.net dynamically refresh app.config

.net app-config
Dave picture Dave · Nov 7, 2008 · Viewed 28.4k times · Source

How do I dynamically reload the app.config in a .net Windows application? I need to turn logging on and off dynamically and not just based upon the value at application start.

ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection("appSettings") does not work and I've also tried explicitly opening the config file using OpenExeConfiguration but I always get the cached value at application startup and not the current value.

I've accepted the answer of creating a custom configuration section. As a side note and foolish mistake - if you're running from the IDE there's no point in updating the app.config file and expecting changes. Yuo have to modify the .exe.config file in the bin\debug folder. Doh!

Answer

Patrick Desjardins picture Patrick Desjardins · Nov 7, 2008

You can refresh your own section the way you say:

ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection("yoursection/subsection");

Just move a logging true/false into a section and you'll be fine.

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