Question

How to read this custom configuration from App.config?

<root name="myRoot" type="rootType">
    <element name="myName" type="myType" />
    <element name="hisName" type="hisType" />
    <element name="yourName" type="yourType" />
  </root>

Rather than this:

<root name="myRoot" type="rootType">
  <elements>
    <element name="myName" type="myType" />
    <element name="hisName" type="hisType" />
    <element name="yourName" type="yourType" />
  </elements>
  </root>

Answer 1

To enable your collection elements to sit directly within the parent element (and not a child collection element), you need to redefine your ConfigurationProperty. E.g., let’s say I have a collection element such as:

public class TestConfigurationElement : ConfigurationElement
{
    [ConfigurationProperty("name", IsKey = true, IsRequired = true)]
    public string Name
    {
        get { return (string)this["name"]; }
    }
}

And a collection such as:

[ConfigurationCollection(typeof(TestConfigurationElement), AddItemName = "test")]
public class TestConfigurationElementCollection : ConfigurationElementCollection
{
    protected override ConfigurationElement CreateNewElement()
    {
        return new TestConfigurationElement();
    }

    protected override object GetElementKey(ConfigurationElement element)
    {
        return ((TestConfigurationElement)element).Name;
    }
}

I need to define the parent section/element as:

public class TestConfigurationSection : ConfigurationSection
{
    [ConfigurationProperty("", IsDefaultCollection = true)]
    public TestConfigurationElementCollection Tests
    {
        get { return (TestConfigurationElementCollection)this[""]; }
    }
}

Notice the [ConfigurationProperty("", IsDefaultCollection = true)] attribute. Giving it an empty name, and the setting it as the default collection allows me to define my config like:

<testConfig>
  <test name="One" />
  <test name="Two" />
</testConfig>

Instead of:

<testConfig>
  <tests>
    <test name="One" />
    <test name="Two" />
  </tests>
</testConfig>