I am using elmah (v1.1.11517.0) and am trying to move the config to an external source.
My config currently looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<configSections>
<sectionGroup name="elmah">
<section name="security" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.SecuritySectionHandler, Elmah"/>
<section name="errorLog" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorLogSectionHandler, Elmah" />
<section name="errorMail" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorMailSectionHandler, Elmah" />
<section name="errorFilter" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorFilterSectionHandler, Elmah"/>
<section name="errorTweet" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorTweetSectionHandler, Elmah"/>
</sectionGroup>
<section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net"/>
</configSections>
<log4net configSource="Settings\RobDev\log4net.config" />
<elmah configSource="Settings\RobDev\ELMAH.config" />
</configuration>
log4net is happy and runs fine, however for elmah I get the error
Parser Error Message: The attribute 'configSource' cannot be specified because its name starts with the reserved prefix 'config' or 'lock'.
Which is a pain, the elmah file is definitely there, but something isn't happy.
What might be causing this?
The reason why you can't use the configSource element for elmah is because elmah is defined as a sectionGroup. You can use the configSource on Sections. That is why it works on log4net.
If you need the seperate config-file for web-deployment like Dan Atkinson you could do the following:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
<configSections>
<sectionGroup name="elmah">
<section name="security" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.SecuritySectionHandler, Elmah"/>
<section name="errorLog" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorLogSectionHandler, Elmah" />
<section name="errorMail" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorMailSectionHandler, Elmah" />
<section name="errorFilter" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorFilterSectionHandler, Elmah"/>
<section name="errorTweet" requirePermission="false" type="Elmah.ErrorTweetSectionHandler, Elmah"/>
</sectionGroup>
<section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net"/>
</configSections>
<log4net configSource="Settings\RobDev\log4net.config" />
<elmah>
<errorLog configSource="Settings\RobDev\errorLog.config" />
<errorMail configSource="Settings\RobDev\errorMail.config" />
<errorFilter configSource="Settings\RobDev\errorFilter.config" />
<errorTweet configSource="Settings\RobDev\errorTweet.config" />
<security configSource="Settings\RobDev\security.config" />
</elmah>
</configuration>
The downside is that you need a config file for each section. But you often do that for web deployment projects.
I've added a bounty to this question as I'd also like to know the answer to this.
I need it because I use Web Deployment functionality which replaces files by their configSource attribute.
In the meantime, you could move the contents of elmah.config into your web.config, replacing the <elmah configSource="..." />
.