Read values from non-root web.config file

Question

My site is structured in this way:

• Root Directory
  • Arcade
    • default.aspx
    • web.config
  • default.aspx
  • web.config

I have a method Method1() which accesses:

System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Total_Unique_Plays_Required_For_High_Score_Board"]

This value exists in the root/Arcade/Web.config file but not in the root/web.config file.

When I execute Method1() from a page in the /arcade directory it works fine. However, when I execute this method as a timed event from global.asax it searches for the value in the root web.config file and throws a System.NullException.

Does anyone know how I can specify to search for the value in the root/arcade/web.config file and not the root/web.config file?

Answer 1

You can open the web.config file first.

So calling this will load your child file; notice you give the path to the folder containing the web.config, not the actual config file.

var config = WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration("~/Arcade");

You can now get your values, like:

string MyValue  = config.AppSettings.Settings["MySetting"].Value;

You can also get the list of app settings by calling:

KeyValueConfigurationCollection appSettings = config.AppSettings.Settings;