How do you pull values from a linked App.config in Web application when Web.config exists?

Question

I have a mvc .NET web application written in C# and I have a web.config file associated with it for web specific configuration values. I also have a windows service application that will be running on the server in the background that has a App.config associated with it. I have linked the file within the web application and can see the file with updated values. But I am unable to use those values in my controller to display them to the UI. Is there a way to make a call to the app.config values to use in the controller and views of the web application? Right now it seems like they are coming in null due to them not being in the web.config.

Any help is apprecaited.

Answer 1

As long as permissions are worked out, you should be able to open the shared config file thusly:

var map = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
//TODO: resolve this path in whatever way makes sense for your situation.
map.ExeConfigFilename = @"C:\MyConfig.config";
var config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(map, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
//do something with config, e.g. config.AppSettings.Settings["Blah"];

Otherwise, you can do something like put shared settings into machine.config, but it's typically wise not to mess with that file.