applicationSettings ignored in web.config

Question

I've written a feature assembly that includes an SPFeatureReceiver. I can successfully deploy the feature's WSP, the assembly goes to the GAC, and the feature (mostly) does what it's supposed to. However, when I edit the settings here for both the application and web frontend servers in the farm:

c:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\443\web.config

And add this to configuration/configSections:

<sectionGroup name="applicationSettings" type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" >
  <section name="MyAssembly.Properties.Settings" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=xxx" requirePermission="false" />
</sectionGroup>

And add this to configuration:

<applicationSettings>
  <MyAssembly.Properties.Settings>
    <setting> ...
    </setting>
  </MyAssembly.Properties.Settings>
</applicationSettings>

Those settings are ignored, and the System.Configuration.DefaultSettingValueAttribute values are being used instead. So. Where is this assembly looking for its settings?

---

Edit

As it turns out, it was trying to load from here: C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\PowerShell.config, and sometimes C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\30482\web.config (neither of which are the correct SharePoint folders).

Answer 1

You will probably find that changing web.config files to store application settings for SharePoint Features is not your best solution.

For an alternate solution that may work better for you, please refer to the Applications Setting Manager of the Microsoft Patterns and Practice SharePoint Guidance.

SharePoint 2007 guidance includes a section on Managing Application Configuration that discuses web.config changes through APIs. However, in practice, those have proven less reliable than the updated guidance which stores properties in the configuration database.

Answer 2

You need to work with SPWebConfigModification class to perform web configuration (web.config) changes across SharePoint farm.

class WebConfigReceiver : SPFeatureReceiver
{
        private const string MyOwner = "OwnerName";

        public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
        {
            string name, xpath, value;

            SPWebApplication webApp = (SPWebApplication)properties.Feature.Parent;

            #region ..: appSettings :..
            name = "add[@key='TestKey']";
            xpath = "configuration/appSettings";
            value = "<add key='TestKey' value='MyValue' />";
            ModifyWebConfig(webApp, name, xpath, value, SPWebConfigModification.SPWebConfigModificationType.EnsureChildNode);

            name = "add[@key='KeyName']";
            xpath = "configuration/appSettings";
            value = "<add key='KeyName' value='Value' />";
            ModifyWebConfig(webApp, name, xpath, value, SPWebConfigModification.SPWebConfigModificationType.EnsureChildNode);
            #endregion

            try
            {
                webApp.Farm.Services.GetValue<SPWebService>().ApplyWebConfigModifications();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                RemoveWebEntries(properties);
                throw ex;
            }
        }

        public override void FeatureDeactivating(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
        {
            RemoveWebEntries(properties);

            try
            {
                SPWebApplication webApp = (SPWebApplication)properties.Feature.Parent;
                webApp.Farm.Services.GetValue<SPWebService>().ApplyWebConfigModifications();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.EventLog eventLog = new System.Diagnostics.EventLog();
                eventLog.Source = MyOwner;
                eventLog.WriteEntry(ex.Message);
                throw ex;
            }
        }

        private void RemoveWebEntries(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
        { 
            SPWebApplication webApp = (SPWebApplication)properties.Feature.Parent;

            List<SPWebConfigModification> modificationsToRemove = new List<SPWebConfigModification>();

            foreach (SPWebConfigModification modification in webApp.WebConfigModifications)
                if (modification.Owner == MyOwner)
                    modificationsToRemove.Add(modification);

            foreach (SPWebConfigModification modification in modificationsToRemove)
                webApp.WebConfigModifications.Remove(modification);

            webApp.Update();
        }

        private void ModifyWebConfig(SPWebApplication webApp, String nameModif, String pathModif, String valueModif, SPWebConfigModification.SPWebConfigModificationType typeModif)
        {
            SPWebConfigModification modification = new SPWebConfigModification(nameModif, pathModif);
            modification.Value = valueModif;
            modification.Sequence = 0;
            modification.Type = typeModif;
            modification.Owner = MyOwner;

            try
            {
                webApp.WebConfigModifications.Add(modification);
                webApp.Update();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {

                throw ex;
            }
        }


    }

However, to store the custom configurations, I would strongly recommend you to use Web application, Farm or Web level property bags instead.

Answer 3

Property bags and SharePoint content database usage might be the best way to go, if it weren't for the fact that I need to also store settings that tell the application how to connect to SharePoint in the first place.

I ended up writing a simple module that saves everything to one explicitly specified .config, using the System.Configuration namespace, and writing custom ConfigurationSection classes. Now I can be guaranteed to know where the settings are being stored; I don't need any SharePoint dependencies to do settings (just .NET itself); and I don't need to add any third-party software (such as PBM) to be able to edit the settings outside of the application.