This PR replaces the legacy ApplicationData-based settings system with a new SettingsHelper class. It adds support for both packaged and unpackaged app scenarios.

Closes#1924.

Old Settings System:

appData.LocalSettings.Values[SettingsKeys.IsLeftMode] = true;
New Settings System:

SettingsHelper.Current.IsLeftMode = true;

Note

Settings are automatically saved when changed.

SettingsHelper Architecture:

Uses an ISettingsProvider abstraction.
In packaged mode: usesApplicationDataContainer.
In unpackaged mode: usesJsonSettingsProvider.

Adding a New Setting:

public bool IsEnabled{    get => GetOrCreateDefault<bool>(true);    set => Set(value);}

ghost1372 added8 commits

August 7, 2025 16:02

Implemented new settings system

9a9ae94

Replace Old Settings with New Settings

d5b5b9c

Remove Old Settings

8def68c

Rename Settings to SettingsHelper

c42d4d0

Remove unused codes

ec0bacf

Fix ScratchPadPage

51c3447

Update MainWindow.xaml.cs

b3da70f

use Try/Catch in Get methods

5bf1266

ghost1372 mentioned this pull request

Aug 7, 2025

Refactor Application Settings with AppConfig and JSON Storage Support for Packaged/Unpackaged Apps #1924#2001

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ghost1372 referenced this pull request

Aug 10, 2025

refactor: migrate toMicrosoft.Windows.Storage.ApplicationData and …

1d59dfe

…centralize settings keys (#1900)## Description- Replace `Windows.Storage.ApplicationData` with`Microsoft.Windows.Storage.ApplicationData`.- Centralize Settings Keys in a `SettingsKeys` Class.- define key constants in `ScratchPadPage`.## Motivation and Context-Closes#1892-Closes#1893## How Has This Been Tested?**Manually tested**## Screenshots (if appropriate):## Types of changes<!--- What types of changes does your code introduce? Put an `x` in allthe boxes that apply: -->- [ ] Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)- [x] New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)- [ ] Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existingfunctionality to change)Co-authored-by: Niels Laute <niels.laute@live.nl>

Zakariathr22 reviewed

Aug 10, 2025

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Just a few points that I think are important, but of course after hearing@marcelwgn’s opinion about them.

WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Internals/ListExtensions.cs OutdatedShow resolvedHide resolved

WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Internals/Vectors.cs OutdatedShow resolvedHide resolved

WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Providers/ApplicationDataSettingsProvider.csShow resolvedHide resolved

WinUIGallery/Pages/HomePage.xaml.csShow resolvedHide resolved

WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/ObservableSettings.csShow resolvedHide resolved

WinUIGallery/Pages/SettingsPage.xaml.cs OutdatedShow resolvedHide resolved

ghost1372 added4 commits

August 10, 2025 21:32

Make ListExtensions More Generic

181fc43

Add Common Methods for Favorites and RecentlyVisited to Simplify Thei…

40e76e0

…r Usage

Remove Unsued Vector Wrapper

7f04f89

Remove ScratchPadXaml Setting

d8c7891

niels9001 requested review fromCopilot andmarcelwgn

August 30, 2025 13:00

CopilotAI reviewed

Aug 30, 2025

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Pull Request Overview

This PR refactors the application settings system by replacing the legacy ApplicationData-based approach with a new SettingsHelper class that provides type-safe property access and supports both packaged and unpackaged app scenarios.

Introduces a new SettingsHelper class with an ISettingsProvider abstraction
Replaces string-based settings keys with strongly-typed properties
Adds JSON-based settings storage for unpackaged apps while maintaining ApplicationData support for packaged apps

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 18 out of 18 changed files in this pull request and generated 5 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
SettingsHelper/SettingsHelper.cs	New settings class with type-safe properties and update methods
SettingsHelper/Providers/*	Provider abstraction with ApplicationData and JSON implementations
SettingsHelper/ObservableSettings.cs	Base class providing property change notifications and storage operations
SettingsHelper/Internals/*	Support classes for JSON serialization and list operations
SettingsKeys.cs	Removed legacy string-based settings keys
Various pages/helpers	Updated to use new SettingsHelper.Current API instead of legacy methods

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WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Providers/JsonSettingsProvider.cs

Comment on lines +67 to +70

		catch(Exception)
		{
		HandleCorruptedFile();
		}

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[nitpick] Catching generic Exception can hide unexpected errors. Consider catching specific exceptions like JsonException or IOException for better error handling.

Suggested change

	catch(Exception)
	{
	HandleCorruptedFile();
	}
	catch(JsonException)
	{
	HandleCorruptedFile();
	}
	catch(IOException)
	{
	HandleCorruptedFile();
	}

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ghost1372Aug 30, 2025

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Having multiple specific exceptions can be useful for clarity, but in this case, it may not be necessary. We could handle multiple error cases with a single exception type, which would allow us to catch all errors uniformly instead of only the predefined ones.

WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Providers/ApplicationDataSettingsProvider.cs Outdated

Comment on lines 41 to 45

		catch(Exception)
		{
		HandleCorruptedKey(key);
		returndefault;
		}

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[nitpick] Catching generic Exception can hide unexpected errors. Consider catching specific exceptions like JsonException or InvalidCastException for better error handling.

Suggested change

	catch(Exception)
	{
	HandleCorruptedKey(key);
	returndefault;
	}
	catch(JsonException)
	{
	HandleCorruptedKey(key);
	returndefault;
	}
	catch(InvalidCastException)
	{
	HandleCorruptedKey(key);
	returndefault;
	}
	catch(FormatException)
	{
	HandleCorruptedKey(key);
	returndefault;
	}

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Like above

WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Providers/ApplicationDataSettingsProvider.csShow resolvedHide resolved

WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Providers/ApplicationDataSettingsProvider.cs OutdatedShow resolvedHide resolved

WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Providers/JsonSettingsProvider.cs OutdatedShow resolvedHide resolved

ghost1372and others added2 commits

August 30, 2025 16:50

Update WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Providers/JsonSettingsProv…

9bcced4

…ider.csCo-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Update WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Providers/ApplicationDataS…

b14fbb0

…ettingsProvider.csCo-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

marcelwgn self-assigned this

Sep 8, 2025

Merge branch 'main' into AppSettings

b5a7e56

Zakariathr22 reviewed

Sep 9, 2025

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Looks like there’s an issue when running the app unpackaged:

Navigate toApp notification page
ClickShow notification button

The app crashes with an unhandled exception.

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ghost1372 commentedSep 10, 2025

Looks like there’s an issue when running the app unpackaged:
Navigate toApp notification page
ClickShow notification button
The app crashes with an unhandled exception.

TheAppNotificationManager throws an "Element Not Found" exception and is not related to this PR!
This crash can be easily fixed but should be addressed in a separate PR.

As describedhere, we need to register it. I tested it, and it works fine in the unpackaged scenario. So, this requires additional work and should be done in a separate PR (we can keep the current logic for packaged mode and add a registration/scenario for unpackaged mode). Here are the Microsoft docs and samples for unpackaged scenarios.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/develop/notifications/app-notifications/app-notifications-quickstart?tabs=cs
https://github.com/microsoft/WindowsAppSDK-Samples/tree/main/Samples/Notifications/App/CsUnpackagedAppNotifications/CsUnpackagedAppNotifications

marcelwgn requested changes

Sep 28, 2025

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Thank you for working on this! There are some comments and one issue surrounding lists.

Previously, we used a string and comma separated the entries in there to represent that. The new code doesnt account for that which results in people losing their favorites and recently viewed as the old field (string) does not match the expected type (list of strings).
We need some conversion code for those so we can migrate users.

WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Internals/ListExtensions.cs OutdatedShow resolvedHide resolved

WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Providers/SettingsProviderFactory.cs OutdatedShow resolvedHide resolved

WinUIGallery/MainWindow.xaml.cs

		privatevoidSetWindowProperties()
		{
		#ifDEBUG
		#ifDEBUG\|\|DEBUG_UNPACKAGED

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Is Debug_Unpackaged not also ifdeffing DEBUG?

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In Unpackaged Mode with theDebug profile, I always encounter COM registration exceptions.

However, if I useDebug-Unpackaged, the app works fine, but the 'Dev' text does not appear unless I add || DEBUG_UNPACKAGED

WinUIGallery/Samples/ControlPages/Fundamentals/ScratchPadPage.xaml.cs

		}

		m_oldText=xamlStr;
		m_oldText=GetDefaultScratchXAML();

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Is it intentional we are no longer storing the xaml scratchpad content?

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Yes, more info here
#2014 (comment)

WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Providers/ApplicationDataSettingsProvider.cs OutdatedShow resolvedHide resolved

WinUIGallery/Helpers/SettingsHelper/Providers/ApplicationDataSettingsProvider.cs Outdated

		return(T)JsonSerializer.Deserialize(str,typeInfo);
		}

		return(T)Convert.ChangeType(value,typeof(T));

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This is a bit suspicious, are we actually hitting this?

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Since it’s been a long time since these lines were added, I don’t remember the exact reason (I am very busy these days.😅), but it was probably to prevent crashes and handle settings stored by the previous system. If you prefer, I can replace it with anInvalidCastException.

ghost1372 added5 commits

September 28, 2025 16:15

Merge branch 'main' into AppSettings

0e36b3f

Rename ListExtensions methods for clarity

e523217

Renamed AddToFirst and AddToLast extension methods to AddAsFirst and AddAsLast for improved clarity and consistency.

Use product name for settings folder path

425e96e

Replaces usage of ProductNameAndVersion with ProductName

Refactor Get<T>: restrict try/catch to JSON deserialization only

0361951

Add one-time migration for Favorites and RecentlyVisited from old Set…

1982f07

…tingsHelper to new SettingsHelper

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ghost1372 commentedSep 28, 2025

Hi@marcelwgn
Thank you for your review.
I’ve addressed the suggestions you made earlier.
I’ve added migration methods to preserve the user’s Favorites and Recently Visited items.

Merge branch 'main' into AppSettings

90a12b8

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Refactor Application Settings and Support for Packaged/Unpackaged Mode #1924#2014

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SettingsHelper Architecture:

Adding a New Setting:

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Pull Request Overview

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ghost1372 commentedAug 7, 2025•
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