Configuration in EPiServer CMS 5 R2

Introduction

The structure of EPiServer CMS-specific settings in the Web.config file as well as the way site settings are dealt with programmatically have gone through some major changes. This text points out what has changed and how to use these changes in code as well as in configuration files.  

Table of Contents

• Web.config
• Connection Strings
• Enterprise Configuration
• List of Web.config Settings
  » Required Settings 
  » Available Settings 
  » Workflow Settings

Web.Config

EPiServer CMS settings are accessed through the use of a configuration class. All settings are typed members of this class, which gives the benefit of being able to see all settings through Intellisense. Access to the site settings goes through the static object EPiServer.Configuration.Settings.Instance. There is no need to instantiate this class since it's a global static available throughout all of the application.

To locate the settings for a specific site in Web.Config, scroll to the <EPiServer> section and find the <sites> element collection.

Note: The <site> element contains a description attribute that makes it easier to locate a specific site in web.config. The siteId attribute is used to distinguish this site when communicating between EPiServer sites, for example in Enterprise scenarios.

Note: If you have a Single Server License there will be only one site and only one config section in your web.config file while an Enterprise solution will contain several sites.

Connection Strings

In EPiServer CMS 5, you have the option to define several different strings to connect to several different databases. The strings have been moved from web.config to a new file called Connectionstrings.config.
Note: Having a separate connctionStrings.config is simply something that EPiServer CMS does by default. There is no hard requirement for having it as a separate file, as this is simply controlled by the default ASP.NET configuration settings in web.config.

Enterprise Configuration

According to the old model, each site inherited some basic settings from a base site. If a site had specific need for configuration, you had to override the settings for that site. This lead to a messy system, where it was difficult to get a good overview of how each site worked.

Therefore, inheritance has been removed. Each site now has its own <site> element and consequently a separate <siteSettings> element. Every required attribute needs to be set for every site. This leads to a more intuitive administration and gives a better overview of how each site is actually configured.

List of Web.config Settings

Required Settings

Available Settings

Workflow Settings

For further information about configuration options regarding workflow system, see the Developer's Guide / Workflows / Developing Workflows section in the online EPiServer CMS SDK.