External AppSetting of Web.Config

Work with External AppSetting of Web.Config

In this article you will come to know about following things:

l .NET Configuration Files.

l What is AppSetting in Web.Config file?

l How to retrieve AppSetting Key’s Value?

l External appsetting

l Difference between FILE and CONFIGSOURCE attribute of AppSettings

l Step by Step Implementation using FILE attribute of APPSETTINGS

.NET Configuration Files:

Types of configuration files in DOT NET (.NET) frame work, In .NET we can develop following types of applications and all types of application we required a configuration file. In chart explained types of application and types of configuration file is used.:

TYPES OF APPLICATION	CONFIGURATION FILE NAME
Console Application	App.Config
WinForm Application	App.Config
Web Application (Web Form / MVC)	Web.Config
WPF Application	App.Config

What is AppSetting in Web.Config file?

As name define itself AppSetting means Application Setting. In section we store settings in pair of Key/Value. AppSetting element section exists under Configuration tag. All custom setting of web application can be store.

Syntax:

 <appSettings>

    <add key="[KeyName]" value="[Value of Key]"/>

</appSettings>

Example:

<configuration>

  <appSettings>

    <add key="MainPath" value="D:\Projects\GstInvoice\"/>

</appSettings>

</configuration>

Please visit following link for more detail:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms228154(v=vs.100).aspx

How to retrieve AppSetting Key’s Value?

To retrieve the key’s value from AppSetting section into page you have use ConfigurationManager

ConfigurationManager Class derived from System.Configuration Namespace.

Syntax:

ConfigurationManager.AppSetting[ “Key Name”]

Example:

String MainSitePath = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["MainSite"]

External appsetting

We can store AppSetting in external file to manage efficiently, beside that RunTime we can change the value of appsetting and update the file without restart the application.

To store appsetting externally there are two ways:

1. <appSettings file=””>

2. <appSettings configsource=””>

Difference between File and ConfigSource attribute of AppSettings

File attribute

l This attribute intorduced in .Net Framework version 1.1.

l Using file attribute and separate file allow us to update in appSetting section without restart

application.

l The appsetting of separate file are merged with the appSetting section of the Web.Config

ConfigSource attribute

l This attribute introduced in .Net Framework version 2.0

l Using configsource attribute any changes cause to restart application.

l Using configsource attribute we have to move all and entire appsetting to separate file and no merging.

For more detail visit following links:

Difference between ConfigSource vs File attribute

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6940004/asp-net-web-config-configsource-vs-file-attributes

Step by Step Implementation using FILE attribute of APPSETTINGS

Start Visual studio(VS) I am using VS Community 2015

Click on File-->New-->WebSite

Named project as “ExternalAppSetting”

External AppSetting 01 Asp.Net MVC tutor in Mumbai

Switch to solution explorer or Press ALT + CTRL + L

You can see there is Web.config file.

External AppSetting 02 AspNet MVC Tutor in Delhi

Double click on Web.Config file following is the default view of Web.Config file:

As you can see in default view there is no appsetting element tag.

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!--

  For more information on how to configure your ASP.NET application, please visit

  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=169433

  -->

<configuration>

    <system.web>

      <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.5.2" />

      <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.5.2" />

    </system.web>

</configuration>

Now you can see I had created simple internal AppSetting within Web.Config file.

<configuration>

  <appSettings>

<add key="intUserName" value="Ashish Kalla"/>

  </appSettings>

  

    <system.web>

      <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.5.2" />

      <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.5.2" />

    </system.web>

</configuration>

Creating external AppSetting

External AppSetting 03 Asp.Net MVC Tutor in Malad, Asp.Net MVC Tutor in Kandivali

External AppSettings Asp.Net MVC Tutor in Aurangabad,Asp.Net MVC Tutor in Pune

Now I am going to write external app setting file called “ExternalAppSetting.config”

Code in ExternalAppSetting.config

<?xml version="1.0"?>

  <appSettings>

    <add key="extUserName" value="Suhana Kalla"/>    

  </appSettings>

Now linking external app setting config file to web.config. As you know there two method to attached external appsetting config file. Two attribute is configsource or file.

Web.Config file code : For attaching external appsetting with file attribute:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<!--

  For more information on how to configure your ASP.NET application, please visit

  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=169433

  -->

<configuration>

  <appSettings file="ExternalAppSetting.config">

    <add key="intUserName" value="Ashish Kalla"/>

  </appSettings>

  

    <system.web>

      <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.5.2" />

      <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.5.2" />

    </system.web>

</configuration>

To check internal and external app settings insert a new webform file named “default.aspx”

Right click on project or project name

External AppSetting Asp.Net Tutor in Bhayandar, Asp.Net Tutor in Mira Road

Select ADD --> ADD NEW ITEM --> WebForm

Named “Default.aspx” then click ADD button.

External AppSetting Asp.Net MVC tutor in Noida, Asp.Net MVC tutor in Greater Noida, 

Double click on Default.aspx and insert two label controls and switch to code behind file by pressing F7 or double click on default.aspx.cs file in solution explorer.

Before start coding first attached using System.Configuration; namespace at the top the file.

Code in Default.aspx

<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="Default.aspx.cs" Inherits="_Default" %>

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<head runat="server">

    <title></title>

</head>

<body>

    <form id="form1" runat="server">

    <div>

    <b style="font-size:larger">Internal AppSetting</b>

        <br />

        <b>KEY</b>= intUserName and <b>Value</b> = <asp:Label ID="lblInternalAppsettingValue" runat="server" Text="Label"></asp:Label>

        <br />

        <br />

        <br />

    <b style="font-size:larger">External AppSetting</b>

        <br />

        <b>KEY</b>= extUserName and <b>Value</b> = <asp:Label ID="lblExternalAppsettingValue" runat="server" Text="Label"></asp:Label>

    </div>

    </form>

</body>

</html>

Code in Default.aspx.cs

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Web;

using System.Web.UI;

using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

using System.Configuration;

public partial class _Default : System.Web.UI.Page

{

    protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)

    {

        lblInternalAppsettingValue.Text = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["intUserName"].ToString();

        lblExternalAppsettingValue.Text = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["extUserName"].ToString();

        Response.Write(Session["ram"]);

    }

}

OUTPUT:

External AppSettings Asp.Net Tutor in Bhopal, Asp.Net Tutor in Indore

Happy Coding. . . .