recolhimentos de várias fontes (incluindo stackOverlflow), no entanto, quando eu uso, recebo a seguinte mensagem de erro

"A propriedade Configuration 'deviceconfig' não pode ser derivada do ConfigurationSection."

Estou lutando com isso há quase um dia e não estou mais perto de uma solução, de modo que qualquer ajuda nesse assunto seria muito apreciada. Eu sou um novato na implementação de seções de configuração personalizadas, por favor, trate-me com cuidado :-)

O arquivo app.config fica assim:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="deviceconfig"  type="CNIMonitor.Core.CustomConfig.DeviceConfig,Core"/>
  </configSections>
<system.diagnostics>
    <sources>
        <!-- This section defines the logging configuration for My.Application.Log -->
        <source name="DefaultSource" switchName="DefaultSwitch">
            <listeners>
                <add name="FileLog"/>
                <!-- Uncomment the below section to write to the Application Event Log -->
                <!--<add name="EventLog"/>-->
            </listeners>
        </source>
    </sources>
    <switches>
        <add name="DefaultSwitch" value="Information" />
    </switches>
    <sharedListeners>
        <add name="FileLog"
             type="Microsoft.VisualBasic.Logging.FileLogTraceListener, Microsoft.VisualBasic, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, processorArchitecture=MSIL" 
             initializeData="FileLogWriter"/>
        <!-- Uncomment the below section and replace APPLICATION_NAME with the name of your application to write to the Application Event Log -->
        <!--<add name="EventLog" type="System.Diagnostics.EventLogTraceListener" initializeData="APPLICATION_NAME"/> -->
    </sharedListeners>
</system.diagnostics>
<deviceconfig>
  <devices>          
      <device deviceid = "1" 
              name = "localhost" 
              ipaddress="127.0.0.1" 
              port="10000"
              status="not listening"
              message="no message"
      />
      <device deviceid ="2" 
              name ="2nd localhost" 
              ipaddress="127.0.0.1" 
              port="20000" 
              status="not listening"
              message="no message"
      />
  </devices>  
</deviceconfig>

O código do manipulador de seção personalizada da seguinte maneira:

Imports System.Configuration

Namespace CNIMonitor.Core.CustomConfig

Public Class DeviceConfig
    Inherits ConfigurationSection
    <ConfigurationProperty("deviceconfig")> _
    Public ReadOnly Property DeviceConfig() As DeviceConfig
        Get
            Return CType(MyBase.Item("deviceconfig"), DeviceConfig)
        End Get
    End Property
End Class

<ConfigurationCollectionAttribute(GetType(Device))> _
Public Class Devices
    Inherits ConfigurationElementCollection
    Protected Overrides Function CreateNewElement() As ConfigurationElement
        Return New Device
    End Function
    Protected Overrides Function GetElementKey _
    (ByVal element As ConfigurationElement) As Object
        Return CType(element, Device).DeviceID
    End Function
    Public Sub Add(ByVal element As Device)
        Me.BaseAdd(element)
    End Sub
End Class
Public Class Device
    Inherits ConfigurationElement
    <ConfigurationProperty("deviceid", DefaultValue:="", IsKey:=True, IsRequired:=True)> _
    Public Property DeviceID() As String
        Get
            Return CType(MyBase.Item("deviceid"), String)
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            MyBase.Item("deviceid") = value
        End Set
    End Property
    <ConfigurationProperty("hostname", DefaultValue:="", IsKey:=True, IsRequired:=False)> _
    Public Property HostName() As String
        Get
            Return CType(MyBase.Item("RegisteredDate"), String)
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            MyBase.Item("RegisteredDate") = value
        End Set
    End Property
    <ConfigurationProperty("ipaddress", DefaultValue:="", IsKey:=True, IsRequired:=False)> _
    Public Property IpAddress() As String
        Get
            Return CType(MyBase.Item("ipaddress"), String)
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            MyBase.Item("ipaddress") = value
        End Set
    End Property
    <ConfigurationProperty("port", DefaultValue:="", IsKey:=True, IsRequired:=False)> _
    Public Property Port() As String
        Get
            Return CType(MyBase.Item("port"), String)
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            MyBase.Item("port") = value
        End Set
    End Property
    <ConfigurationProperty("status", DefaultValue:="", IsKey:=False, IsRequired:=False)> _
    Public Property Status() As String
        Get
            Return CType(MyBase.Item("status"), String)
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            MyBase.Item("status") = value
        End Set
    End Property
    <ConfigurationProperty("message", DefaultValue:="", IsKey:=False, IsRequired:=False)> _
    Public Property Message() As String
        Get
            Return CType(MyBase.Item("message"), String)
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            MyBase.Item("message") = value
        End Set
    End Property
End Class

End Namespace