web.config file transform from command line

Question

I have two build environments to target; Release and Staging. The Web.config looks like this:

<system.web>          <authentication mode="Windows">     </authentication>      <authorization>         <deny users="?" />     </authorization> </system.web> 

I want to transform it by building to staging config: Web.Staging.config

<system.web>          <authentication mode="Windows">     </authentication>      <authorization xdt:Transform="Replace">         <deny users="?" />         <allow roles="StagingRoles" />         <deny users="*" />     </authorization> </system.web> 

I build from command line like this:

msbuild buildscript.build /p:Configuration=Staging 

After the build, I don't see the web.config file transformed in the build artifacts folder. Is there something wrong here?

Thanks

Answer 1

If you add the following xml to the bottom of the .csproj file for your web application, you'll ensure that the config transformation occurs before every build:

<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" /> <Target Name="BeforeBuild">     <TransformXml Source="Web.Base.config" Transform="Web.$(Configuration).config" Destination="Web.config" /> </Target> 

Edit: In response to your comment, you should be able to use Web.config as the source parameter in the TransformXml task (see step #2). If you only want to perform the config transform in the build script, follow these instructions:

1) Import WebApplication.targets in your build script like so:

<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" /> 

2) Execute the TransformXml build task in your build script target:

<Target Name="MyBuildScriptTarget">     <TransformXml Source="Web.config" Transform="Web.$(Configuration).config" Destination="Web.config" />     ...other build tasks... </Target> 

Answer 2

Jonathan's answer is good. I tweaked it slightly to allow the original Web.config file to be retained. These are the lines I added to the bottom of my .csproj file:

  <!-- the step to copy the config file first avoids a 'File is being used by another process' error -->   <Target Name="BeforeBuild">     <Copy SourceFiles="Web.config" DestinationFiles="Web.temp.config" OverwriteReadOnlyFiles="True" />     <TransformXml Source="Web.temp.config" Transform="Web.$(Configuration).config" Destination="Web.config" />   </Target>   <Target Name="AfterBuild">     <Copy SourceFiles="Web.temp.config" DestinationFiles="Web.config" OverwriteReadOnlyFiles="True" />     <Delete Files="Web.temp.config" />   </Target> 

I can see that the web.config file is transformed by running a build within Visual Studio (or from a command line).