How do I setup Connection Strings for a WebJob project?

Question

I am trying to setup a website and webjob, but get an error everytime I try to publish the webjob independently of the website (i.e. Selecting Publish as Azure WebJob from the context menu)

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets(4270,5): Error : The 'MyWebJob.Models.MyDataEntities-Web.config Connection String' argument cannot be null or empty.
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets(4270,5): Error : The 'MyWebJob.Models.MoreDataEntities-Web.config Connection String' argument cannot be null or empty.

There are two options for deploying a WebJob

• Deploy with a website project
• Deploy the webjob independently

When I link my webjob to a website project, it deploys with the website without error. However, when I try to deploy it independently I get the above error in my console and Error List, but the webjob is still deployed.

How can I deploy my webjob independently and get rid of this persistent "error"?

Answer 1

I found that providing a value for

 <Destination Path="" />  

in your publish profile pubxml file got rid of the issue. This can usually be found in \Properties\PublishProfiles. You probably have something like:

<PublishDatabaseSettings>   <Objects xmlns="">     <ObjectGroup Name="Context" Order="1" Enabled="False">       <Destination Path="" />       <Object Type="DbCodeFirst">         <Source Path="DBMigration" DbContext="Context, DAO" MigrationConfiguration="Context.Migrations.Configuration, DAO" Origin="Convention" />       </Object>     </ObjectGroup>   </Objects> </PublishDatabaseSettings> 

Changing it to the following fixed it for me:

<PublishDatabaseSettings>   <Objects xmlns="">     <ObjectGroup Name="Context" Order="1" Enabled="False">       <Destination Path="{deployment connection string}" />       <Object Type="DbCodeFirst">         <Source Path="DBMigration" DbContext="Context, DAO" MigrationConfiguration="Context.Migrations.Configuration, DAO" Origin="Convention" />       </Object>     </ObjectGroup>   </Objects> </PublishDatabaseSettings> 

Hope that helps.