Is it possible to switch application configuration file at runtime for .NET application?

Question

By default, .NET application\'s configuration file is named after \"exe file name\".config. I\'m wondering whether it is possible to have one application\'s configuration sp

Answer 1

All of the above work well if you need to replace only AppSettings section.

In case you have to run with different config files (all sections) you might want to consider launching application using a host, that creates app domain for your main application and sets different config file depending on parameters you passed in.

Here's the code that worked for me:

        AppDomainSetup setup = new AppDomainSetup();
        setup.ApplicationBase = "file://" + System.Environment.CurrentDirectory;
        setup.DisallowBindingRedirects = true;
        setup.DisallowCodeDownload = true;

        if (args.Length != 0 && args[0].Equals("-test"))
        {
            setup.ConfigurationFile = "PATH_TO_YOUR_TEST_CONFIG_FILE";
        }
        else {
            setup.ConfigurationFile = "PATH_TO_YOUR_LIVE_CONFIG_FILE";
        }

        AppDomain domain = AppDomain.CreateDomain("FRIENDLY_NAME", null, setup);
        domain.ExecuteAssembly("YourMainApp.exe");