Question

Is there a way to apply VS 2010 Web.Config transformations outside of web deployment, say during debugging? It would give me a great boost to be able to freely switch between different environments.

Answer 1

Yes, you can perform a Web.config transformation explicitly by invoking the TransformXml MSBuild task during the AfterBuild step in your project file.

Here’s an example:

<UsingTask
    TaskName="TransformXml"
    AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll" />

<Target Name="AfterBuild" Condition="exists('Web.$(Configuration).config')">
    <!-- Generates the transformed Web.config in the intermediate directory -->
    <TransformXml
        Source="Web.config"
        Destination="$(IntermediateOutputPath)Web.config"
        Transform="Web.$(Configuration).config" />
    <!-- Overwrites the original Web.config with the transformed configuration file -->
    <Copy
        SourceFiles="$(IntermediateOutputPath)Web.config"
        DestinationFolder="$(ProjectDir)" />        
</Target>

Related resources:

• Web.config transformations for App.config files
• Can I specify that a package should be created every time I build a solution?