How can I specify a single .config file for multiple EXE projects in .NET

I have a project that I am breaking up into multiple .exe projects. I still plan on publishing them, using click once, into the same location at the same time, and I would like to use the same config file.

I have added the app.config to each project using the "Add link" option in Visual Studio, which is great for debugging, but in production, when I compile each exe project, the app.config is not copied into the "master project"'s bin folder.

example:

master.exe with master.exe.config

master.exe开发者_如何学Go may launch order.exe based on user settings master.exe may launch returns.exe based on user settings

master, order, and returns will all reside in the same folder, and should share a single config file.

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I'd suggest that if you want to do this it might be better to just read/write to the config file via the normal XML classes.

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You can't, not with the default CLR host. You could write a custom host that uses a different AppDomainSetup.ConfigurationFile to initialize the primary AppDomain. But you'd surely don't want that pursue that, C++ and COM skillz required.

Using a lot of EXEs is pretty unusual. Most anything a EXE can do, a Thread can do as well. Other than preventing the main app from going down when it crashes with an unhandled exception. Stuffing the config in a separate xml file is probably the quickest solution.