Question

We would like to use msbuild to clear the connectionStrings section from a web.config file.

What is the easiest way to do that?

We have previously used XmlMassUpdate to replace values (see also this question: XmlMassUpdate – Replace Value Node), but have not found a way to remove it entirely.

More details:

We would like to change the section in web.config from

<connectionStrings>
  <add name="connectionString1" connectionString="Data Source=localhost\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=Db1;Integrated Security=True" />
</connectionStrings>

to

<connectionStrings>
</connectionStrings>

Answer 1

Try this in your substitutions file

<connectionStrings xmu:action="remove" />

This should completeley remove the <connectionStrings> tag.