Unable to locate app.config file

Question

I am trying to use a app.config file in windows service. The following is my code:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.ServiceProcess;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using System.Configuration;
namespace MonitorBPSService
{
    public partial class MonitorBPSService : ServiceBase
    {      
        public MonitorBPSService()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
        protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
           
                InitializeConfig(); 
                FileSystemWatcher watcher = new FileSystemWatcher();
                NameValueCollection AllAppSettings = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings;
                watcher.Filter = AllAppSettings["FileToMonitor"];
                watcher.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.LastWrite | NotifyFilters.Attributes | NotifyFilters.Size;
                watcher.Changed += new FileSystemEventHandler(watcher_Changed);
                watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
                watcher.Path = AllAppSettings["PathToMonitor"];
        }
        protected override void OnStop()
        {
        }
        protected static void watcher_Changed(Object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
        {            
        }
        private void InitializeConfig()
        {
            ExeConfigurationFileMap myMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
            String exeFileName = @"MonitorBPSService.exe.config";
            Debug.Assert(File.Exists(exeFileName), "The mapped file or path is missing or incorrect!");
            myMap.ExeConfigFilename = exeFileName;
            ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(myMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);            
        }
    }
}

For some reason, the assert statement: "The mapped file or path is missing or incorrect!" always got triggered everytime I tried to run the service. I have verified that the MonitorBPSService.exe.config file do exists and is located in the same folder as the exe file. Any idea what am I missing here? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi,

try this:

   String exeFileName = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + @"MonitorBPSService.exe.config";

---

Bilhan silva

Answer 2

Is that once the service is installed? Check the directory for wherever you've installed it and see if MonitorBPSService.exe.config has been installed.

If it's not there I expect it's not getting deployed properly when the solution is installed. By default I think the properties for "Build Action" = None and "Copy to Output Directory" = Do not copy. I think setting the config file build action to Embedded resource will help. If it's when you debug that the service doesn't work try setting "Copy to Output Directory" = Copy if newer.

Answer 3

Hi Bilhan,

I tried that and it is still giving me the same error.

Regards,

Kel

Answer 4

Hi Nick,

Yes, the MonitorBPSService.exe.config was installed and can be found in the same installation folder as the service.

Regards,

Kel

Answer 5

 

You have to use Refection to get the path where the exe is located.

 

<http://www.rhyous.com/2010/02/05/how-to-get-the-relative-path-folder-the-executable-was-launched-in-as-a-string-in-c-sharp/>

 

Answer 6

Hi Darnold,

Thanks for your reply, will try it out. Anyway, I have built another console application version to test the code above. As I stepped through the breakpoints, I noticed that the exception was from this line:

watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;

The exception thrown was:

System.ArgumentException: The path is not of a legal form.
   at System.IO.Path.NormalizePathFast(String path, Boolean fullCheck)
   at System.IO.Path.NormalizePath(String path, Boolean fullCheck)
   at System.IO.Path.GetFullPathInternal(String path)
   at System.IO.Path.GetFullPath(String path)
   at System.IO.FileSystemWatcher.StartRaisingEvents()
   at System.IO.FileSystemWatcher.set_EnableRaisingEvents(Boolean value)
   at TestConsole.Program.Main(String[] args) in D:\MyProgram\MonitorBPSService\TestConsole\Program.cs:line 26

The followng are the values from the app.config:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
 <appSettings>
  <add key ="PathToMonitor" value="C:\\Documentum\\logs"/>
  <add key ="FileToMonitor" value="BPS.log"/>
 </appSettings>
</configuration>

Once again, the full code for the test console is as follows:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.Diagnostics;
namespace TestConsole
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            try
            {
                InitializeConfig();
                //Configuration cs = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
                FileSystemWatcher watcher = new FileSystemWatcher();
                NameValueCollection AllAppSettings = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings;
                watcher.Filter = AllAppSettings["FileToMonitor"];
                watcher.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.LastWrite | NotifyFilters.Attributes | NotifyFilters.Size;
                watcher.Changed += new FileSystemEventHandler(watcher_Changed);
                watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
                watcher.Path = AllAppSettings["PathToMonitor"];
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
            }
        }
        private static void InitializeConfig()
        {
            ExeConfigurationFileMap myMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
            String exeFileName = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + @"TestConsole.exe.config";
            Debug.Assert(File.Exists(exeFileName), "The mapped file or path is missing or incorrect!");
            myMap.ExeConfigFilename = exeFileName;
            ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(myMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
        }
        protected static void watcher_Changed(Object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
        {
        }
    }
}

Any idea what went wrong? Thanks again.

Regards,
Kel

Answer 7

Hi,

you're setting EnableRisingEvents to true before you set the actual path to monitor, this cause the FileSystemWatcher to start without a path to monito. Just move the EnableRisingEvents = true below the Path = etc

                watcher.Path = AllAppSettings["PathToMonitor"];
  watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;

---

Bilhan silva

Answer 8

Hi Kel Regor,

 I found the Issue, the problem is you are calling  watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true; line before you setting the path so system doesn't found any paths to monitor when enabling the events.

Please find the modified code and its working as i tested locally...

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.Diagnostics;
namespace TestConsole
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            try
            {
                InitializeConfig();
                //Configuration cs = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
                FileSystemWatcher watcher = new FileSystemWatcher();
                NameValueCollection AllAppSettings = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings;
                watcher.Filter = AllAppSettings["FileToMonitor"];
                watcher.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.LastWrite | NotifyFilters.Attributes | NotifyFilters.Size;
                watcher.Changed += new FileSystemEventHandler(watcher_Changed);
                watcher.Path = AllAppSettings["PathToMonitor"];
                watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;
           
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());
            }
        }
        private static void InitializeConfig()
        {
            ExeConfigurationFileMap myMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
            String exeFileName = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + @"ConsoleApplication1.exe.config";
            Debug.Assert(File.Exists(exeFileName), "The mapped file or path is missing or incorrect!");
            myMap.ExeConfigFilename = exeFileName;
            ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(myMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
        }
        protected static void watcher_Changed(Object sender, FileSystemEventArgs e)
        {
        }
    }
}

Hope this will help you ... :)

---

Sai Kumar K http://www.santoshtechnologies.com http://saimaterial.wordpress.com