How to create Application.exe.config in application directory

So I recently updated my application to support a new feature. In the past if the configuration file was deleted by the user it wasn't a big deal. This new feature requires it to exist, and one of the requirements is that, the file exists in the application's installation directory.

I have notice when the file is deleted ( depending on variables I have not figured out ) I get a .NET notification that the configuration file is missing or corrupt. Currently my program then crashes ( I still have to figure out how to duplicate this behavior ) which is the reason for this question.

I am familar with ConfigurationManager. I am having trouble writting开发者_如何学编程 the file once the default values are loaded. Forcing a Save for some reason does not seem to recreate the file, at least not in the installation directory, which is a requirement.

I am looking for guidence on how to handle this corner case in an elegant manner. I would post code, honestly its just all failed attempts, which while my attempts do generate a file the contents are not the settings I am looking for.

I am willing to post anything that might be able to help.

Stop using the built-in config support and just use write/read to a file called something.exe.config using the standard XML classes and if that gets deleted, just re-create it from values hard-coded in the executable.

The config file support is supposed to make things easier, if you need to do stuff where it makes things difficult, don't use it.

Something like

var wcfm = new WebConfigurationFileMap();
Configuration newConfig = WebConfigurationManager.OpenMappedWebConfiguration(wcfm, "/");
newConfig.Save();

doesn't work?

You dont. Under normal conditions the program can not write into it's install directory - this is a standard windows security issue and the reason why app application data should reside ni external (from the exe's point) driectories.

If an admin deletes the config file, crash, ask for reinstall. There is nothing you can RELIABLY do, as you can not assume you can write into the folder at runtime. A message followed by an event log entry is the best approach here. Users are not supposed to delete parts of the application.