StringCollection changes on Settings.Default.Reload()

Question

In my app Settings.Default.test is a StringCollection . I don't understand why this code

    StringCollection col = new StringCollection();
    col.Add("1\r\n2\r\n");
    Settings.Default.test = col;
    Settings.Default.Save();
    Settings.Default.Reload();

Changes my text 1\\r\\n2\\r\\n to 1\\n2\\n on Reload. Is it default behavior or what? How to restore multiline text in my textbox on restart of my application?

Answer 1

When the data is saved to the user.config settings it will look like this: (c:\\users[username]\\appdata\\local[appname]..\\user.config)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
    <userSettings>
        <EmptyObjects.Properties.Settings>
            <setting name="Setting" serializeAs="Xml">
                <value>
                    <ArrayOfString xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
                        xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
                        <string>1
2
</string>
                    </ArrayOfString>
                </value>
            </setting>
        </EmptyObjects.Properties.Settings>
    </userSettings>
</configuration>

The data is serialized to XML then deserialized to string(s). If you need to preserve the information you can:

• Use tags like <br> to replace \\r and after deserialize replace the <br> with \\r..
• Or implement your own serialization http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8eyb2ct1(v=vs.80).aspx