Custom Config section in App.config C#

Question

I'm a quite beginner with config sections in c#
I want to create a custom section in config file. What I've tried after googling is as the follows
Config file:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="MyCustomSections">
      <section name="CustomSection" type="CustomSectionTest.CustomSection,CustomSection"/>
    </sectionGroup>
  </configSections>

  <MyCustomSections>
    <CustomSection key="Default"/>
  </MyCustomSections>
</configuration>

CustomSection.cs

    namespace CustomSectionTest
{
    public class CustomSection : ConfigurationSection
    {
        [ConfigurationProperty("key", DefaultValue="Default", IsRequired = true)]
        [StringValidator(InvalidCharacters = "~!@#$%^&*()[]{}/;'\"|\\", MinLength = 1, MaxLength = 60)]
        public String Key
        {
            get { return this["key"].ToString(); }
            set { this["key"] = value; }
        }
    }
}

When I use this code to retrieve Section I get an error saying configuration error.

var cf = (CustomSection)System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.GetSection("CustomSection");

What am I missing?
Thanks.

Edit
What I need ultimately is

    <CustomConfigSettings>
    <Setting id="1">
        <add key="Name" value="N"/>
        <add key="Type" value="D"/>
    </Setting>
    <Setting id="2">
        <add key="Name" value="O"/>
        <add key="Type" value="E"/>
    </Setting>
    <Setting id="3">
        <add key="Name" value="P"/>
        <add key="Type" value="F"/>
    </Setting>
</CustomConfigSettings>

Whiteeye

Please review the following questions: #3935831 https://mcmap.net/q/743600/-custom-configurationsection #5238 – Polybius

Answer 1

App.config:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="customAppSettingsGroup">
      <section name="customAppSettings" type="System.Configuration.AppSettingsSection, System.Configuration, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" />
    </sectionGroup>
  </configSections>
  <customAppSettingsGroup>
    <customAppSettings>
      <add key="KeyOne" value="ValueOne"/>
      <add key="KeyTwo" value="ValueTwo"/>
    </customAppSettings>
  </customAppSettingsGroup>
</configuration>

Usage:

NameValueCollection settings =  
   ConfigurationManager.GetSection("customAppSettingsGroup/customAppSettings")
   as System.Collections.Specialized.NameValueCollection;

if (settings != null)
{
 foreach (string key in settings.AllKeys)
 {
  Response.Write(key + ": " + settings[key] + "<br />");
 }
}

Schoolfellow

For anyone wanting to get this to work quickly. 3 things : 1. YOU MUST ADD a Reference to System.Configuration in your references, 2. using System.Configuration; 3. using System.Collections.Specialized; – Fricassee

You can also omit the group (customAppSettingsGroup) if you want. – Avarice

Answer 2

Try using:

var cf = (CustomSection)System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.GetSection("MyCustomSections/CustomSection");

You need both the name of the section group and the custom section.

Tedmann

Thanks for your response but this didn't work for me somehow. please look at edited part of the question. – Whiteeye

Answer 3

Highlight ConfigurationSection press F1, You will see that the implementation on the MSDN website overrides a property called "Properties" which returns a "ConfigurationPropertyCollection", as your properties have a matching attribute of that type you should be able to populate this collection with your properties if not wrap them in the same way the MS guys have.

Hyperphysical