Custom Configuration Section for Web.config

README.md

Custom configuration sections allow for a more rigorous specification of configuration settings and can include default and required values. IntelliSense support is also enabled. Here's an example of my blog configuration. See http://mike-ward.net/blog/post/00830/creating-custom-configuration-sections-in-web-config

BlogConfiguration.cs

using System.Configuration;

namespace bloget2.Models
{
    public class BlogConfiguration : ConfigurationSection
    {
        [ConfigurationProperty("title", IsRequired = true)]
        public string Title
        {
            get { return this["title"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("description", IsRequired = true)]
        public string Description
        {
            get { return this["description"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("link", IsRequired = true)]
        public string Link
        {
            get { return this["link"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("images", IsRequired = true)]
        public string Images
        {
            // http path to blog images
            get { return this["images"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("email", IsRequired = true)]
        public string EMail
        {
            get { return this["email"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("postsPerPage", IsRequired = false, DefaultValue = 3)]
        public int PostsPerPage
        {
            get { return (int)this["postsPerPage"]; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("firstname", IsRequired = true)]
        public string FirstName
        {
            get { return this["firstname"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("lastname", IsRequired = true)]
        public string LastName
        {
            get { return this["lastname"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("copyright", IsRequired = true)]
        public string Copyright
        {
            get { return this["copyright"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("username", IsRequired = true)]
        public string UserName
        {
            get { return this["username"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("password", IsRequired = true)]
        public string Password
        {
            get { return this["password"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("categories", IsRequired = false)]
        public BlogCategoryConfigurationCollection Categories
        {
            get { return this["categories"] as BlogCategoryConfigurationCollection; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("timezone", IsRequired = false, DefaultValue = "Eastern Standard Time")]
        public string TimeZone
        {
            get { return this["timezone"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("dateformat", IsRequired = false, DefaultValue = "MM-dd-yyyy")]
        public string DateFormat
        {
            get { return this["dateformat"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("adsPerPage", IsRequired = false, DefaultValue = 2)]
        public int AddsPerPage
        {
            get { return (int)this["adsPerPage"]; }
        }
    }

    public class BlogCategoryConfigurationElement : ConfigurationElement
    {
        [ConfigurationProperty("id", IsRequired = true)]
        public string Id
        {
            get { return this["id"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("title", IsRequired = true)]
        public string Title
        {
            get { return this["title"] as string; }
        }

        [ConfigurationProperty("description", IsRequired = true)]
        public string Description
        {
            get { return this["description"] as string; }
        }
    }

    public class BlogCategoryConfigurationCollection : ConfigurationElementCollection
    {
        public BlogCategoryConfigurationElement this[int index]
        {
            get { return BaseGet(index) as BlogCategoryConfigurationElement; }
            set
            {
                if (BaseGet(index) != null)
                {
                    BaseRemoveAt(index);
                }
                BaseAdd(index, value);
            }
        }

        protected override ConfigurationElement CreateNewElement()
        {
            return new BlogCategoryConfigurationElement();
        }

        protected override object GetElementKey(ConfigurationElement element)
        {
            return ((BlogCategoryConfigurationElement)element).Id;
        }
    }
}