Update app.config system.net setting at runtime

Question

I need to update a setting in the system.net SectionGroup of a .Net exe app.config file at runtime. I don't have write access to the original config file at runtime (I am developing a .Net dll add-in which is hosted in an exe provided by the app which I have no control over) so I was hoping to save a copy of the file and replace the config in the exe with the modified version at runtime. I've tried the following but it's not working. Any suggestions?

    Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
    NetSectionGroup netSectionGroup = config.GetSectionGroup("system.net") as NetSectionGroup;
    netSectionGroup.Settings.HttpWebRequest.UseUnsafeHeaderParsing = true;                      
    config.SaveAs(@"C:\ProgramData\test.config", ConfigurationSaveMode.Full);

    AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetData("APP_CONFIG_FILE", @"C:\ProgramData\test.config");

Answer 1

I did not understand from your question if you don't have access to the app.config file because of your own design implementation or you just weren't able to save the config file, so here is a piece of code that allows you to modify and save appSettings section in the config file at runtime:

        Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
        KeyValueConfigurationCollection settings = config.AppSettings.Settings;

        // update SaveBeforeExit
        settings[-keyname-].Value = "newkeyvalue";
        ...
        //save the file
        config.Save(ConfigurationSaveMode.Modified);
        //relaod the section you modified
        ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection(config.AppSettings.SectionInformation.Name);

P.S the code will not save the app.config file you see in the solution editor, it will pdate the "program_name.exe.config" file in the operation forlder.