How to enable configSource attribute for Custom Configuration Section in .NET?

c# .net configuration app-config configuration-files
E Rolnicki picture E Rolnicki · Dec 29, 2008 · Viewed 16.2k times · Source

following the wealth of information found here how can we get an external .config to work? I've tried the same setup I would use for an external appSettings file, but it is unable to find the file for my custom section.

<configSections>
...
    <section name="CustomSettings" type="Fully.Qualified.TypeName.CustomSettings, AssemblyName" />
</configSections>
<!-- this works -->
<CustomSettings attrib1="val1" attrib2="val2" .../>

however...

<!--this does not work-->
<CustomSettings configSource="someExternalFile.config"/>

where someExternalFile.config would contain

<CustomSettings attrib1="val1" attrib2="val2" .../>

any ideas?

Answer

Charles Bretana picture Charles Bretana · Dec 29, 2008

The actual file, must be placed relative to the project output folder (by default "\bin\debug" or "bin\Release"

Also, The file in your project tree, look at the properties of the file, and make sure the "Copy to Output Directory" setting is set to "Copy Always" or "Copy if Newer"

EDIT: make sure the separate config file has an xml Element header. The entire file contents should read as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<CustomSettings attrib1="val1" attrib2="val2" .../>

Related questions

How do you use sections in c# 4.0 app.config?

I want to use my app config to store the settings for 2 companys, and i'd prefer if it was possible to use a section to seperate the data for one from the other rather then giving them diffrent key names. …

Read More
Use XML includes or config references in app.config to include other config files' settings

I have standard logging, NHibernate, etc. configuration blocks in my app.config and I'd like to extract them into a common XML file that can be included as a reference by all of my applications' app.config files. Is this …

Read More
Do I need to escape backslash in a config file?

I have a config file, myapp.exe.config. In the file I have an attribute with a fullpath filename as the value. <add key="InfoFile" value="c:\temp\info.txt" /> It seems to work if I use a …

Read More