web.config in subfolders for websites

Question

User-1337876127 posted

I created a subfolder for my website and added a web.config file with the following:

<?xml version="1.0"?><configuration>

    <connectionStrings>
        <add name="CnTest" connectionString="Data Source=MyServer;Initial Catalog=MyDataBase;User Id=UserId;Password=Password;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
    </connectionStrings>
    
</configuration>

When I go to reference the connection string:

string cnTest = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["CnTest"].ConnectionString;

I get the following error:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Is it because its a website and you can only have one web.config?

Here are the exact steps I did:

1. Right click on the project from the solution explorer, choose add-->new folder

2. Right click on the new folder created, choose add-->new item-->Web Configuration File

3. Now the folder contains a web.config

4. Add the connectionStrings section as shown above to the new file.

5. Assign the ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["CnTest"].ConnectionString property to a string as shown above.

6. Receive error message Object reference not set to an instance of an object as shown above.

Thanks Before Hand,
Adiel

Answer 1

User-1772898816 posted

I'm pretty sure that when you reference ConfigurationManager.ConnectionString it actually references the root web.config, not the one added in the subfolder. 

Answer 2

User-1337876127 posted

Interesting because when you choose to create a new config file from the solution explorer, it automatically creates a blank <connectionStrings/> section for you.  So then the question would be: how would you access the <connectionStrings> section that is in a web.config file stored in a subfolder?

Thanks Before Hand,

Adiel

Answer 3

User-1772898816 posted

Try this: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/multipleWebConfig.aspx

If that doesn't work then try putting <clear /> in front of you connectionstring in your sub web.config.