What is the best way to store constants or often used values in your program ?

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Hello all

If you have constants, very often used variables (whatever the name is), what is the best way to store them ? does it make a difference ?

Code (static class, const variables, enum, ... etc.)
config file ( appsettings for example )
Database

Posted 16-Jul-14 1:32am

Abdallah Al-Dalleh

Updated 16-Jul-14 1:39am

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Richard MacCutchan 16-Jul-14 7:41am

In code. If they are stored in a file or database then they are not constants, but parameters.

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CHill60 · Answer 1 · 2014-07-16T02:08:00

If they are indeed constant then you can use ... constants. Here is an example with a reasonably good explanation of when/why to use them http://www.dotnetperls.com/const[^]

If you have a set of related data then enums http://www.dotnetperls.com/enum[^] are useful and type-safe.

E.g.

C#

enum WorkingDays
{
    Monday,
    Tuesday,
    Wednesday,
    Thursday
}

clearly shows that I don't work on Fridays (wishful thinking) and my working week starts on a Monday. It also means that the compiler will tell me if I do something silly like

WorkingDays wd = 6;

- which is better than finding out when my program is actually running.

If you have things that are relatively constant but may change in the future then AppSettings may be appropriate http://www.dotnetperls.com/settings[^]. This would be things like connection strings, file locations etc.

I have also used a Database to store "standing data" where there are lots of constant values or semi-constant where they change on a regular basis (e.g. ISA Limits, tax thresholds etc).

So you see there is not really an overall concept of "best" - it depends on the nature of the program you are writing, and you will have to use your judgement on each individual case.