title: storing hierarchical application settings in web.config or app.config
body: <p>I need to store my application config settings in a hierarchical format in web.config or app.config. Is this possible? or I have to store it in some XML file or database and use it instead? plain name value pair format isn't enough for me.</p>
  
  <pre><code>    &lt;appSettings&gt;
          &lt;Report1&gt;
            &lt;add key="SourceFilePath" value="value1" /&gt;
            &lt;add key="DestinationFolderPath" value="value2" /&gt;
          &lt;/Report1&gt;
          &lt;Report2&gt;
            &lt;add key="SourceFilePath" value="value1" /&gt;
            &lt;add key="DestinationFolderPath" value="value2" /&gt;
          &lt;/Report2&gt;
     &lt;/appSettings&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It is a web-based reporting application and I need to store the file paths for the source files, SSIS packages, FTP server details etc. </p>
  
  <p>Update: If I choose the custom config section option, can I store the settings in a separate file to keep the main web.config file clean from app settings?</p>