Getting a StringCollection out of AppSettings through the configuration manager

Question

I am accessing my assembly's configuration like this:

ExeConfigurationFileMap map = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
map.ExeConfigFilename = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location + ".config";
Configuration conf = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(map, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
AppSettingsSection appSettings = conf.AppSettings;

My .config file contains a section like this

<configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="applicationSettings" type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" >
        <section name="CsDll.Properties.Settings" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />
    </sectionGroup>
</configSections>
<connectionStrings>
    <add name="CsDll.Properties.Settings.SabreCAD" connectionString="A Connection string." />
    <add name="CsDll.Properties.Settings.StpParts" connectionString="Another connection string" />
</connectionStrings>
 <applicationSettings>
        <CsDll.Properties.Settings>
            <setting name="StpInsertSearchPath" serializeAs="Xml">
                <value>
                    <ArrayOfString xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
                        xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
                        <string>A string</string>
                        <string>Another string in the collection</string>

I can successfully read the connection strings including changes if I edit the .config file. So, I know I am connected to the correct file. But I cannot find that string collection inside of the appSettings object. It is is not in the .Settings KeyValueConfigurationCollection. Where do I find my string collection?

Answer 1

You should be access the items in the collection using this simpler syntax

foreach (string s in CsDll.Properties.Settings.Default.StpInsertSearchPath)
{
    Console.WriteLine(s);
}

EDIT:

The following code should do the trick

ExeConfigurationFileMap map = new ExeConfigurationFileMap(); 
map.ExeConfigFilename = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location + ".config"; 
Configuration conf = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(map, ConfigurationUserLevel.None); 
ConfigurationSectionGroup appSettingsGroup = conf.GetSectionGroup("applicationSettings");
ClientSettingsSection clientSettings = (ClientSettingsSection) appSettingsGroup.Sections["CsDll.Properties.Settings"];
ConfigurationElement element = clientSettings.Settings.Get("StpInsertSearchPath");
string xml = ((SettingElement)element).Value.ValueXml.InnerXml;
XmlSerializer xs = new XmlSerializer(typeof(string[]));
string[] strings = (string[])xs.Deserialize(new XmlTextReader(xml, XmlNodeType.Element, null));
foreach (string s in strings)
{
    Console.WriteLine(s);
}

There may be a shorter way, but this works for me.