Question

I’m using the config file replacement feature of Visual Studio 2010’s “Publish” functionality, as described in this article. I want to automate this using MSBuild/Hudson. Does anybody know how to do this?

I like how it works but if I cannot automate it I’ll have to switch to XmlMassUpdate or similar.

Answer 1

Explanation

To transform your config file you’ll have to execute the TransformWebConfig target.

This target takes two files Web.config and Web.$(Configuration).config and generates a Web.config. The generated file is the transformed version of the original one for the current configuration.

This file is generated in folder : obj\$(Configuration)\TransformWebConfig

Usage

You don’t really explain what you want to achieve, so here a basic usage, a job that generates a transformed config file in a given folder.

Add the following piece in the end of your project file *.csproj after the import of Microsoft.WebApplication.targets

<PropertyGroup>
  <!-- Directory where your web.config will be copied -->
  <TransformedWebConfigDestination>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)</TransformedWebConfigDestination>
</PropertyGroup>

<!--
  This target transforms the web.config based on current configuration and
  put the transformed files in $(TransformedWebConfigDestination) folder
-->
<Target Name="ConfigSubstitution">
  <CallTarget Targets="TransformWebConfig"/>

  <ItemGroup>
    <TransformedWebConfig Include="obj\$(Configuration)\TransformWebConfig\Web.config"/>
  </ItemGroup>

  <!-- Copy the transformed web.config to the configured destination -->
  <Copy SourceFiles="@(TransformedWebConfig)"
        DestinationFolder="$(TransformedWebConfigDestination)"/>
</Target>

In Hudson you could add a Build step in your build, or create a dedicated job configured as follow:

• MsBuild Build File : Your csproj file.
• Command Line Arguments : /t:ConfigSubstitution /p:Platform=AnyCpu;Configuration=Test;TransformedWebConfigDestination=DestinationFolder