What you want is your own generic ConfigurationElementCollection base class which implements IList<T>. You can then inherit from this for all your configuration collections and cut down on the amount of work you need to do when creating configuration collections.
public abstract class BaseConfigurationElementCollection<TConfigurationElementType> : ConfigurationElementCollection, IList<TConfigurationElementType> where TConfigurationElementType : ConfigurationElement, IConfigurationElementCollectionElement, new()
{
protected override ConfigurationElement CreateNewElement()
{
return new TConfigurationElementType();
}
protected override object GetElementKey(ConfigurationElement element)
{
return ((TConfigurationElementType)element).ElementKey;
}
#region Implementation of IEnumerable<TConfigurationElementType>
IEnumerator<TConfigurationElement> IEnumerable<TConfigurationElement>.GetEnumerator()
{
foreach (TConfigurationElement type in this)
{
yield return type;
}
}
#endregion
#region Implementation of ICollection<TConfigurationElementType>
public void Add(TConfigurationElementType configurationElement)
{
BaseAdd(configurationElement, true);
}
public void Clear()
{
BaseClear();
}
public bool Contains(TConfigurationElementType configurationElement)
{
return !(IndexOf(configurationElement) < 0);
}
public void CopyTo(TConfigurationElementType[] array, int arrayIndex)
{
base.CopyTo(array, arrayIndex);
}
public bool Remove(TConfigurationElementType configurationElement)
{
BaseRemove(GetElementKey(configurationElement));
return true;
}
bool ICollection<TConfigurationElementType>.IsReadOnly
{
get { return IsReadOnly(); }
}
#endregion
#region Implementation of IList<TConfigurationElementType>
public int IndexOf(TConfigurationElementType configurationElement)
{
return BaseIndexOf(configurationElement);
}
public void Insert(int index, TConfigurationElementType configurationElement)
{
BaseAdd(index, configurationElement);
}
public void RemoveAt(int index)
{
BaseRemoveAt(index);
}
public TConfigurationElementType this[int index]
{
get
{
return (TConfigurationElementType)BaseGet(index);
}
set
{
if (BaseGet(index) != null)
{
BaseRemoveAt(index);
}
BaseAdd(index, value);
}
}
#endregion
}
With a little bit more work you can have a dictonary collection as well.