DevForce 2012: web.config - found but failed to deserialize

web.config - found but failed to deserialize

Printed From: IdeaBlade
Category: DevForce
Forum Name: DevForce 2012
Forum Discription: For .NET 4.5
URL: http://www.ideablade.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3872
Printed Date: 28-Mar-2025 at 9:36am

Topic: web.config - found but failed to deserialize

Posted By: mikke63
Subject: web.config - found but failed to deserialize
Date Posted: 04-Jan-2013 at 1:25am

The DevForce logfile shows that web.config (as well as other config files) is found but failed to deserialize. The result is taht I cannot user the config file to control various aspects like for instance logging.

What is the possible causes for failing to deserialize config file, and how can I fix it?

Thanks

Replies:

Posted By: kimj
Date Posted: 04-Jan-2013 at 9:22am

Errors derserializing the web.config are often due to lack of permission on the c:\windows\temp folder. The IIS_USERS group should have "read" and "list folder contents" permissions on the folder.

If a debug log is being generated it will contain more information on the cause of the error. Without a config file you can still generate a log as long as a subfolder named log is present. The Windows Event Log may have more information too.

Posted By: mikke63
Date Posted: 07-Jan-2013 at 12:56am

Thanks for your input. I've tried adding permissions to the c:\windows\temp folder, but without luck. I even tried giving Everyone Full Access just to test it.

I'm running the solution from within Visual Studio 2012, using IIS Express as hosting environment. The IIS Express process is logged on with my own account, which is a local administrator and hence should full access anyway.

The debug log generated by DevForce contains no further details other than saying the deserializing config file failed:

IdeaBladeConfig resolution: File: D:\_DATA\Oppdrag\BTPARK\Parka_2012\Parka_2012.Web\web.config - found but failed to deserialize
IdeaBladeConfig resolution: File: D:\_DATA\Oppdrag\BTPARK\Parka_2012\Parka_2012.Web\packages.config - found but failed to deserialize
IdeaBladeConfig resolution: File: D:\_DATA\Oppdrag\BTPARK\Parka_2012\Parka_2012.Web\Web.config - found but failed to deserialize
IdeaBladeConfig resolution: File: D:\_DATA\Oppdrag\BTPARK\Parka_2012\Parka_2012.Web\Web.Debug.config - found but failed to deserialize
IdeaBladeConfig resolution: File: D:\_DATA\Oppdrag\BTPARK\Parka_2012\Parka_2012.Web\Web.Release.config - found but failed to deserialize
IdeaBladeConfig resolution: Warning: No .config file found - using default configuration.

I've also looked through the event logs without finding anything relating to this problem.

Any ideas what I'm missing or not understanding? Is it possible to get more details from DevForce on why deserialization fails, for instance hooking into some event or other?

Thanks again.

Posted By: kimj
Date Posted: 07-Jan-2013 at 8:41am

Can you post or upload your web.config file? Generally the "found but failed to deserialize" message without an accompanying error message means only that there was no ideablade.configuration section in the file. You can also find more information on .config file contents here - http://drc.ideablade.com/devforce-2012/bin/view/Documentation/deploy-configuration - http://drc.ideablade.com/devforce-2012/bin/view/Documentation/deploy-configuration .

Posted By: mikke63
Date Posted: 09-Jan-2013 at 3:28am

Hi, and thanks for your reply. It actually helped med fix the problem. I had a look at the web.config file and the IdeaBlade section. It looked like this:

<ideablade.configuration version="7.00" xmlns="http://schemas.ideablade.com/2012/IdeaBladeConfig">

This project was initially initiated using the DF 2012 beta and later moved on to the release version. Just as a test I created a new DF project from scratch and then found the following IdeaBlade section:

<ideablade.configuration version="6.00" xmlns="http://schemas.ideablade.com/2010/IdeaBladeConfig">

See the two differences? Version 6 instead of 7, and 2010 instead of 2012 in the url. Once I changed the web.config file in my main project to look the same it all works. DevForce now reads the config file and picks up the parameters I specify.

I don't know whether I have stumbled into another problem, but for now it looks like it all works as expected.

Posted By: kimj
Date Posted: 09-Jan-2013 at 9:03am

Glad you got it working.

As you've found the hard way, we didn't update the version or schema for the ideablade.configuration section between DevForce 2010 and 2012, so the old DF2010 section still works in DF2012 applications.