Change the Order of Your Application Settings

Versions:  2008,2010
Published:  11/27/2010
Code:  vstipProj0024

 

When working in your project properties you will sometimes find yourself using a variety of Application Settings (I'm assuming you know how to create/use application settings, if not you can go to https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/a65txexh.aspx):

 

But what if you want to organize these settings?  For example, if you want the WindowColor to be with the other color settings what would you do?  Simple! 

 

 

WARNING:  This requires you to manually edit your settings file which could get you into trouble if you mess it up.  Do this at your own risk.  Also, make a copy of your settings file BEFORE editing it so you can recover if there is a problem.

 

First save your changes and close the properties tab.  Now open up the project location:

 

Locate go into your Properties folder:

 

Locate your Settings file:

 

Open it up with a text editor (I'll use Notepad here):

 

Notice that each setting is encapsulated in the <Setting> elements?  We just need to rearrange the elements in the order we want them.  So select the "WindowColor" <Setting> element:

 

Then just CUT and PASTE it where you want the setting to show up.  For this example, I want it to show up after "ForegroundColor":

 

Save your changes and close the file then go back into your Project properties to see the settings arranged in the new order:

 

That's it!  Now you can have well organized application settings.