Question

I am trying to access settings in my config file, which is a series of xml elements listed as such:

<databases> <database name='DatabaseOne' Value='[value]' /> <database name='DatabaseTwo' Value='[value]' /> </databases> 

Now I want to access it. I have set up classes like so:

Public Class DatabaseConfigurationHandler     Inherits ConfigurationSection      <ConfigurationProperty('Databases', IsDefaultCollection:=True)> _    Public ReadOnly Property Databases() As DatabaseCollection         Get             Return CType(Me('Databases'), DatabaseCollection)         End Get     End Property End Class  Public Class DatabaseCollection     Inherits ConfigurationElementCollection      Protected Overloads Overrides Function CreateNewElement() As ConfigurationElement         Return (New Database())     End Function      Protected Overloads Overrides Function GetElementKey(ByVal element As ConfigurationElement) As Object         Return (CType(element, Database).DatabaseName)     End Function  End Class  Public Class Database     Inherits ConfigurationElement      <ConfigurationProperty('name', IsKey:=True, IsRequired:=True)> _        Public Property DatabaseName() As String         Get             Return Me('name').ToString()         End Get         Set(ByVal Value As String)             Me('name') = Value         End Set     End Property       <ConfigurationProperty('value', IsRequired:=True)> _ Public Property DatabaseValue() As String         Get             Return Me('value').ToString()         End Get         Set(ByVal Value As String)             Me('value') = Value         End Set     End Property  End Class 

I want to be able get the element by it’s name and return the value but I can’t see to do that:

Dim config As New DatabaseConfigurationHandler                 config = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.GetSection('databases/database')                 Return config.Databases('DatabaseOne') 

Am I missing some code, what am I doing wrong? Any other errors in the above?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Here’s a cut and paste from something very similar I did a few days ago.

Config:

  <ListConfigurations>     <lists>       <add Name='blah' EndpointConfigurationName='blah' ListName='blah' ConnectionString='blah' TableName='blah' FieldsCsv='blah' DbFieldsCsv='blah'/>       <add Name='blah2' EndpointConfigurationName='blah' ListName='blah' ConnectionString='blah' TableName='blah' FieldsCsv='blah' DbFieldsCsv='blah'/>     </lists>   </ListConfigurations> 

Config section C#:

using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Configuration;  namespace App {     /// <summary>     /// Individual list configuration     /// </summary>     class ListConfiguration : ConfigurationElement     {         [ConfigurationProperty('Name', IsKey = true, IsRequired = true)]         public string Name         {             get { return (string)this['Name']; }         }          [ConfigurationProperty('EndpointConfigurationName', IsRequired = true)]         public string EndpointConfigurationName         {             get { return (string)this['EndpointConfigurationName']; }         }          [ConfigurationProperty('ListName', IsRequired = true)]         public string ListName         {             get { return (string)this['ListName']; }         }          [ConfigurationProperty('ConnectionString', IsRequired = true)]         public string ConnectionString         {             get { return (string)this['ConnectionString']; }         }          [ConfigurationProperty('TableName', IsRequired = true)]         public string TableName         {             get { return (string)this['TableName']; }         }          [ConfigurationProperty('FieldsCsv', IsRequired = true)]         public string FieldsCsv         {             get { return (string)this['FieldsCsv']; }         }          [ConfigurationProperty('DbFieldsCsv', IsRequired = true)]         public string DbFieldsCsv         {             get { return (string)this['DbFieldsCsv']; }         }     }      /// <summary>     /// Collection of list configs     /// </summary>     class ListConfigurationCollection : ConfigurationElementCollection     {         protected override ConfigurationElement CreateNewElement()         {             return new ListConfiguration();         }          protected override object GetElementKey(ConfigurationElement element)         {             return ((ListConfiguration)element).Name;         }     }      /// <summary>     /// Config section     /// </summary>     class ListConfigurationSection : ConfigurationSection     {         [ConfigurationProperty('lists')]         public ListConfigurationCollection Lists         {             get { return (ListConfigurationCollection)this['lists']; }         }     } } 

And the code to pick it up from the main app:

ListConfigurationSection configSection = null; try {     configSection = ConfigurationManager.GetSection('ListConfigurations') as ListConfigurationSection; } catch (System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException) { }