Issues Programmatically adding a Web Service Url to a SharePoint Farm

Question

I'm currently trying add the Url to an external web service to the Web.config of my SharePoint 2010 farm. When I try to do this, I get an error stating that I am missing the connection string portion of my web.config.

Looking over the code that I am using, I'm under the impression that the code is failing to lay down the connection string section of the Web.Config.

When I try to do this I get: "Failed to apply web.config modifications to Web application '2962b355-80e1-4183-a958-d4120a94741d'. Failed to apply web.config modifications to file 'C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\web.config'. Failed to apply a web.config modification to file 'C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\web.config'. The specified node "configuration/connectionStrings" was not found in the web.config file. Failed to apply web.config modifications to Web application '6fe60f19-9f96-4efb-ba99-a2789354950a'. Failed to apply web.config modifications to file 'C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\81\web.config'. Failed to apply a web.config modification to file 'C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\81\web.config'. The specified node "configuration/connectionStrings" was not found in the web.config file."

I would rather not have to manually modify the web.config file to ease the installation of the .wsp file.

    public string Create(string url)
    {

        var spWebService = SPWebService.ContentService;

        // Define the modification(s) to the web.config

        var modification1 = new SPWebConfigModification
        {
            Path = "configuration",
            Name = "connectionStrings",
            Sequence = 100,
            Owner = Owner,
            Value = " < connectionStrings > < /connectionStrings > ",
            Type = SPWebConfigModification.SPWebConfigModificationType.EnsureChildNode
        };

        var modification2 = new SPWebConfigModification
        {
            Path = "configuration/connectionStrings",
            Name = string.Format("add[@name='{0}']", KeyName),
            Sequence = 100,
            Owner = Owner,
            Value = url,
            Type = SPWebConfigModification.SPWebConfigModificationType.EnsureChildNode
        };

        // Register the Web.config modification with the web service
        spWebService.WebConfigModifications.Add(modification1);
        spWebService.WebConfigModifications.Add(modification2);

        // Propagate those changes across the farm
        spWebService.Update();
        spWebService.ApplyWebConfigModifications();

        // Set the Url globally
        _webServiceUrl = url;

        return _webServiceUrl;
    }

Update!

Changing the second web.config modification to Ensure section fixed my initial issue. However, now when I try to run the code I get:

 The '[' character, hexadecimal value 0x5B, cannot be included in a name. Line 1, position 5.

Second Update

I ended up ditching the idea of storing the configuration in the Web.Config. I instead opted to use the SPFarm's Property Bag. Had that implementation up and running in minutes. Thanks for the help!

nkvu nkvu · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-08T18:56:11

I think that when you add the connectionStrings section (in modification1) you need to use EnsureSection rather than SPWebConfigModification.SPWebConfigModificationType.EnsureChildNode

Issues Programmatically adding a Web Service Url to a SharePoint Farm

1 Answers