Update web.config from separate administrative website

Question

We have historically created MMC snap-ins to update custom sections in web.config for our ASP.NET MVC application. These custom sections deal with theming, backend connection parameters, navigation, etc.

I'd prefer to create a web based interface to manage this. It will offer a better user experience and be much faster to develop and maintain.

The primary application is public facing and Forms Auth, but I'd like to use Windows Auth on the admin application to lock it down to local administrators. As such, it will have to be a separate application.

Can I read and write the primary application web.config file from the admin application?

Answer 1

I believe if you're admin application is written into the same project as the main one this should be fairly easy.

For example:

var configuration = WebConfigurationManager.OpenWebConfiguration("~");
var section = (AppSettingsSection)configuration.GetSection("appSettings");
section.Settings["test"].Value = "newTest";
configuration.Save();