App.config connection string relative path

I need to set in the app.config the sqlite connection string. I want to set the path relative to the debug/release folders the database file will be copied to those folders.

<add name="EmailsSQLite" connectionString="data source=c:\Users\Test\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\TestConsole\Emails\data\EmailDatabase.sqlite" providerName="System.Data.SQLite"/>

and I want to have something like:

<add name="EmailsSQLite" connectionString="data source=\data\EmailDatabase.sqlite" providerName="System.Data.SQLite"/>

Is that possible?

Solution 1:

You can specify a relative path as described in Lefty's answer.

However this will be relative to the current working directory, which will not necessarily be the directory containing your executable.

One way round this is to modify the connection string before using it, e.g.

In app.config:

 connectionString="data source={AppDir}\data\EmailDatabase.sqlite

In your code:

ConnectionStringSettings c = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings[name];    
if (c == null)
{
    ... handle missing connection string ...
}
string fixedConnectionString = c.ConnectionString.Replace("{AppDir}", AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory);
... use fixedConnectionString

Solution 2:

Yes it is possible. Try using |DataDirectory|.

In App.config

<add name="SqliteConnectionString" connectionString="Data Source=|DataDirectory|\Database.sqlite;" providerName="System.Data.SQLite"/>

More information on this page https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc716756.aspx