Opinions on where to save options

[sinsi]

I have a clock program in progress which has a few options which I was going to save as a binary blob somewhere.
There are many ways to do this, each with their pros and cons.
 - registry   plenty of people dislike storing stuff in the registry
 - data file  what if we don't have write access (e.g. CD-ROM)?
 - resource   write access (as above), AV problems?
 - ADS        only for NTFS

Thoughts?

[daydreamer]

If its supposed to be on any cd or dvd rom,in readme.txt, tell user to install or move to a hd before use,to make it possible to write settings to a config file

[Biterider]

Hi sinsi
Just to complete the list, you can also use an environment variable, which is indirectly a registry entry.

Biterider

[TimoVJL]

Local user profile is a junkyard for many kind of files for user.
An AppData is similar folder for those files.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/shlobj_core/nf-shlobj_core-shgetfolderpatha

[Quin]

I agree with Timo, probably the user's appdata folder  if you're worried about running off read-only media.

[jj2007]

- registry   plenty of people dislike storing stuff in the registry
 - data file  what if we don't have write access (e.g. CD-ROM)?

Just check if you can write to the executable's folder, and if not, use the registry.

[zedd]

- data file  what if we don't have write access (e.g. CD-ROM)?

Just check if you can write to the executable's folder, and if not, use the registry.

I would also check the "user" folders as well for write access. Even in scenarios where the user has limited privileges (a work computer for instance), the user folders are a possibility. In that scenario the registry may not be a viable option.

[Quin]

- data file  what if we don't have write access (e.g. CD-ROM)?

Just check if you can write to the executable's folder, and if not, use the registry.

I would also check the "user" folders as well for write access. Even in scenarios where the user has limited privileges (a work computer for instance), the user folders are a possibility. In that scenario the registry may not be a viable option.

+1, I'd say current directory, user's appdata folder, and then registry, in that order.

[NoCforMe]

My preference, being a registry disliker, is a config file in the application's directory.

As you know, it's really easy to locate that folder by using GetModuleFileName(). That way you don't have config files spread out all over hell and gone.

Of course, if you want to have separate config files depending on what the user's current directory is, you can just write them to that folder.

Seems like a pretty good assumption that both of these schemes should have a writable folder available.

[sinsi]

OK, so my thoughts are
 - exe folder
 - user's appdata folder
 - registry
The data is going to be 4xDWORDs (x, y, font size, text colour) and a unicode font name.

Since it's going to start with Windows, maybe create a shortcut in Startup and use command-line parameters.

use the registry.

jj, I had you pegged as vehemently anti-registry

[NoCforMe]

One thing I'm unclear about here:
What exactly is the "user's appdata folder"?
Is this their <username> folder under Users?

[sinsi]

One thing I'm unclear about here:
What exactly is the "user's appdata folder"?
Is this their <username> folder under Users?

I would use local appdata

Code Select Expand

LOCALAPPDATA=C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local
APPDATA=C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming