If you want to default this setting to DateTime.Now
, or to allow a specific value to be specified, then you probably want some code like this:
Dim magicDate = If(Not String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(
ConfigurationManager.AppSettings("OverrideMagicDate")),
Date.Parse(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings("OverrideMagicDate")),
Date.Now)
And now in app.settings
you leave the OverrideMagicDate
setting value empty to get DateTime.Now
or you supply a specific date.
<add key="OverrideMagicDate" value="" /><!-- DateTime.Now -->
or:
<add key="OverrideMagicDate" value="2012-01-13" /><!-- 13th Jan 2012 -->
You might need to switch Parse
to ParseExact
if you want more control over what format of dates you accept.