Optimizing the reading of web.config

Question

Here's the issue. When I build an asp.net application I create a singleton to read the values from the web.config file so that the values are only read once and gives a slight speed increase to the app. I basically do the following :

/// <summary>
/// Static class that handles the web.config reading.
/// </summary>
public class SiteGlobal
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Property that pulls the connectionstring value.
    /// </summary>             
    public static string ConnectionString { get; protected set;}

    /// <summary>
    /// Property that pulls the directory configuration value.
    /// </summary>
    public static string Directory { get; protected set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Static contructor for the SiteGlobal class.
    /// </summary>
    static SiteGlobal() {
        ConnectionString = WebConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ApplicationServices"].ConnectionString;
        Directory = WebConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Directory"];

    }
}

Which I don't consider a bad optimization. (Suggestions for improvement are appreciated through.)

Now though I'm trying to read from a ConfigurationSection that can contain multiple area's for example :

<ApplicationArea>
    <test1>
        <add key="key value" value="value data"/>            
    </test1>
    <test2>
        <add key="key value1" value="value data2"/>
    </test2>
</ApplicationArea>

Where I can have multiple area's underneath ApplicationArea, such as test1 and test 2 above. The best I've been able to come up with for an optimization of this though is this :

public static string ApplicationArea(string skey, string skey2)
    {
        NameValueCollection nvc = WebConfigurationManager.GetSection("ApplicationArea/" + skey) as NameValueCollection;
        return nvc[skey2];                        
    }       

Which is not saving the data and rereads the web.config file every time it's accessed. Is there an easy way to optimize the reading of the sections?

Answer 1

The web.config is loaded into memory once per-request anyway - it isn't loaded and parsed every time you access a section via the WebConfigurationManager. What speed increases have you actually noticed?

In fact, it might not even occur for each request, according to MSDN: 'These settings are calculated once and then cached across subsequent requests. ASP.NET automatically watches for file changes and re-computes the cache when any of the configuration files change within that file's hierarchy. When the server receives a request for a particular URL, ASP.NET uses the hierarchy of configuration settings in the cache to find the requested resource.' So, you're just doubling up on memory consumption; and I'm not convinced it's faster.