How to Update (Add/Modify/Delete) keys in AppSettings section of web.config at runtime

Question

I like to Update keys/Values defined in AppSettings section of Web.config at runtime. however I DO NOT want to actually save them to Web.conf

Answer 1

Thanks to nkvu which directed me to a his first link which in turn sent me to Williarob's post "Override Configuration Manager" I managed to find a solution to my question.

The mentioned blog post covers how to read settings from another XML file and it works with both windowed applications and web applications (with a little modification in config file name and path). Although this blog written on 2010 it is still working fine with .NET4 without problem.

However as I was going to read my configuration from a secure device, I simplified the class and here is how to use the classes provided by Williarob

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Collections.Specialized;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Configuration.Internal;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;

namespace Williablog.Core.Configuration {

    public sealed class ConfigSystem: IInternalConfigSystem {
        private static IInternalConfigSystem clientConfigSystem;

        private object appsettings;

        private object connectionStrings;

        /// 

        /// Re-initializes the ConfigurationManager, allowing us to merge in the settings from Core.Config
        /// 
        public static void Install() {
            FieldInfo[] fiStateValues = null;
            Type tInitState = typeof(System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager).GetNestedType("InitState", BindingFlags.NonPublic);

            if (null != tInitState) {
                fiStateValues = tInitState.GetFields();
            }

            FieldInfo fiInit = typeof(System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager).GetField("s_initState", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Static);
            FieldInfo fiSystem = typeof(System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager).GetField("s_configSystem", BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Static);

            if (fiInit != null && fiSystem != null && null != fiStateValues) {
                fiInit.SetValue(null, fiStateValues[1].GetValue(null));
                fiSystem.SetValue(null, null);
            }

            ConfigSystem confSys = new ConfigSystem();
            Type configFactoryType = Type.GetType("System.Configuration.Internal.InternalConfigSettingsFactory, System.Configuration, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a", true);
            IInternalConfigSettingsFactory configSettingsFactory = (IInternalConfigSettingsFactory) Activator.CreateInstance(configFactoryType, true);
            configSettingsFactory.SetConfigurationSystem(confSys, false);

            Type clientConfigSystemType = Type.GetType("System.Configuration.ClientConfigurationSystem, System.Configuration, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a", true);
            clientConfigSystem = (IInternalConfigSystem) Activator.CreateInstance(clientConfigSystemType, true);
        }

        #region IInternalConfigSystem Members
        public object GetSection(string configKey) {
            // get the section from the default location (web.config or app.config)
            object section = clientConfigSystem.GetSection(configKey);

            switch (configKey) {
                case "appSettings":
                    // Return cached version if exists
                    if (this.appsettings != null) {
                        return this.appsettings;
                    }

                    // create a new collection because the underlying collection is read-only
                    var cfg = new NameValueCollection();

                    // If an AppSettings section exists in Web.config, read and add values from it
                    if (section is NameValueCollection) {
                        NameValueCollection localSettings = (NameValueCollection) section;
                        foreach (string key in localSettings) {
                            cfg.Add(key, localSettings[key]);
                        }
                    }

                    // --------------------------------------------------------------------
                    // Here I read and decrypt keys and add them to secureConfig dictionary
                    // To test assume the following line is a key stored in secure sotrage.
                    //secureConfig = SecureConfig.LoadConfig();
                    secureConfig.Add("ACriticalKey", "VeryCriticalValue");
                    // --------------------------------------------------------------------                        
                    foreach (KeyValuePair item in secureConfig) {
                        if (cfg.AllKeys.Contains(item.Key)) {
                            cfg[item.Key] = item.Value;
                        } else {
                            cfg.Add(item.Key, item.Value);
                        }
                    }
                    // --------------------------------------------------------------------                        


                    // Cach the settings for future use
                    this.appsettings = cfg;
                    // return the merged version of the items from secure storage and appsettings
                    section = this.appsettings;
                    break;

                case "connectionStrings":
                    // Return cached version if exists
                    if (this.connectionStrings != null) {
                        return this.connectionStrings;
                    }

                    // create a new collection because the underlying collection is read-only
                    ConnectionStringsSection connectionStringsSection = new ConnectionStringsSection();

                    // copy the existing connection strings into the new collection
                    foreach (ConnectionStringSettings connectionStringSetting in ((ConnectionStringsSection) section).ConnectionStrings) {
                        connectionStringsSection.ConnectionStrings.Add(connectionStringSetting);
                    }

                    // --------------------------------------------------------------------
                    // Again Load connection strings from secure storage and merge like below
                    // connectionStringsSection.ConnectionStrings.Add(connectionStringSetting);
                    // --------------------------------------------------------------------                        

                    // Cach the settings for future use
                    this.connectionStrings = connectionStringsSection;
                    // return the merged version of the items from secure storage and appsettings
                    section = this.connectionStrings;
                    break;
            }

            return section;
        }

        public void RefreshConfig(string sectionName) {
            if (sectionName == "appSettings") {
                this.appsettings = null;
            }

            if (sectionName == "connectionStrings") {
                this.connectionStrings = null;
            }

            clientConfigSystem.RefreshConfig(sectionName);
        }

        public bool SupportsUserConfig { get { return clientConfigSystem.SupportsUserConfig; } }

        #endregion
    }
}

To install this (or original version of configuration override) add following line to your Global. class (Global.asax.cs) in Application_Start

Williablog.Core.Configuration.ConfigSystem .Install();

like below:

public class Global: System.Web.HttpApplication {

    //...

    #region protected void Application_Start(...)
    protected void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) {
        Williablog.Core.Configuration.ConfigSystem .Install();

        //...

    }
    #endregion

    //...

}