.NET & XML

The Configuration Files

Each of the .NET configuration files shares a common XML format, although their scopes differ depending on which location the file is in. Some of the files are installed and configured automatically when the framework is installed.

Although the contents of the files differ, they share a common schema. The root element of each file is the configuration element, although different elements will appear as child nodes in the different files. Because the configuration files are all XML, you can deal with them as you would any XML document, including editing them with a text editor, or using the classes in the System.Xml namespace to manipulate them.

Warning

Although you can edit the configuration file as much as you want, be sure to note that you’re just editing the file on disk. No changes you make on disk will affect the configuration settings once they’ve been read into the configuration system by a running application.