Best Way to store configuration setting inside my asp.net mvc application

Question

I am working on a asp.net mvc web application that perform some API calls to other web applications. but currently I am storing the API username, API password and API URL inside my code. As follow:-

using (var client = new WebClient())
                {
                    //  client.Headers[HttpRequestHeader.Accept] = "AddAsset";
                    var query = HttpUtility.ParseQueryString(string.Empty);
                    foreach (string key in formValues)
                    {
                        query[key] = this.Request.Form[key];
                    }

                    query["username"] = "testuser";
                    query["password"] = "……";
                    query["assetType"] = "Rack";
                    query["operation"] = "AddAsset";
var url = new UriBuilder("http://win-spdev:8400/servlets/AssetServlet");
                    url.Query = query.ToString();
                    try
                    {

But storing these setting inside my code will not be flexible in case I need to change the API call settings, and it is not secure. So what is the best way to store these setting . I was thinking to create two database tables one for storing the URL(and there might be multiple URLs sin the future). And another table to store the username and password. So is creating database tables the right way to store these settings.

You could store them in your web.config file. You could also encrypt those settings that require security. — Marko
– Marko, Commented Aug 4, 2013 at 15:52

Meryovi · Accepted Answer · 2022-08-04 14:00:27Z

40

2022 UPDATE: Now in .NET Core you should use the new Configuration API (appSettings.json or other providers / IConfiguration class injected into your classes/controllers), but the same principles apply. Read more about .NET Core configuration here.

You should use the Web.Config file (Configuration API) to store these settings. This way you will be able to update settings without having to recompile your entire application every time. That's the most standard way to store settings in a Web (MVC or WebForms) application, and gives you the possibility to encrypt sensitive settings transparently to your application.

You can access stored settings using the WebConfigurationManager class. Here you can find some examples of how to use it.

Code sample:

Web.config appSettings:

<appSettings>
    <add key="ApiUserName" value="MySampleUsername" />
</appSettings>

C# Code:

string userName = System.Web.Configuration.WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings["ApiUserName"];

edited Aug 4, 2022 at 14:00

answered Aug 4, 2013 at 15:51

Meryovi

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9 Comments

John John Over a year ago

so i have to manually add them to my web.config file?. but how i can retrieve them , and how i can encrypt then decrypt sensitive data ?

Marko Over a year ago

You can retreive them by using: ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Username"] for example

Meryovi Over a year ago

@johnG I updated my answer with some references that will be useful for you.

Issa Fram Over a year ago

Is there any documentation to specifically show that the Web.config will not be recompiled? This is important to me.

Trevor Hart Over a year ago

@IssaFram I'm answering this just for others sake. When you update your web config file it recycles the app pool in iis, this resets your cache, restarts the app, etc. but it does not recompile the application, because it doesn't touch any dlls, it merely modifies a file that iis reads.

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