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ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration - loads the wrong file?

Asked 2009-07-05T11:55:41.917
38

I have added multiple app.config (each with a differet name) files to a project, and set them to copy to the output directory on each build.

I try and access the contents of each file using this:

System.Configuration.Configuration o = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(@"app1.config");

The code runs, but o.HasFile ends up False, and o.FilePath ends up "app1.config.config". If I change to code:

System.Configuration.Configuration o = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(@"app1");

Then the code bombs with "An error occurred loading a configuration file: The parameter 'exePath' is invalid. Parameter name: exePath".

If I copy/paste the config file (so I end up with app1.config and app1.config.config) then the code runs fine, however, I posit this is not a good solution. My question is thus: how can I use ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration to load a config file corretly?

c# configurationmanager
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3 Answers

71

I can't remember where I found this solution but here is how I managed to load a specific exe configuration file:

ExeConfigurationFileMap map = new ExeConfigurationFileMap { ExeConfigFilename = "EXECONFIG_PATH" };
Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(map, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
answered 2012-09-25T16:21:03.170
23

According to http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winforms/thread/3943ec30-8be5-4f12-9667-3b812f711fc9 the parameter is the location of an exe, and the method then looks for the config corresponding to that exe (I guess the parameter name of exePath makes sense now!).

answered 2009-07-05T12:17:17.600
2
using System.Reflection;

try
{
    Uri UriAssemblyFolder = new Uri(System.IO.Path.GetDirectoryName(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().CodeBase));
    string appPath = UriAssemblyFolder.LocalPath;

    //Open the configuration file and retrieve 
    //the connectionStrings section.
    Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.
        OpenExeConfiguration(appPath + @"\" + exeConfigName);

    ConnectionStringsSection section =
        config.GetSection("connectionStrings")
        as ConnectionStringsSection;
}

At least, this is the method I use when encrypting and decrypting the connectionStrings section for my console/GUI apps. exeConfigName is the name of the executable including the .exe.

answered 2012-01-30T16:23:04.767

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