I have setup some configuration transforms in my web.config for my connectionStrings, etc. But I have separated out some areas of my web.config into separate files, ex) appSettings.config.
How can I configure Visual Studio and MSBuild to perform config transformations on these additional config files?
I have already followed the approach of the web.config to relate the files together within my web application project file, but transformations are not automatically applied.
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="appSettings.Debug.config">
<DependentUpon>appSettings.config</DependentUpon>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
By default the target managing the transformation (TransformWebConfig
) works only on web.config
file.
To make it work on your appSettings.config
file you'll have to :
- Set the
Build Action
of your file to Content
- Call the MSBuild target
TransformWebConfig
with ProjectConfigFileName=appSettings.config
and Configuration=$(Configuration)
.
To call MSBuild TransformWebConfig
target for appSettings.config
just after the transformation of web.config
files, you need to add this at the end of your project file :
<PropertyGroup>
<!-- Name of your custom config file -->
<ConfigFileName>appSettings.config</ConfigFileName>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<!--
This property is used to handle circular dependency between
TransformWebConfig and our custom target TransformAppConfig
-->
<FirstRun Condition="$(FirstRun) == ''">true</FirstRun>
</PropertyGroup>
<!-- This target will be called one time after a call to TransformWebConfig -->
<Target Name="TransformAppConfig"
AfterTargets="TransformWebConfig"
Condition="$(FirstRun) == 'true'">
<MSBuild Projects="$(MSBuildProjectFile)"
Targets="TransformWebConfig"
Properties="ProjectConfigFileName=$(ConfigFileName);
Configuration=$(Configuration);
FirstRun=false"/>
</Target>
<!--
This target will be called one time before PreAutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings
to add $(ConfigFileName) to autoparameterization step
-->
<Target Name="AddToAutoParameterizationStep"
BeforeTargets="PreAutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings">
<ItemGroup>
<_WebConfigsToAutoParmeterizeCS Include="@(FilesForPackagingFromProject)"
Condition="('%(FilesForPackagingFromProject.Filename)%(FilesForPackagingFromProject.Extension)'=='$(ConfigFileName)') And !%(FilesForPackagingFromProject.Exclude)">
<TransformOriginalFile>$(AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStringsLocation)\original\%(DestinationRelativePath)</TransformOriginalFile>
<TransformOutputFile>$(AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStringsLocation)\transformed\%(DestinationRelativePath)</TransformOutputFile>
<TransformScope>$(_PackageTempDir)\%(DestinationRelativePath)</TransformScope>
</_WebConfigsToAutoParmeterizeCS>
<_WebConfigsToAutoParmeterizeCSOuputFiles Include="@(_WebConfigsToAutoParmeterizeCS->'%(TransformOutputFile)')">
</_WebConfigsToAutoParmeterizeCSOuputFiles>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
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Here is the code that works for me:
<PropertyGroup>
<!-- Name of your custom config file -->
<ConfigFileName>ConnectionStrings.config</ConfigFileName>
<ConfigTransformFileName>ConnectionStrings.$(Configuration).config</ConfigTransformFileName>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<!--
This property is used to handle circular dependency between
TransformWebConfig and our custom target TransformAppConfig
-->
<FirstRun Condition="$(FirstRun) == ''">true</FirstRun>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="AddConfigToTransform" AfterTargets="CollectWebConfigsToTransform">
<ItemGroup>
<WebConfigsToTransform Include="@(FilesForPackagingFromProject)" Condition="'%(FilesForPackagingFromProject.Filename)%(FilesForPackagingFromProject.Extension)'=='$(ConfigFileName)'">
<TransformFile>%(RelativeDir)$(ConfigTransformFileName)</TransformFile>
<TransformOriginalFile>$(TransformWebConfigIntermediateLocation)\original\%(DestinationRelativePath)</TransformOriginalFile>
<TransformOutputFile>$(TransformWebConfigIntermediateLocation)\transformed\%(DestinationRelativePath)</TransformOutputFile>
<TransformScope>$([System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath($(_PackageTempDir)\%(DestinationRelativePath)))</TransformScope>
</WebConfigsToTransform>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
<!--
This target will be called one time before PreAutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings
to add $(ConfigFileName) to autoparameterization step
-->
<Target Name="AddToAutoParameterizationStep" BeforeTargets="PreAutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings">
<ItemGroup>
<_WebConfigsToAutoParmeterizeCS Include="@(FilesForPackagingFromProject)" Condition="('%(FilesForPackagingFromProject.Filename)%(FilesForPackagingFromProject.Extension)'=='$(ConfigFileName)') And !%(FilesForPackagingFromProject.Exclude)">
<TransformOriginalFile>$(AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStringsLocation)\original\%(DestinationRelativePath)</TransformOriginalFile>
<TransformOutputFile>$(AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStringsLocation)\transformed\%(DestinationRelativePath)</TransformOutputFile>
<TransformScope>$(_PackageTempDir)\%(DestinationRelativePath)</TransformScope>
</_WebConfigsToAutoParmeterizeCS>
<_WebConfigsToAutoParmeterizeCSOuputFiles Include="@(_WebConfigsToAutoParmeterizeCS->'%(TransformOutputFile)')">
</_WebConfigsToAutoParmeterizeCSOuputFiles>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>