web.config Multiple config sources

Question

I need to declare multiple config sources for rewrite url's as the list of rewrites is very lengthy (+10000 rewrites).

This doesn't work :

  <rewrite>
    <rules configSource="App_Config\Rewrite\UrlRewrites1.config"></rules>
    <rules configSource="App_Config\Rewrite\UrlRewrites2.config"></rules>
  </rewrite>
</system.webServer>

With the following exception:

Config section 'system.webServer/rewrite/rules' already defined. Sections must only appear once per config file.

Answer 1

The "configSource" supports only one config file, so you can't have multiple config files by default. This goes alose for the node in the web.config.

I suggest you try to do it programmatically You can use ServerManager class to get access to website configuration. You will probably need to add a reference to Microsoft.Web.Administration. Read your config files and add each rule mannually.

Something like this:

using (ServerManager serverManager = new ServerManager())
{
   Configuration config = serverManager.GetWebConfiguration("Default Web Site");
   ConfigurationSection rulesSection = config.GetSection("system.webServer/rewrite/rules");
   ConfigurationElementCollection rulesCollection = rulesSection.GetCollection();

   ConfigurationElement ruleElement = rulesCollection.CreateElement("rule");
   ruleElement["name"] = @"rule";

   ConfigurationElement matchElement = ruleElement.GetChildElement("match");
   matchElement["url"] = @"foo\.htm";

   ConfigurationElement actionElement = ruleElement.GetChildElement("action");
   actionElement["type"] = @"Rewrite";
   actionElement["url"] = @"bar.htm";
   rulesCollection.Add(ruleElement);

   serverManager.CommitChanges();

}

There is also another option but I haven't tried it myself. You can write your own custom rewrite provider for url rewrite module. Here is a walkthrough how to do it: Custom Rewrite Provider Walkthrough