Configuration Editor

 

Applies To: Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012

Configuration Editor lets you access and manage your configuration files by pulling sections into IIS Manager. The available sections are determined by where you are in your server, site, or application. Within each section, you can edit elements, attributes, and collections. This feature is available only to administrators.

Use the Configuration Editor page to manage sections of your configuration files. You can also use Configuration Editor to search through your configuration files and to generate scripts.

Related scenarios

In this document

UI Elements for Configuration Editor

The following tables describe the UI elements that are available on the feature page and in the Actions pane.

Feature Page Elements

Element Name

Description

Section

Use the Section drop-down list to select the section that you want to configure. If you want to type the section path, use the full path to access the data section, for example, system.data instead of data.

Core content section

The center pane displays the information for the section that you want to configure. The section path appears above the properties and their values. You can edit these property values by clicking the value.

Type and Validation Information

The text box that appears at the bottom of the Configuration Editor page displays the data type and validation information, such as the value range, for the currently selected property.

Actions Pane Elements

Element Name

Description

Apply

Saves the changes that you have made to the element, attribute, or collection.

Cancel

Cancels the current changes that you have made to the element, attribute, or collection. Once you click Apply, you cannot use Cancel to revert your changes.

Generate Script

Creates a script of the actions that you have recently performed. Opens the Script Dialog window that displays the script for your action in three programming languages: C#, JavaScript, and AppCmd. The generate script functionality is only enabled after you take action, such as changing the value of a property. You must generate a script that includes your action before you click Apply.

Note that the script will not include immediate actions, such as locking a section, editing a collection, or reverting to parent.

Search Configuration

Opens the Configuration Search dialog box that lets you search for specific sections in your configuration files.

For more information, see the Configuration Search Dialog Box topic.

Lock Section

Locks the selected section so that additional changes cannot be made.

Unlock Section

Unlocks the selected section to let you make changes.

Note that you can only unlock a section at the location where you originally locked it. For example, if you locked a section by using ApplicationHost.config, you cannot unlock it by using Web.config.

Lock Attribute

Locks the selected attribute.

Unlock Attribute

Unlocks the selected attribute to let you make changes.

Note that you can only unlock an attribute at the location where you originally locked it.

Lock Element

Locks the selected element.

Unlock Element

Unlocks the selected element to let you make changes.

Note that you can only unlock an element at the location where you originally locked it.

Remove

Removes the selected element and its settings.

Edit Items

Opens the Collection Editor dialog box for you to add, edit, or remove properties in a collection.

For more information, see the Collection Editor Dialog Box topic.

Revert to Parent

Changes the values in the current section so that it inherits the values from the parent configuration. You can only use this functionality at the section level.

Configuration Search Dialog Box

Use the Configuration Search dialog box to search for specific sections in your configuration files.

Element Name

Description

Find Section

Type the path of the section that you want to search for in your configuration file. As you type each character, the search results filter to include only the sections that match.

Left pane

Displays the search results for your section search in either Hierarchy or Flat View.

Right pane

Displays the configuration value from the section that you searched for in your configuration file.

Collection Editor Dialog Box

Use the Collection Editor to add, edit, or remove properties in a collection. The Collection Editor contains two panes. The Items pane lists all items in the collection for the section that you are configuring. In the Properties pane, you can change the values of the property items in the collection by clicking the row that you want to change. The text box that appears at the bottom of the Collection Editor dialog box displays the data type and validation information, such as the value range, for the currently selected property.

Element Name

Description

Add

Adds a new row at the bottom of the list of items. The new row uses the schema default values.

Clear All

Removes all items from the collection. A dialog box asks you to confirm this action.

Lock Item

Locks the selected item in the collection.

Remove

Deletes the selected item from the configuration file section.