defined in that namespace to customize the serialization behavior:

using Cogwheel;
using System.Text.Json.Serialization;

public class MySettings() : SettingsBase("path/to/settings.json")
{
    [JsonPropertyName("string_setting")]
    public string StringSetting { get; set; } = "foo";

    [JsonIgnore]
    public int IntSetting { get; set; } = 42;
}

You can also provide a custom JsonSerializerOptions instance to further customize the serialization process:

using Cogwheel;
using System.Text.Json;

public class MySettings() : SettingsBase(
    "path/to/settings.json",
    new JsonSerializerOptions { PropertyNamingPolicy = JsonNamingPolicy.CamelCase }
)
{
    public string StringSetting { get; set; } = "foo";

    public int IntSetting { get; set; } = 42;
}

Compile-time serialization

If you want to use compile-time serialization as opposed to relying on reflection, you need to provide a valid IJsonTypeInfoResolver instance. You can provide it either directly or as part of a JsonSerializerOptions instance:

using Cogwheel;
using System.Text.Json.Serialization;

public class MySettings() : SettingsBase(
    "path/to/settings.json",
    MyJsonSerializerContext.Default
    // Or:
    // new JsonSerializationOptions { TypeInfoResolver = MyJsonSerializerContext.Default }
)
{
    public string StringSetting { get; set; } = "foo";

    public int IntSetting { get; set; } = 42;
}

// Define a custom JSON serialization context for auto-generated code
[JsonSerializable(typeof(MySettings))]
internal partial class MyJsonSerializerContext : JsonSerializerContext;

Note: To learn more about compile-time serialization in System.Text.Json, see the official documentation.