How to Read an "app.config" File in a VB.NET Project from C#

Question

I have a solution that contains a VB.NET project and a C# project. The VB.NET project is the main one. It references the C# project for user management services. Both connect to the same database. The connection string to this database is stored in the app.config file of the VB.NET project. It also contains other user and application level settings. I am able to read the connection string from the config from inside C# by using the following line of code:

String connectionString = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["Kais2012.My.MySettings.ConnectionString"].ConnectionString;

One of the other application level properties contained in the config file is called "TeamId". I have written the following code to read it from C#.

String teamId = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Kais2012.My.MySettings.TeamId"];

This does not work and I can't figure out why. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

The way it doesn't work is that teamId returns null. Here's content of the app.config file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <configSections>
        <sectionGroup name="userSettings" type="System.Configuration.UserSettingsGroup, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" >
            <section name="Kais2012.My.MySettings" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" allowExeDefinition="MachineToLocalUser" requirePermission="false" />
        </sectionGroup>
        <sectionGroup name="applicationSettings" type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" >
            <section name="Kais2012.My.MySettings" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />
        </sectionGroup>
    </configSections>
  <startup useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy="true">
    <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.0"/>
  </startup>
    <connectionStrings configProtectionProvider="DataProtectionConfigurationProvider">
        <EncryptedData>
            <CipherData>
                <CipherValue>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</CipherValue>
            </CipherData>
        </EncryptedData>
    </connectionStrings>
    <system.diagnostics>
        <sources>
            <!-- This section defines the logging configuration for My.Application.Log -->
            <source name="DefaultSource" switchName="DefaultSwitch">
                <listeners>
                    <add name="FileLog"/>
                    <!-- Uncomment the below section to write to the Application Event Log -->
                    <!--<add name="EventLog"/>-->
                </listeners>
            </source>
        </sources>
        <switches>
            <add name="DefaultSwitch" value="Information" />
        </switches>
        <sharedListeners>
            <add name="FileLog"
                 type="Microsoft.VisualBasic.Logging.FileLogTraceListener, Microsoft.VisualBasic, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, processorArchitecture=MSIL"
                 initializeData="FileLogWriter"/>
            <!-- Uncomment the below section and replace APPLICATION_NAME with the name of your application to write to the Application Event Log -->
            <!--<add name="EventLog" type="System.Diagnostics.EventLogTraceListener" initializeData="APPLICATION_NAME"/> -->
        </sharedListeners>
    </system.diagnostics>
    <userSettings>
        <Kais2012.My.MySettings>
            <setting name="AutoNavigation" serializeAs="String">
                <value>True</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="UseOsk" serializeAs="String">
                <value>False</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="AutoHideOsk" serializeAs="String">
                <value>False</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="StretchReviewColumns" serializeAs="String">
                <value>True</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="DiscountSkipped" serializeAs="String">
                <value>True</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="AutoDelay" serializeAs="String">
                <value>0</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="MinAutoDelay" serializeAs="String">
                <value>1000</value>
            </setting>
        </Kais2012.My.MySettings>
    </userSettings>
    <applicationSettings>
        <Kais2012.My.MySettings>
            <setting name="DummyColumn" serializeAs="String">
                <value>CreationTime</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="PublisherDBName" serializeAs="String">
                <value>kais_final</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="PublicationName" serializeAs="String">
                <value>pbl_kais_WAKHUTU-PC</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="SubscriptionDBName" serializeAs="String">
                <value>KAISEQ_USER001</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="SubscriberServerName" serializeAs="String">
                <value>USER001</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="PublisherServerName" serializeAs="String">
                <value>WAKHUTU-PC</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="PublisherLogin" serializeAs="String">
                <value>sa</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="PublisherPassword" serializeAs="String">
                <value>xxxxxx</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="UploadToServer" serializeAs="String">
                <value>1</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="IpAddress" serializeAs="String">
                <value>172.23.14.94</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="DownloadFromServer" serializeAs="String">
                <value>2</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="UploadAndDownload" serializeAs="String">
                <value>3</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="SubscriberPassword" serializeAs="String">
                <value>xxxxxx</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="PublishingSubscriberServerName" serializeAs="String">
                <value>SUP01</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="PublishingSubscriberLogin" serializeAs="String">
                <value>sa</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="PublishingSubscriberPassword" serializeAs="String">
                <value>xxxxxx</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="PublishingSubscriberDBName" serializeAs="String">
                <value>KAISEQ_SUP01</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="publishingSubscriberPublicationName" serializeAs="String">
                <value>pbl_kais_KAISEQ_SUP01</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="SubscriberLogin" serializeAs="String">
                <value>sa</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="TeamId" serializeAs="String">
                <value>2</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="DevMode" serializeAs="String">
                <value>True</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="DevUsername" serializeAs="String">
                <value>admin</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="DevPassword" serializeAs="String">
                <value>admin</value>
            </setting>
        </Kais2012.My.MySettings>
    </applicationSettings>
</configuration>

Answer 1

Use this :

System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings[""]