sectionGroup Element for configSections (General Settings Schema)

Article
12/21/2012

Defines an association between a configuration section handler and a configuration section.

configuration Element (General Settings Schema)
  configSections Element (General Settings Schema)
    sectionGroup Element for configSections (General Settings Schema)
      configuration Element (General Settings Schema)
        configSections Element (General Settings Schema)
          sectionGroup Element for configSections (General Settings Schema)
            sectionGroup Element for configSections (General Settings Schema)

<sectionGroup 
   name="section name"
   type="configuration section handler class, assembly file name, version, culture, public key token">
   <section />
</sectionGroup>

Attributes and Elements

The following sections describe attributes, child elements, and parent elements.

Attributes

Attribute	Description
name	Required String attribute. Specifies the name of the configuration section or element that is associated with the configuration section handler that is specified by the type attribute. This is the name of the group element as it appears in the section settings area of the configuration file.
type	Required String attribute. Specifies the name of the configuration section handler class that handles the processing of the configuration settings that are in the section or element that is specified in the name attribute. Use the following format: type="Fully qualified class name, assembly file name, version, culture, public key token" The definition must match the assembly reference. For example, if the version number in the following code example does not match the assembly, an error occurs. `type="MyConfigSectionHandler.MyHandler,MyCustomConfigurationHandler,Version=1.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=null"` The assembly file must be located in the same application directory as the Web.config file that defines it. In the case of the root Web.config or Machine.config file, the assembly file must be in the %SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version directory.

Attribute

Description

name

Required String attribute.

Specifies the name of the configuration section or element that is associated with the configuration section handler that is specified by the type attribute. This is the name of the group element as it appears in the section settings area of the configuration file.

type

Required String attribute.

Specifies the name of the configuration section handler class that handles the processing of the configuration settings that are in the section or element that is specified in the name attribute. Use the following format:

type="Fully qualified class name, assembly file name, version, culture, public key token"

The definition must match the assembly reference. For example, if the version number in the following code example does not match the assembly, an error occurs.

type="MyConfigSectionHandler.MyHandler,MyCustomConfigurationHandler,Version=1.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=null"

The assembly file must be located in the same application directory as the Web.config file that defines it. In the case of the root Web.config or Machine.config file, the assembly file must be in the %SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version directory.

Child Elements

Element	Description
section	Defines an association between a configuration section handler and a configuration element.
sectionGroup	Defines an association between a configuration section handler and a configuration section.

Parent Elements

Element	Description
configuration	Specifies the required root element in every configuration file that is used by the common language runtime and the .NET Framework applications.
configSections	Specifies configuration section and namespace declarations.
sectionGroup	Defines an association between a configuration section handler and a configuration section.

Remarks

The sectionGroup element acts as a container for section elements. A section element associates a configuration section handler with a configuration element or section. This is necessary because ASP.NET makes no presumptions about how to handle settings within a configuration file. Instead, ASP.NET delegates the processing of configuration data to configuration section handlers. Each section element identifies a configuration section or element and the associated class that is derived from the ConfigurationSection class that handles the configuration section or element. The section elements can be logically grouped in sectionGroup elements to organize the section elements and to avoid naming conflicts. The section and sectionGroup elements are contained in the configSections element.

Default Configuration

Configuration sections for the .NET configuration elements are defined in the Machine.config file and are too numerous to list here. The following excerpt from the Machine.config file defines the configuration section handler for the authentication element of the system.web section. Then, configuration settings are defined for the authentication element.

If a configuration section handler is not associated with a configuration element, ASP.NET issues the server error "Unrecognized configuration section element_name."

<configuration>
    <configSections>
        <sectionGroup name="system.web" type="System.Web.Configuration.SystemWebSectionGroup, System.Web, Version=%ASSEMBLY_VERSION%, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=%MICROSOFT_PUBLICKEY%">
            <section name="authentication" type="System.Web.Configuration.AuthenticationSection, System.Web, Version=2.0.3600.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />
            <!-- Other system.web sections -->
        </sectionGroup>
        <!-- Other configuration sections -->
    </configSections>

    <system.web>
        <authentication mode="Windows">
            <forms name=".ASPXAUTH" 
                   loginUrl="login.aspx" defaultUrl="default.aspx" 
                   protection="All" 
                   timeout="30" 
                   path="/" 
                   requireSSL="False" 
                   slidingExpiration="True" 
                   cookieless="UseCookies" 
                   domain="" 
                   enableCrossAppRedirects="False">
                <credentials passwordFormat="SHA1" />
            </forms>
            <passport redirectUrl="internal" />
        </authentication>
        <!-- Other system.web elements -->
    </system.web>
    <!-- Other configuration settings -->
</configuration>

Example

The following code example shows how to declare a section group and declare sections within a section group.

<configuration>
   <configSections>
      <sectionGroup name="mySectionGroup">
         <section name="mySection"
            type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler" />
      </sectionGroup>
   </configSections>
   <mySectionGroup>
      <mySection>
         <add key="key1" value="value1" />
      </mySection>
   </mySectionGroup>
</configuration>

Element Information

Configuration section handler	Does not apply.
Configuration member	ConfigurationSectionGroup
Configurable locations	Machine.config Root-level Web.config Application-level Web.config Virtual or physical directory–level Web.config
Requirements	Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) version 5.0, 5.1, or 6.0 The .NET Framework version 2.0 Microsoft Visual Studio 2003 or Visual Studio 2005

sectionGroup Element for configSections (General Settings Schema)

Attributes and Elements

Attributes

Child Elements

Parent Elements

Remarks

Default Configuration

Example

Element Information

See Also

Reference

Concepts

Other Resources

Additional resources