Can't read Web.config with ConfigurationManager.AppSettings

Question

I have build a WCF service that uses Web.config to get some appSettings. In visual studio it works great but when I publish and instal the service it suddenly gets its appSettings from App.config and not from Web.config.

I know this because I loop through appSettings and printed the result to the console with this code:

foreach (string key in ConfigurationManager.AppSettings.AllKeys)
{
     Console.WriteLine("Name: {0} Value: {1}", key, ConfigurationManager.AppSettings[key]);
}

My configs look like this:

Web.config

  ....
  <appSettings>
    <add key="IQDir" value="C:\Program Files (x86)\Ridder iQ Client (lokaal)\Bin"/>
    <add key="FileURL" value="localhost:8080/WebPortal_2.0/"/>
  </appSettings>
  ....

App.config

....
  <appSettings>
    <add key="test1" value="wtf is going on!"/>
    <add key="test2" value="waargh"/>
    <add key="test3" value="I am getting a headache over here!!"/>
  </appSettings>
....

When I run in visual studio I get:

But when I use the published code inside live environment I get this:

Why is this happening and how can I force ConfigurationManager to get appSettings from Web.config instead of App.config.

Answer 1

If you have a standard WCF-project, you should only have the Web.config-file, not App.config.

I would skip the old way of using appSettings altogether. Use applicationSettings instead, by using the Settings-tab in the project's properties.

It will create this in Web.Config:

<applicationSettings>
    <Projectname.Properties.Settings>
        <setting name="Testenvironment" serializeAs="String">
            <value>True</value>
        </setting>
    </Projectname.Properties.Settings>
</applicationSettings>

For more information: appSettings vs applicationSettings. appSettings outdated?