Generating Custom Configuration Sections in web.config (Part 2)

My earlier post about creating custom configuration sections in web.config, referred to a custom tool that can be used to do the leg work.

If you wish to implement custom sections yourself, here’s a simple example of how. This simple example uses standard key/value attributes and data that is not strongly typed. I shall later post a more advanced example, using strongly-typed data.

First, within the element of web.config, add the following element exactly as is, replacing MySectionName with the name you want to give your section:

  <configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="MySectionName">
      <section name="Portal"
type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler,system,
Version=1.0.3300.0,Culture=neutral, 
PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089,Custom=null" />
    </sectionGroup>
  </configSections>

This uses the built-in handler. No further development is necessary.

You can then add keys to your custom section:

  <MySectionName>
    <MyStuff>
      <add key="fruit1" value="apples" />
      <add key="fruit2" value="oranges" />
    </ MyStuff >
  </MySectionName>

Finally, you extract the keys as follows:

NameValueCollection settings =
ConfigurationManager.GetSection(
"MySectionName/MyStuff")
as NameValueCollection;