Implementing custom configuration section handler

Question

gleanings from a variety of sources (including stackOverlflow), however when I come to use it, I get the following error message

\"The Configuration property \'devicecon

Answer 1

The DeviceConfig property is not needed at the top level. What you do need to do is add a property for your ConfigurationElementCollection devices. I would also rename your Devices class something a little less ambiguous, say, DeviceElementCollection. Try this:

Public Class DeviceConfig    
    Inherits ConfigurationSection    

    <ConfigurationProperty("Devices")> _    
    Public ReadOnly Property Devices() As DeviceElementCollection    
        Get    
            Return CType(Me("Devices"), DeviceElementCollection)    
        End Get    
    End Property    
End Class    

Then, in your definition for DeviceElementCollection, you may have problems if you don't add the following:

Public Overrides ReadOnly Property CollectionType() As System.Configuration.ConfigurationElementCollectionType
    Get
        Return ConfigurationElementCollectionType.BasicMap
    End Get
End Property

Protected Overrides ReadOnly Property ElementName() As String
    Get
        Return "Device"
    End Get
End Property

I wrote up a pretty long answer to a similar question (sorry, in C#) here.

Update - how to use in code

Dim deviceConfiguration as DeviceConfig = ConfigurationManager.GetSection("deviceconfigs")
For Each device As Device in deviceConfiguration.Devices
    '...whatever you need to do
Next