App.Config vs Custom XML file
app-config, application-settings
Solution
Some people tend to go a bit overboard on custom config section handlers, in my humble opinion.
I tend to use them only when I need something that is very structed; and that is used/written by 3rd parties (i.e. I want to do some extravagent validation on it).
I think you can quite happily use app.config/web.config for all relevant settings, and use separate XML files when it is very clear that is a separate component of the app.
Problem
I have read a lot of statements like "you shouldn't clog your app.config file with custom settings". However, I was under the impression that this was exactly the purpose of the file? Is it just indeed a preference thing? Or are there any real benefits (other than separation of settings) by using a custom XML file, as apposed to the app.config file? If you need to explicitly separate settings would it better to use a custom `ConfigurationSection` rather than opting for a custom XML file? I would like to here other peoples thoughts on this.