Is it possible to have an ampersand sign in an appSettings key? error: web.config value is not defined

Question

I have the following appSettings section

<appSettings>
  <add key="Foo" value="http://foo.bar.com/?app=xxx&FormName=yyy" />
</appSettings>

But the IDE is giving me two errors:

It seems the & is causing a problem. I'd like to not have to splt the values up into seperate keys. Is there an elegant way around this issue?

You just need to remember that a `.config` file is XML and all XML rules still apply... — Oded, Jun 06 '12 at 17:08
possible duplicate of [How can I add an ampersand for a value in a ASP.net/C# app config file value](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/376135/how-can-i-add-an-ampersand-for-a-value-in-a-asp-net-c-app-config-file-value) — JohnnyHK, Nov 05 '14 at 21:03

score 51 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 06 '12 at 17:03

51

You just need to use XML encoding here I believe - so & becomes &

answered Jun 06 '12 at 17:03

RobV

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 06 '12 at 17:04

11

Try &amp;

<appSettings>
  <add key="Foo" value="http://foo.bar.com/?app=xxx&amp;FormName=yyy" />
</appSettings>

answered Jun 06 '12 at 17:04

Adil

2 Answers2