Web.config File - ASP.NET

Introduction

The time you start developing your web application until you finish the application, you will more often use the Web.config file not only for securing your application but also for wide range of other purposes which it is intended for. ASP.NET Web.config file provides you a flexible way to handle all your requirements at the application level. Despite the simplicity provided by the .NET Framework to work with web.config, working with configuration files would definitely be a task until you understand it clearly. This could be one of the main reasons that I started writing this article.
This article would be a quick reference for the professional developers and for those who just started programming in .NET. This article would help them to understand the ASP.NET configuration in an efficient way. The readers may skip the reading section "Authentication, Authorization, Membership Provider, Role Provider and Profile Provider Settings", as most of them are familiar with those particular settings.

Background

In this article, I am going to explain about the complete sections and settings available in the Web.config file and how you can configure them to use in the application. In the later section of the article, we will see the .NET classes that are used to work with the configuration files. The contents of the articles are summarized below:

1. Web.config sections/settings
2. Reading Web.config
3. Writing or manipulating Web.config
4. Encrypting the Web.config and
5. Creating your own Custom Configuration Sections

Points to be Remembered

ASP.NET Web.config allows you to define or revise the configuration settings at the time of developing the application or at the time of deployment or even after deployment. The following are brief points that can be understood about the Web.config file:

• Web.config files are stored in XML format which makes us easier to work with.
• You can have any number of Web.config files for an application. Each Web.config applies settings to its own directory and all the child directories below it.
• All the Web.config files inherit the root Web.config file available at the following location systemroot\Microsoft.NET\Framework\versionNumber\CONFIG\Web.config location
• IIS is configured in such a way that it prevents the Web.config file access from the browser.
• The changes in Web.config don’t require the reboot of the web server. 

Source: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/301726/Web-config-File-ASP-NET

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