App Config Transformation for projects which are not Web Projects in Visual Studio

Question

For Visual Studio 2010 Web based application we have Config Transformation features by which we can maintain multiple configuration files for different environments  But the same feature is not available for App Config files for Windows Services WinForms or Console Application    There is a workaround available as suggested here  Applying XDT magic to App Config   However it is not straightforward and requires a number of steps  Is there an easier way to achieve the same for app config files

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proposed solution will not work when a class library with config file is referenced from another project  in my case it was Azure worker project library   It will not copy correct transformed file from obj folder into bin   configuration-name   folder  To make it work with minimal changes  you need to change AfterCompile target to BeforeCompile    lt Target Name  BeforeCompile  Condition  exists  app   Configuration  config    gt

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So I ended up taking a slightly different approach  I followed Dan s steps through step 3  but added another file  App Base Config  This file contains the configuration settings you want in every generated App Config  Then I use BeforeBuild  with Yuri s addition to TransformXml  to transform the current configuration with the Base config into the App config  The build process then uses the transformed App config as normal  However  one annoyance is you kind of want to exclude the ever-changing App config from source control afterwards  but the other config files are now dependent upon it      lt UsingTask TaskName  TransformXml  AssemblyFile    MSBuildExtensionsPath  Microsoft VisualStudio v  VisualStudioVersion  Web Microsoft Web Publishing Tasks dll    gt     lt Target Name  BeforeBuild  Condition  exists  app   Configuration  config    gt       lt TransformXml Source  App Base config  Transform  App   Configuration  config  Destination  App config    gt     lt  Target gt

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In my experience  the things I need to make environment-specific are things like connection strings  appsettings and often smpt settings  The config system allows to specify these things in separate files  So you can use this in your app config web config     lt appSettings configSource  appsettings config    gt    lt connectionStrings configSource  connection config    gt    lt system net gt       lt mailSettings gt          lt smtp configSource  smtp config   gt       lt  mailSettings gt    lt  system net gt    What I typically do is to put these config-specific sections in separate files  in a subfolder called ConfigFiles  either in the solution root or at the project level  depends   I define a file per configuration  e g  smtp config Debug and smtp config Release   Then you can define a pre-build event like so   copy   ProjectDir ConfigFiles smtp config   ConfigurationName    TargetDir smtp config   In team development  you can tweak this further by including the  COMPUTERNAME  and or  USERNAME  in the convention   Of course  this implies that the target files  x config  should NOT be put in source control  since they are generated   You should still add them to the project file and set their output type property to  copy always  or  copy if newer  though   Simple  extensible  and it works for all types of Visual Studio projects  console  winforms  wpf  web

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I wrote nice extension to automate app config transformation like the one built in Web Application Project Configuration Transform  The biggest advantage of this extension is that you don   t need to install it on all build machines

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Note  Due to reputation I cannot comment on bdeem s post  I m posting my findings as an answer instead  Following bdeem s post  I did the following  in order   1  I modified the  project  csproj file  Added the  lt Content Include  quot  quot    gt  tags to the ItemGroup for the different config files and made them dependent on the original config file  Note  Using  lt None Include  quot  quot    gt  will not work with the transformation   lt  -- App config Settings -- gt   lt  -- Create App   Configuration  config files here  -- gt   lt Content Include  quot App config quot    gt   lt Content Include  quot App Debug config quot  gt     lt DependentUpon gt App config lt  DependentUpon gt   lt  Content gt   lt Content Include  quot App Release config quot  gt     lt DependentUpon gt App config lt  DependentUpon gt   lt  Content gt   2  At the bottom of the  project  csproj file  before the closing  lt  Project gt  tag   I imported the   MSBuildToolsPath Microsoft CSharp targets file  added the UsingTask to transform the XML and added the Target to copy the transformed App config file to the output location  Note  The Target will also overwrite the App Config in the local directory to see immediate changes working locally  The Target also uses the Name  quot Afterbuild quot  property to ensure the config files can be transformed after the executables are generated  For reasons I do not understand  when using WCF endpoints  if I use Name  quot CoreCompile quot   I will get warnings about the service attributes  Name  quot Afterbuild quot  resolved this     lt  -- Task to transform the App config using the App   Configuration  config file  -- gt     lt UsingTask TaskName  quot TransformXml quot  AssemblyFile  quot   MSBuildExtensionsPath  Microsoft VisualStudio v  VisualStudioVersion  Web Microsoft Web Publishing Tasks dll quot    gt      lt  -- Only compile the App config if the App   Configuration  config file exists  -- gt     lt  -- Make sure to use the AfterBuild name instead of CoreCompile to avoid first time build errors and WCF endpoint errors  -- gt     lt Target Name  quot AfterBuild quot  Condition  quot exists  App   Configuration  config   quot  gt       lt  -- Generate transformed App config in the intermediate output directory -- gt           lt TransformXml Source  quot App config quot  Destination  quot   IntermediateOutputPath   TargetFileName  config quot  Transform  quot App   Configuration  config quot    gt            lt  -- Modify the original App config file with the transformed version  -- gt       lt TransformXml Source  quot App config quot  Destination  quot App config quot  Transform  quot App   Configuration  config quot    gt        lt  -- Force build process to use the transformed configuration file from now on  -- gt       lt ItemGroup gt         lt AppConfigWithTargetPath Remove  quot App config quot    gt         lt AppConfigWithTargetPath Include  quot   IntermediateOutputPath   TargetFileName  config quot  gt           lt TargetPath gt   TargetFileName  config lt  TargetPath gt         lt  AppConfigWithTargetPath gt       lt  ItemGroup gt     lt  Target gt   lt  Project gt   3  Went back into Visual Studio and reloaded the modified files  4  Manually added the App   config files to the project  This allowed them to group under the original App config file  Note  Make sure the App   config files have the proper XML structure   lt  xml version  quot 1 0 quot  encoding  quot utf-8 quot   gt    lt  -- For more information on using web config transformation visit https   go microsoft com fwlink  LinkId 125889 -- gt    lt configuration xmlns xdt  quot http   schemas microsoft com XML-Document-Transform quot  gt     lt connectionStrings gt       lt add name  quot myConn quot  connectionString  quot  quot   Initial Catalog   User ID   Password   quot  xdt Transform  quot SetAttributes quot  xdt Locator  quot Match name  quot    gt     lt  connectionStrings gt   lt  configuration gt   5  Re-built the project

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Inspired by Oleg and others in this question  I took the solution https   stackoverflow com a 5109530 2286801 a step further to enable the following    Works with ClickOnce  Works with Setup and Deployment projects in VS 2010  Works with VS2010  2013  2015  didn t test 2012 although should work as well    Works with Team Build   You must install either A  Visual Studio or B  Microsoft Web Publishing targets and Microsoft Web Publishing Tasks dll    This solution works by performing the app config transformation before the app config is referenced for the first time in the MSBuild process  It uses an external targets file for easier management across multiple projects   Instructions   Similar steps to the other solution  I ve quoted what remains the same and included it for completeness and easier comparison   0  Add a new file to your project called AppConfigTransformation targets   lt Project xmlns  http   schemas microsoft com developer msbuild 2003  gt     lt  -- Transform the app config per project configuration -- gt     lt PropertyGroup gt       lt  -- This ensures compatibility across multiple versions of Visual Studio when using a solution file           However  when using MSBuild directly you may need to override this property to 11 0 or 12 0           accordingly as part of the MSBuild script  ie  p VisualStudioVersion 11 0           See http   blogs msdn com b webdev archive 2012 08 22 visual-studio-project-compatability-and-visualstudioversion aspx -- gt       lt VisualStudioVersion Condition     VisualStudioVersion          gt 10 0 lt  VisualStudioVersion gt     lt  PropertyGroup gt      lt Import Project    MSBuildExtensionsPath  Microsoft VisualStudio v  VisualStudioVersion  Web Microsoft Web Publishing targets    gt      lt Target Name  SetTransformAppConfigDestination  BeforeTargets  PrepareForBuild             Condition  exists  app   Configuration  config    gt       lt PropertyGroup gt         lt  -- Force build process to use the transformed configuration file from now on  -- gt         lt AppConfig gt   IntermediateOutputPath   TargetFileName  config lt  AppConfig gt       lt  PropertyGroup gt       lt Message Text  AppConfig transformation destination      AppConfig     gt     lt  Target gt      lt  -- Transform the app config after the prepare for build completes  -- gt     lt Target Name  TransformAppConfig  AfterTargets  PrepareForBuild  Condition  exists  app   Configuration  config    gt       lt  -- Generate transformed app config in the intermediate directory -- gt       lt TransformXml Source  app config  Destination    AppConfig   Transform  app   Configuration  config    gt     lt  Target gt    lt  Project gt       1  Add an XML file for each configuration to the project       Typically you will have Debug and Release configurations so name your files App Debug config and App Release config  In my project  I created a configuration for each kind of enironment so you might want to experiment with that       2  Unload project and open  csproj file for editing      Visual Studio allows you to edit  csproj right in the editor   you just need to unload the project first  Then right-click on it and select Edit  csproj    3  Bind App   config files to main App config  Find the project file section that contains all App config and App   config references and replace as follows  You ll notice we use None instead of Content    lt ItemGroup gt     lt None Include  app config   gt     lt None Include  app Production config  gt       lt DependentUpon gt app config lt  DependentUpon gt     lt  None gt     lt None Include  app QA config  gt       lt DependentUpon gt app config lt  DependentUpon gt     lt  None gt     lt None Include  app Development config  gt       lt DependentUpon gt app config lt  DependentUpon gt     lt  None gt   lt  ItemGroup gt         4  Activate transformations magic      In the end of file after       lt Import Project    MSBuildToolsPath  Microsoft CSharp targets    gt        and before final       lt  Project gt     insert the following XML    lt Import Project  AppConfigTransformation targets    gt    Done

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Just a little improvement to the solution that seems to be posted everywhere now    lt UsingTask TaskName  TransformXml  AssemblyFile    MSBuildExtensionsPath  Microsoft VisualStudio v  VisualStudioVersion  Web Microsoft Web Publishing Tasks dll    gt     that is  unless you are planning to stay with your current VS version forever

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If you use a TFS online Cloud version  and you want to transform the App Config in a project  you can do the following without installing any extra tools  From VS    Unload the project    Edit project file    Go to the bottom of the file and add the following    lt UsingTask TaskName  TransformXml  AssemblyFile    MSBuildExtensionsPath  Microsoft VisualStudio v  VisualStudioVersion  Web Microsoft Web Publishing Tasks dll    gt   lt Target Name  AfterBuild  Condition  Exists  App   Configuration  config    gt   lt TransformXml Source  App config  Transform  App   Configuration  config  Destination    OutDir    AssemblyName  dll config    gt    AssemblyFile and Destination works for local use and TFS online Cloud  server

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I have created another alternative to the one posted by Vishal Joshi where the requirement to change the build action to Content is removed and also implemented basic support for ClickOnce deployment  I say basic  because I didn t test it thoroughly but it should work in the typical ClickOnce deployment scenario   The solution consists of a single MSBuild project that once imported to an existent windows application project    csproj  extends the build process to contemplate app config transformation   You can read a more detailed explanation at Visual Studio App config XML Transformation and the MSBuild project file can be downloaded from GitHub

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Install  Configuration Transform Tool  in Visual Studio from Marketplace and restart VS   You will be able to see menu preview transform for app config as well   https   marketplace visualstudio com items itemName GolanAvraham ConfigurationTransform

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You can use a separate config file per configuration  e g  app Debug config  app Release config and then use the configuration variable in your project file    lt PropertyGroup gt       lt AppConfig gt App   Configuration  config lt  AppConfig gt   lt  PropertyGroup gt    This will then create the correct ProjectName exe config file depending on the configuration you are building in

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I tried several solutions and here is the simplest I personally found  Dan pointed out in the comments that the original post belongs to Oleg Sych   thanks  Oleg   Here are the instructions   1  Add an XML file for each configuration to the project   Typically you will have Debug and Release configurations so name your files App Debug config and App Release config  In my project  I created a configuration for each kind of environment  so you might want to experiment with that   2  Unload project and open  csproj file for editing  Visual Studio allows you to edit  csproj files right in the editor   you just need to unload the project first  Then right-click on it and select Edit  lt ProjectName gt  csproj   3  Bind App   config files to main App config  Find the project file section that contains all App config and App   config references  You ll notice their build actions are set to None    lt None Include  App config    gt   lt None Include  App Debug config    gt   lt None Include  App Release config    gt    First  set build action for all of them to Content  Next  make all configuration-specific files dependant on the main App config so Visual Studio groups them like it does designer and code-behind files   Replace XML above with the one below    lt Content Include  App config    gt   lt Content Include  App Debug config   gt     lt DependentUpon gt App config lt  DependentUpon gt   lt  Content gt   lt Content Include  App Release config   gt     lt DependentUpon gt App config lt  DependentUpon gt   lt  Content gt    4  Activate transformations magic  only necessary for Visual Studio versions pre VS2017   In the end of file after   lt Import Project    MSBuildToolsPath  Microsoft CSharp targets    gt    and before final   lt  Project gt    insert the following XML      lt UsingTask TaskName  TransformXml  AssemblyFile    MSBuildExtensionsPath  Microsoft VisualStudio v  VisualStudioVersion  Web Microsoft Web Publishing Tasks dll    gt     lt Target Name  CoreCompile  Condition  exists  app   Configuration  config    gt       lt  -- Generate transformed app config in the intermediate directory -- gt       lt TransformXml Source  app config  Destination    IntermediateOutputPath   TargetFileName  config  Transform  app   Configuration  config    gt       lt  -- Force build process to use the transformed configuration file from now on  -- gt       lt ItemGroup gt         lt AppConfigWithTargetPath Remove  app config    gt         lt AppConfigWithTargetPath Include    IntermediateOutputPath   TargetFileName  config  gt           lt TargetPath gt   TargetFileName  config lt  TargetPath gt         lt  AppConfigWithTargetPath gt       lt  ItemGroup gt     lt  Target gt    Now you can reload the project  build it and enjoy App config transformations   FYI  Make sure that your App   config files have the right setup like this    lt  xml version  1 0  encoding  utf-8   gt   lt configuration xmlns xdt  http   schemas microsoft com XML-Document-Transform  gt        lt  --magic transformations here-- gt   lt  configuration gt

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This works now with the Visual Studio AddIn treated in this article  SlowCheetah - Web config Transformation Syntax now generalized for any XML configuration file      You can right-click on your web config and click  Add Config   Transforms   When you do this  you ll get a web debug config and a   web release config  You can make a web whatever config if you like  as   long as the name lines up with a configuration profile  These files   are just the changes you want made  not a complete copy of your   web config       You might think you d want to use XSLT to transform a web config  but   while they feels intuitively right it s actually very verbose       Here s two transforms  one using XSLT and the same one using the XML   Document Transform syntax namespace  As with all things there s   multiple ways in XSLT to do this  but you get the general idea  XSLT   is a generalized tree transformation language  while this deployment   one is optimized for a specific subset of common scenarios  But  the   cool part is that each XDT transform is a  NET plugin  so you can make   your own           lt  xml version  1 0    gt   lt xsl stylesheet xmlns xsl  http   www w3 org 1999 XSL Transform  version  1 0  gt   lt xsl template match     node    gt     lt xsl copy gt                  lt xsl apply-templates select     node     gt     lt  xsl copy gt   lt  xsl template gt   lt xsl template match   configuration appSettings  gt     lt xsl copy gt       lt xsl apply-templates select  node        gt       lt xsl element name  add  gt         lt xsl attribute name  key  gt NewSetting lt  xsl attribute gt         lt xsl attribute name  value  gt New Setting Value lt  xsl attribute gt       lt  xsl element gt     lt  xsl copy gt   lt  xsl template gt   lt  xsl stylesheet gt        Or the same thing via the deployment transform           lt configuration xmlns xdt  http   schemas microsoft com XML-Document-Transform  gt      lt appSettings gt         lt add name  NewSetting  value  New Setting Value  xdt Transform  Insert   gt      lt  appSettings gt   lt  configuration gt

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Another solution I ve found is NOT to use the transformations but just have a separate config file  e g  app Release config  Then add this line to your csproj file      lt PropertyGroup Condition      Configuration    Platform       Release x86    gt       lt AppConfig gt App Release config lt  AppConfig gt     lt  PropertyGroup gt    This will not only generate the right myprogram exe config file but if you re using Setup and Deployment Project in Visual Studio to generate MSI  it ll force the deployment project to use the correct config file when packaging

[visual-studio] App.Config Transformation for projects which are not Web Projects in Visual Studio?

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