Question

is it possible to create my own custom keys in the asp.net web.config file and iterate through them with C#? How do you do both (where do I put the key? what format?)? I have an application for an intranet that does certain things based upon the IP address of the client. Instead of hard coding those in the codebehind file, I thought I would put them in the web.config and iterate through that. That way I could add or remove from my configuration file without recompiling everything.

My key would have a name, IP address, and maybe other information.

Thank you.

Answer 1

I think this should do it for you…

This is in your web.config…

<configSections>
    <section name="DataBaseKeys" type="System.Configuration.NameValueFileSectionHandler, System, Version=1.0.5000.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"/>
</configSections>
<DataBaseKeys>
    <!--Connection Strings for databases (or IP Addresses or whatever)-->
    <add key="dbCon1" value="Data Source=DbServerPath;Integrated Security=True;database=DbName1"/>
    <add key="dbCon2" value="Data Source=DbServerPath;Integrated Security=True;database=DbName1"/>
    <add key="dbCon3" value="Data Source=DbServerPath;Integrated Security=True;database=DbName1"/>
    <add key="dbCon4" value="Data Source=DbServerPath;Integrated Security=True;database=DbName1"/>
    <add key="dbCon5" value="Data Source=DbServerPath;Integrated Security=True;database=DbName1"/>  
</DataBaseKeys>

This is your code…

using System.Configuration;

using System.Collections.Specialized;

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    LoadDdls();
}

private void LoadDdls()
{
    NameValueCollection nvcDbKeys = GetDbKeys();

    //Loop through the collection       
    for (int i = 0; i < nvcDbKeys.Count; i++)
    {
        // "Keys" is the "key" - Get(int) is the "value"
        this.DropDownList1.Items.Add(new ListItem(nvcDbKeys.Keys[i], nvcDbKeys.Get(i)));
    }
}

private NameValueCollection GetDbKeys()
{
    //Declare a name value collection to store Database Key List from web.config
    NameValueCollection nvcDatabaseKeyList;
    nvcDatabaseKeyList = (NameValueCollection) ConfigurationManager.GetSection("DataBaseKeys");

    return nvcDatabaseKeyList;
}