Ok i've just started to look into just what good CMAB does, and I must say that's quite an awful lot of meta-configuration to get your configuration :)

Trying to get the bare minimum of a single value in an XML file just to see the whole thing in action, I have added into a test web project's Web.config

<configuration>


 <configSections>


  <section


   name="applicationConfigurationManagement"


   type="Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.ConfigurationManagement.ConfigurationManagerSectionHandler,Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.ConfigurationManagement,Version=1.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=null"


  />


  <section


   name="FirstAppSettings"


   type="Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.ConfigurationManagement.XmlHashtableSectionHandler,Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.ConfigurationManagement,Version=1.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=null"


  />


 </configSections>





 <applicationConfigurationManagement>


  <configSection name="FirstAppSettings">


   <configProvider


    assembly="Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.ConfigurationManagement,Version=1.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=null"


    type="Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.ConfigurationManagement.Storage.XmlFileStorage"


    path="D:\code\RemoteTest\CustomConfig.xml"


    signed="false"


    encrypted="false"


   />


  </configSection>


 </applicationConfigurationManagement>

First anomaly: notice the path of the <configProvider> element is hardcoded absolute file system path. If I simply put "CustomConfig.xml" as suggested in the doc I will be thrown Exception:

Can´t find the configuration file System.Xml.XmlDocument. You must check the 'path' attribute in the section 'FirstAppSettings'

The ~ app root doesn't work either.

Second, my CustomConfig.xml as per the doc simply has

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>


<configuration>


 <FirstAppSettings>


  <SomeItem>None</SomeItem>


 </FirstAppSettings>


</configuration>

and my line of ConfigurationManager.Item["SomeItem"] will complain:

Can't deserialize the Hashtable.

Ok I'm quite lost what is playing up here..... clues please?

---

The melody of logic will always play out the truth. ~ Narumi Ayumu, Spiral

Right it appears an earlier thread has the answer to the custom XML config file issue - a specific schema must be followed.

Does anybody know about the path setting?

---

The melody of logic will always play out the truth. ~ Narumi Ayumu, Spiral

In trying to get to the root of the exception thrown upon finding a relative filename specified in the path attribute for the configProvider element, the error message consistently reports

---

Configuration Error
Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: Can´t find the configuration file System.Xml.XmlDocument. You must check the 'path' attribute in the section 'CustomSettings'

Source Error:


[No relevant source lines]


Source File: none Line: 0

---

I compile a Debug build of the ConfigurationManagement project but it still doesn't reveal any source code for line hints. My other projects in the solution can report their line numbers when exceptions occur, just not CMAB. I wonder why so?

---

The melody of logic will always play out the truth. ~ Narumi Ayumu, Spiral

I couldn't get it to reveal line code despite setting everything to debug. Luckily, i was still able to step/trace and managed to find the offending logic - the XmlFileStorage.Init() method.

// Around lines 69 - 75.


   _applicationDocumentPath = configStorageParameters[ "path" ] as string;


   if( _applicationDocumentPath == null )


    _applicationDocumentPath = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetupInformation.ConfigurationFile;


   else 


    _applicationDocumentPath = Path.GetFullPath( _applicationDocumentPath );

If I merely put "custom.config" in the path attribute, _applicationDocumentPath won't be null, and it will become "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\custom.config" after using Path.GetFullPath() to it. I wonder what's the usefulness of Path.GetFullPath() here. Anyway adjusting to this check

if( _applicationDocumentPath == null )


    _applicationDocumentPath = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetupInformation.ConfigurationFile;


   else if (!Path.IsPathRooted(_applicationDocumentPath))


   {


    _applicationDocumentPath = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetupInformation.ApplicationBase + _applicationDocumentPath;


   }

will then allow me to make it relative to the application root's directory. I believe this shall fix it.

---

The melody of logic will always play out the truth. ~ Narumi Ayumu, Spiral