How to read appSettings section in the web.config file?

My XML looks like this and the filename is web.config

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
  <appSettings>   
    <add key="configFile" value="IIS.config"/>
    <add key="RialtoDomain" value="ASNC_AUDITORS"/>    
  </appSettings>
  <system.serviceModel>
    ....
  </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

In the code when I read like this

String path = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["configFile"];

I am getting a null value. No exception is thrown.
Is this the right way to do it?

Answers:

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Method 1

Since you’re accessing a web.config you should probably use

using System.Web.Configuration;

WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings["configFile"]

Method 2

Add namespace

using System.Configuration;

and in place of

ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings

you should use

ConfigurationManager.AppSettings

String path = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["configFile"];

Method 3

ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["configFile"]

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.configuration.configurationmanager.appsettings.aspx

Method 4

You should add System.configuration dll as reference and use System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["configFile"].ToString

Don’t forget to add usingstatement at the beginning. Hope it will help.

Method 5

    using System.Configuration;

    /// <summary>
    /// For read one setting
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="key">Key correspondent a your setting</param>
    /// <returns>Return the String contains the value to setting</returns>
    public string ReadSetting(string key)
    {
        var appSettings = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings;
        return appSettings[key] ?? string.Empty;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Read all settings for output Dictionary<string,string> 
    /// </summary>        
    /// <returns>Return the Dictionary<string,string> contains all settings</returns>
    public Dictionary<string, string> ReadAllSettings()
    {
        var result = new Dictionary<string, string>();
        foreach (var key in ConfigurationManager.AppSettings.AllKeys)
            result.Add(key, ConfigurationManager.AppSettings[key]);
        return result;
    }

Method 6

Here’s the easy way to get access to the web.config settings anywhere in your C# project.

 Properties.Settings.Default

Use case:

litBodyText.Text = Properties.Settings.Default.BodyText;
litFootText.Text = Properties.Settings.Default.FooterText;
litHeadText.Text = Properties.Settings.Default.HeaderText;

Web.config file:

  <applicationSettings>
    <myWebSite.Properties.Settings> 
      <setting name="BodyText" serializeAs="String">
        <value>
          &lt;h1&gt;Hello World&lt;/h1&gt;
          &lt;p&gt;
      Ipsum Lorem
          &lt;/p&gt;
        </value>
      </setting>
      <setting name="HeaderText" serializeAs="String">
      My header text
        <value />
      </setting>
      <setting name="FooterText" serializeAs="String">
      My footer text
        <value />
      </setting>
    </myWebSite.Properties.Settings>
  </applicationSettings>

No need for special routines – everything is right there already. I’m surprised that no one has this answer for the best way to read settings from your web.config file.

All methods was sourced from stackoverflow.com or stackexchange.com, is licensed under cc by-sa 2.5, cc by-sa 3.0 and cc by-sa 4.0