Question

I am trying to create a custom config section to load the list of ‘ovens’ my application monitors. This is my first experience with config sections and I have tried to follow the examples; but, I can’t figure out what I am missing.

When I try to get the config section I get the following exception:

An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for BurnIn: Could not load type ‘BurnIn.UI.BurnInConfigurationSection’ from assembly ‘System.Configuration, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a’. (C:\MKS\BurnIn\PC_SW\bin\BurnIn.UI.vshost.exe.config line 8)

In my main I have tried:
System.Configuration.Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
if (config.Sections[BurnInSection] == null)
…

BurnInConfigurationSection burnInConfigSection = config.GetSection(BurnInSection) as BurnInConfigurationSection; 

BurnInConfigurationSection burnInConfigSection = ConfigurationManager.GetSection(BurnInSection) as BurnInConfigurationSection;

Everything seems to result in the same exception

When I look at config.FilePath it is “C:\MKS\BurnIn\PC_SW\bin\BurnIn.UI.vshost.exe.config” which I have verified matches the app.config file.

Here are my configuration classes:

namespace BurnIn.UI
{
/// <summary>
/// BurnIn Application configuration section in app.config
/// </summary>
public class BurnInConfigurationSection : ConfigurationSection
{
    [ConfigurationProperty("Ovens", IsDefaultCollection = false)]
    [ConfigurationCollection(typeof(OvenCollection),
        AddItemName = "add",
        ClearItemsName = "clear",
        RemoveItemName = "remove")]
    public OvenCollection Ovens
    {
        get { return (OvenCollection)base["Ovens"]; }
        set { base["Ovens"] = value; }
    }
}

/// <summary>
/// Oven configuration information
/// </summary>
public class OvenConfig : ConfigurationElement
{
    public OvenConfig() { }

    public OvenConfig(string nickName, string mesName, string ip, int slotCount)
    {
        NickName = nickName;
        MesName = mesName;
        IP = ip;
        SlotCount = slotCount;
    }

    [ConfigurationProperty("NickName", DefaultValue = "OvenName", IsRequired = true, IsKey = true)]
    public string NickName
    {
        get { return (string)this["NickName"]; }
        set { this["NickName"] = value; }
    }

    [ConfigurationProperty("MesName", DefaultValue = "MesName", IsRequired = true, IsKey = true)]
    public string MesName
    {
        get { return (string)this["MesName"]; }
        set { this["MesName"] = value; }
    }

    [ConfigurationProperty("IP", DefaultValue = "10.130.110.20", IsRequired = true, IsKey = false)]
    public string IP
    {
        get { return (string)this["IP"]; }
        set { this["IP"] = value; }
    }

    [ConfigurationProperty("SlotCount", DefaultValue = "20", IsRequired = true, IsKey = false)]
    public int SlotCount
    {
        get { return (int)this["SlotCount"]; }
        set { this["SlotCount"] = value; }
    }

}
/// <summary>
/// Collection of Oven Configs
/// </summary>
public class OvenCollection : ConfigurationElementCollection
{
    public OvenCollection()
    {
    }

    public OvenConfig this[int index]
    {
        get { return (OvenConfig)BaseGet(index); }
        set
        {
            if (BaseGet(index) != null)
            {
                BaseRemoveAt(index);
            }
            BaseAdd(index, value);
        }
    }

    public void Add(OvenConfig ovenConfig)
    {
        BaseAdd(ovenConfig);
    }

    public void Clear()
    {
        BaseClear();
    }

    protected override ConfigurationElement CreateNewElement()
    {
        return new OvenConfig();
    }

    protected override object GetElementKey(ConfigurationElement element)
    {
        return ((OvenConfig)element).NickName;
    }

    public void Remove(OvenConfig ovenConfig)
    {
        BaseRemove(ovenConfig.NickName);
    }

    public void RemoveAt(int index)
    {
        BaseRemoveAt(index);
    }

    public void Remove(string name)
    {
        BaseRemove(name);
    }
}
}

Here is my app.config:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="applicationSettings" type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" >
      <section name="Biotronik.NGMP.DAL.Sources.DalBaseSettings" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />
    </sectionGroup>
    <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net"/>
    <section name="BurnIn" type="BurnIn.UI.BurnInConfigurationSection"/>
  </configSections>
  <applicationSettings>
    <Biotronik.NGMP.DAL.Sources.DalBaseSettings>
      <setting name="ConfigFileName" serializeAs="String">
        <value>DalConfig.xml</value>
      </setting>
      <setting name="MappingFileName" serializeAs="String">
        <value>BurnInTestPlanMap.tpx</value>
      </setting>
    </Biotronik.NGMP.DAL.Sources.DalBaseSettings>
  </applicationSettings>
  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="BurnInConnection" connectionString="metadata=res://*/BurnIn.csdl|res://*/BurnIn.ssdl|res://*/BurnIn.msl;provider=Oracle.DataAccess.Client;provider connection string=&quot;DATA SOURCE=XXXX;PASSWORD=xxxx;PERSIST SECURITY INFO=True;USER ID=XXXX&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />
  </connectionStrings>
  <log4net configSource="BurnInLog4net.config"/>
  <BurnIn>
    <Ovens>
      <add NickName="Mark's Oven" MesName="MESBOven" IP="10.130.110.20" SlotCount="5"/>
      <add NickName="Real Oven" MesName="MESOven1" IP="10.130.110.50" SlotCount="20"/>
    </Ovens>
    </BurnIn>
  <startup><supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.0"/></startup>
</configuration>

Answer 1

You have put wrong configuration section type name here:

<section name="Biotronik.NGMP.DAL.Sources.DalBaseSettings"  
    type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=4.0.0.0,  
    Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />

You should use name of your custom configuration section type here:

type="BurnIn.UI.BurnInConfigurationSection, AssemblyWhereThisTypeIsDeclared"