SetOMatic 1.0.0.11

Set-O-Matic

Simple strongly-typed settings manager

About Set-O-Matic

As Visual Studio has evolved, the built-in SettingsManager library has fallen far behind in functionality. While nearly all other aspects of code development have been integrated into Intellisense and have become strongly-typed, application settings are still only accessible by default as strings which are not visible via Intellisense.

Set-O-Matic is a simple set of T4 templates that, when added to any .Net Framework project, automatically creates a strongly-typed Settings class that is dynamically loaded with values from App.config or Web.config at runtime.

Why use Set-O-Matic?

• Strongly-typed application settings help prevent runtime errors by allowing the compiler to check the types at compile time
• As .Net class properties, all settings are available in IntelliSense at design-time, making errors less likely
• Values in the config file are type-checked at first setting access time, preventing invalid settings from falling through the cracks at runtime
• Connection strings are automatically available through the Settings object
• Compiler-checked code is cleaner code. Help the compiler help you!

Features

• Extremely lightweight. Set-O-Matic adds a single folder and two code files (< 200 kb)
• Completely Automates the importing of all configuration settings into a strongly typed Settings static class
• Automatically loads the current configuration file setting values at runtime into the Settings object
• Setting types are inferred automaically from their values (e.g. "true" becomes bool and "01/01/2025" becomes DateTime)
• Allows the use of IntelliSense to reference all application settings
• Provides a connectionString child class(es) making all connection strings available via the Settings class
• Seamlessly handles transformed config files since values are loaded at runtime
• Type-checking at application startup makes it easy to catch invalid values
• Having strongly typed settings eliminates the need to cast settings throughout the application to match the type they are being used for
• The ability to select any setting from IntelliSense greatly reduces the chances of "fat-finger" errors when referencing a setting
• No dependencies to be deployed. All necessary functionality is included in complied application file (.exe)
• Overall robustness of application code is increased due to fewer opportunities for errors Examples:

<add name="Active" value="true"> becomes public bool Active {get; set;}

<add name="CutoffDate" value="01/01/2025"> becomes public DateTime CutoffDate {get; set;}

Detailed Set-O-Matic ReadMe.md