Question

I currently have 2 x ASP.NET 3.5 web applications in IIS7 (lets call them WebParent and WebChild).

WebChild is nested within the WebParent listing in IIS7 and is set up as an application (rather than just a virtual directory within WebParent). Both currently use their own (Classic) application pool.

Both WebParent and WebChild have their own fully defined web.config files in their own root directories.

I had assumed that seeing as WebChild is defined as an ‘Application’ within IIS, that it would not inherit anything from the WebParent configuration file. However, despite this configuration, I am seeing errors related to various elements within the web.config already being defined (which is correct, there are a couple items that are in both config files, but I thought they should be treated completely independently from one another)?

Can anyone please clarify why this might be occurring?

Answer 1

If they are repeated, you’ll have to <remove/> then in the child application web.config first, then add back the element you’d like it it’s place. This is assuming that you’d like to have a different value. If you don’t, then just omit the element. A connection string would be a good example of something that is likely common for all applications – so you only need to specify it in the root.

Example:

    <siteMap defaultProvider="AdminSiteMapProvider" enabled="true">
      <providers>
        <remove name="AdminSiteMapProvider"/>
        <add name="AdminSiteMapProvider" description="Admin SiteMap provider" type="System.Web.XmlSiteMapProvider" siteMapFile="~/App_Data/admin.sitemap" securityTrimmingEnabled="true" />
      </providers>
    </siteMap>