Overriding/merging standard programmatic configuration with config file section - configuration

Question

We have a standard set of conventions that we follow for logging from our various applications, and it is sensible to package this configuration as by-code configuration and include in a common assembly.
Occasionally, however, we need to override this config to more efficiently debug production issues. This is more easily accomplished by letting a developer or administrator add an NLog config section, which can be read in and override or add to configuration done programmatically.
Can this be done out of the box with NLog?

Answer 1

I know this isn't by-code (I'm not sure how to do it), but you can use <include> with XML config to override things like variables. Here's a sample that uses Web.config that overrides the "standard" NLog.config for other projects:
Web.config:
<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="nlog" type="NLog.Config.ConfigSectionHandler, NLog" />
</configSections>
<nlog xmlns="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<include file="${basedir}\bin\NLog.config" />
<variable name="fruit" value="Apples" />
</nlog>
</configuration>
NLog.config (that gets copied to bin):
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<nlog xmlns="http://www.nlog-project.org/schemas/NLog.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<targets>
<!-- Output Window -->
<target name="debug" xsi:type="Debugger" layout="${fruit}|${level:uppercase=true}|${logger}|${message}"></target>
</targets>
<rules>
<logger name="*" writeTo="debug" />
</rules>
</nlog>