Access web.config from separate Class Library?

Question

I\'m looking for a good way to achieve the following:

I have a web application (MVC 3), with a separate Class Library that contains the back-end logic of a CMS that

Answer 1

I have exactly the same setup with a FOSS project I'm involved with. It contains everything (even the Controllers and Global.asax.cs) in the 'Core' class library.

There's plenty of valid solutions, the one I opted for was to create a Settings class which is essentially a set of static properties, inside which you have:

public static string ConnectionString
{
        get { return ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["MYAPP"].ConnectionString; }
}

Note: make sure your class library has System.Configuration added as a reference.

Inside your Application (the class derived from HttpApplication) you pass the settings across, although there is nothing to stop you tighly coupling the NH setup with the settings class:

protected void Application_Start()
{
        AreaRegistration.RegisterAllAreas();
        RegisterRoutes(RouteTable.Routes);
        SetupNHibernate();
}

public virtual void SetupNHibernate()
{
        NHibernateRepository.Current.Configure(RoadkillSettings.DatabaseType, Settings.ConnectionString, false, Settings.CachedEnabled);
}

If this is any use to you, the source is here.