Retrieving applications from app.config during debug

Question

I'm using VS 2008 with .NET 3.5, and I'm having trouble retrieving app settings when debugging. I've added a reference to System.Configuration and the console app compiles and runs, but when I try and retrieve an app setting, the return value is always null.

App.config:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
 <configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="applicationSettings" type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" >
        <section name="ConsoleApp.Properties.Settings" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />
    </sectionGroup>
 </configSections>
 <applicationSettings>
    <ConsoleApp.Properties.Settings>
        <setting name="LogDirectory" serializeAs="String">
            <value>\c$\TestApp\LOG\</value>
        </setting>
    </ConsoleApp.Properties.Settings>
 </applicationSettings>
</configuration>

Code snippet:

string logPath = @"\\" + machineName + ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["LogDirectory"];

Am I doing something obviously wrong here?

EDIT: to clarify, that app.config XML was auto-generated. I added a new Application Configuration File item to the project, and then used the settings tab of the project properties window to add the LogDirectory setting.

Answer 1

Why not just use Properties? You can access your properties using Properties.Settings.Default.WhatEverYouWant?

This is efficient and baked in Visual Studio.

Answer 2

You need something like this - app settings is essentially a dictionary of strings.

<configuration>
  <appSettings>
    <add key="LogDirectory" value="\c$\TestApp\LOG\"/>
  </appSettings>
</configuration>

Have a look here for more info on app settings.