Can multiple build configs share one config transformation?

Question

I'm using SlowCheetah for XML transforming a bunch of config files in a project.

However, this same solution is part of a load balanced setup, where some config values differ between the different servers (two, in this case).

I have the following build configs

• Debug
• Release
• Release.Test
• Release.Prod1
• Release.Prod2

Almost everything in Release.Prod1 and Release.Prod2 is identical, except for some values in one of the config files. Is there any way I can have a file like Something.Release.Prod.Config to be used on both of these build configs instead of having two identical files (Something.Release.Prod1.Config and Something.Release.Prod2.Config)?

...and to elaborate: In this case I am deploying to two environments, so one duplicated file is not really a huge crisis. What if you have ten or a hundred servers? I see no reason why a setup with a CI-server (Specifically TeamCity in this case) should not be able to do this, even though I suppose more customized setups are common in such environments.

How is this usually handled?

I suppose I can do some magic copying of files back and forth as a build step before the actual transformation happens, but this seems like a messy and overly complicated solution.

Answer 1

The configuration transformations are handled by the $(Configuration) variable in the TransformsFiles.targets file.

 <TransformXml Source="@(_FilesToTransformNotAppConfig->'%(FullPath)')"
                  Transform="%(RelativeDir)%(Filename).$(Configuration)%(Extension)"
                  Destination="@(_FilesToTransformNotAppConfig->'$(OutDir)%(RelativeDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"
                  Condition=" Exists('%(RelativeDir)%(Filename).$(Configuration)%(Extension)') " />

Here, you can change $(Configuration) to be any other value, like "Environment". Then just set the "Environment" variable in your MSBuild args -

/p:Environment=Prod

This should allow you to keep your build settings and do your transforms independently.