Question

So, I’m finally really needing to do something with Web.config that isn’t supported by NuGet’s Web.config.transform system.

And after spending 2 hours searching the docs, I realized that there’s no word on whether Install.ps1 happens before or after Web.config.transform gets applied.

I used to define a Web.config.transform file like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="resizer" type="ImageResizer.ResizerSection"/>
  </configSections>
</configuration>

Here’s the new one – the requirePermission="false" attribute is required to support Medium Trust.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="resizer" type="ImageResizer.ResizerSection" requirePermission="false"/>
  </configSections>
</configuration>

If I release a new Web.config.transform version, it will crash their ASP.NET project since there will be two section elements:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="resizer" type="ImageResizer.ResizerSection" />
    <section name="resizer" type="ImageResizer.ResizerSection" requirePermission="false"/>
  </configSections>
</configuration>

If Install.ps1 happens before Web.config.transform, I can just delete all matches to configuration/configSections/section[@name='resizer']. If it happens after, then I need to select one of the duplicates to remove.

This is a pretty easy problem to solve, but hasn’t yet been answered on an internet forum, and by posting it I’m hoping to make the next Nuggetter’s life easier.

Answer 1

I just read through NuGet code and install.ps1 happens after Web.config.transform.

In NuGet’s code below, Web.config.transform is called in the ExtractPackageFilesToProject while installs.ps1 is called in the last event OnPackagageReferenceAdded :

    protected void AddPackageReferenceToProject(IPackage package)
    {
        PackageOperationEventArgs args = CreateOperation(package);
        OnPackageReferenceAdding(args);

        if (args.Cancel)
        {
            return;
        }

        ExtractPackageFilesToProject(package);

        Logger.Log(MessageLevel.Info, NuGetResources.Log_SuccessfullyAddedPackageReference, package.GetFullName(), Project.ProjectName);
        OnPackageReferenceAdded(args);
    }


    private void OnPackageReferenceAdded(object sender, PackageOperationEventArgs e)
    {
        Project project = FindProjectFromFileSystem(e.FileSystem);
        Debug.Assert(project != null);
        _providerServices.ScriptExecutor.ExecuteScript(e.InstallPath, PowerShellScripts.Install, e.Package, project, this);
    }