Using different Web config in development and production environment

Question

I need to use different database connection string and SMTP server address in my ASP NET application depending on it is run in development or production environment    The application reads settings from Web config file via WebConfigurationManager AppSettings property   I use Build Publish command to deploy the application to production server via FTP and then manually replace remote Web config with correct one   Is it possible somehow simplify the process of deployment  Thanks

User · Answer

I d like to know  too   This helps isolate the problem for me    lt connectionStrings configSource  connectionStrings config   gt    I then keep a connectionStrings config as well as a   host  connectionStrings config    It s still a problem  but if you do this for sections that differ in the two environments  you can deploy and version the same web config    And I don t use VS  btw

User · Answer

The  lt appSettings gt  tag in web config supports a file attribute that will load an external config with it s own set of key values  These will override any settings you have in your web config or add to them   We take advantage of this by modifying our web config at install time with a file attribute that matches the environment the site is being installed to  We do this with a switch on our installer    eg    lt appSettings file    EnvironmentSpecificConfigurations dev config  gt    lt appSettings file    EnvironmentSpecificConfigurations qa config  gt    lt appSettings file    EnvironmentSpecificConfigurations production config  gt    Note    Changes to the  config specified by the attribute won t trigger a restart of the asp net worker process

User · Answer

I d like to know  too   This helps isolate the problem for me    lt connectionStrings configSource  connectionStrings config   gt    I then keep a connectionStrings config as well as a   host  connectionStrings config    It s still a problem  but if you do this for sections that differ in the two environments  you can deploy and version the same web config    And I don t use VS  btw

User · Answer

I use a NAnt Build Script to deploy to my different environments   I have it modify my config files via XPath depending on where they re being deployed to  and then it automagically puts them into that environment using Beyond Compare   Takes a minute or two to setup  but you only need to do it once  Then batch files take over while I go get another cup of coffee      Here s an article I found on it

User · Answer

You could also make it a post-build step  Setup a new configuration which is  Deploy  in addition to Debug and Release  and then have the post-build step copy over the correct web config    We use automated builds for all of our projects  and with those the build script updates the web config file to point to the correct location  But that won t help you if you are doing everything from VS

User · Answer

You could also make it a post-build step  Setup a new configuration which is  Deploy  in addition to Debug and Release  and then have the post-build step copy over the correct web config    We use automated builds for all of our projects  and with those the build script updates the web config file to point to the correct location  But that won t help you if you are doing everything from VS

User · Answer

This is one of the huge benefits of using the machine config  At my last job  we had development  test and production environments  We could use the machine config for things like connection strings  to the appropriate  dev test prod SQL machine    This may not be a solution for you if you don t have access to the actual production machine  like  if you were using a hosting company on a shared host

User · Answer

This is one of the huge benefits of using the machine config  At my last job  we had development  test and production environments  We could use the machine config for things like connection strings  to the appropriate  dev test prod SQL machine    This may not be a solution for you if you don t have access to the actual production machine  like  if you were using a hosting company on a shared host

User · Answer

The Enterprise Library configuration editor can help you do this  It allows you to create a base config file and then deltas for each environment  You can then merge the base config and the delta to create an environment-specific web config  Take a look at the information here which takes you through it better than I can

User · Answer

You can also use the extension  Configuration Transform  works the same as  SlowCheetah

User · Answer

Have you looked in to web deployment projects   http   www microsoft com downloads details aspx FamilyId 0AA30AE8-C73B-4BDD-BB1B-FE697256C459 amp displaylang en  There is a version for VS2005 as well  if you are not on 2008

User · Answer

The  lt appSettings gt  tag in web config supports a file attribute that will load an external config with it s own set of key values  These will override any settings you have in your web config or add to them   We take advantage of this by modifying our web config at install time with a file attribute that matches the environment the site is being installed to  We do this with a switch on our installer    eg    lt appSettings file    EnvironmentSpecificConfigurations dev config  gt    lt appSettings file    EnvironmentSpecificConfigurations qa config  gt    lt appSettings file    EnvironmentSpecificConfigurations production config  gt    Note    Changes to the  config specified by the attribute won t trigger a restart of the asp net worker process

User · Answer

Have you looked in to web deployment projects   http   www microsoft com downloads details aspx FamilyId 0AA30AE8-C73B-4BDD-BB1B-FE697256C459 amp displaylang en  There is a version for VS2005 as well  if you are not on 2008

User · Answer

I d like to know  too   This helps isolate the problem for me    lt connectionStrings configSource  connectionStrings config   gt    I then keep a connectionStrings config as well as a   host  connectionStrings config    It s still a problem  but if you do this for sections that differ in the two environments  you can deploy and version the same web config    And I don t use VS  btw

User · Answer

The  lt appSettings gt  tag in web config supports a file attribute that will load an external config with it s own set of key values  These will override any settings you have in your web config or add to them   We take advantage of this by modifying our web config at install time with a file attribute that matches the environment the site is being installed to  We do this with a switch on our installer    eg    lt appSettings file    EnvironmentSpecificConfigurations dev config  gt    lt appSettings file    EnvironmentSpecificConfigurations qa config  gt    lt appSettings file    EnvironmentSpecificConfigurations production config  gt    Note    Changes to the  config specified by the attribute won t trigger a restart of the asp net worker process

User · Answer

The  lt appSettings gt  tag in web config supports a file attribute that will load an external config with it s own set of key values  These will override any settings you have in your web config or add to them   We take advantage of this by modifying our web config at install time with a file attribute that matches the environment the site is being installed to  We do this with a switch on our installer    eg    lt appSettings file    EnvironmentSpecificConfigurations dev config  gt    lt appSettings file    EnvironmentSpecificConfigurations qa config  gt    lt appSettings file    EnvironmentSpecificConfigurations production config  gt    Note    Changes to the  config specified by the attribute won t trigger a restart of the asp net worker process

User · Answer

I use a NAnt Build Script to deploy to my different environments   I have it modify my config files via XPath depending on where they re being deployed to  and then it automagically puts them into that environment using Beyond Compare   Takes a minute or two to setup  but you only need to do it once  Then batch files take over while I go get another cup of coffee      Here s an article I found on it

User · Answer

You could also make it a post-build step  Setup a new configuration which is  Deploy  in addition to Debug and Release  and then have the post-build step copy over the correct web config    We use automated builds for all of our projects  and with those the build script updates the web config file to point to the correct location  But that won t help you if you are doing everything from VS

User · Answer

On one project where we had 4 environments  development  test  staging and production  we developed a system where the application selected the appropriate configuration based on the machine name it was deployed to   This worked for us because    administrators could deploy applications without involving developers  a requirement  and without having to fiddle with config files  which they hated   machine names adhered to a convention  We matched names using a regular expression and deployed to multiple machines in an environment  and we used integrated security for connection strings  This means we could keep account names in our config files at design time without revealing any passwords    It worked well for us in this instance  but probably wouldn t work everywhere

User · Answer

I use a NAnt Build Script to deploy to my different environments   I have it modify my config files via XPath depending on where they re being deployed to  and then it automagically puts them into that environment using Beyond Compare   Takes a minute or two to setup  but you only need to do it once  Then batch files take over while I go get another cup of coffee      Here s an article I found on it

User · Answer

The Enterprise Library configuration editor can help you do this  It allows you to create a base config file and then deltas for each environment  You can then merge the base config and the delta to create an environment-specific web config  Take a look at the information here which takes you through it better than I can

User · Answer

Have you looked in to web deployment projects   http   www microsoft com downloads details aspx FamilyId 0AA30AE8-C73B-4BDD-BB1B-FE697256C459 amp displaylang en  There is a version for VS2005 as well  if you are not on 2008

User · Answer

The Enterprise Library configuration editor can help you do this  It allows you to create a base config file and then deltas for each environment  You can then merge the base config and the delta to create an environment-specific web config  Take a look at the information here which takes you through it better than I can

User · Answer

On one project where we had 4 environments  development  test  staging and production  we developed a system where the application selected the appropriate configuration based on the machine name it was deployed to   This worked for us because    administrators could deploy applications without involving developers  a requirement  and without having to fiddle with config files  which they hated   machine names adhered to a convention  We matched names using a regular expression and deployed to multiple machines in an environment  and we used integrated security for connection strings  This means we could keep account names in our config files at design time without revealing any passwords    It worked well for us in this instance  but probably wouldn t work everywhere

User · Answer

You could also make it a post-build step  Setup a new configuration which is  Deploy  in addition to Debug and Release  and then have the post-build step copy over the correct web config    We use automated builds for all of our projects  and with those the build script updates the web config file to point to the correct location  But that won t help you if you are doing everything from VS

User · Answer

In Visual Studio 2010 and above  you now have the ability to apply a transformation to your web config depending on the build configuration   When creating a web config  you can expand the file in the solution explorer  and you will see two files    Web Debug Config Web Release Config   They contain transformation code that can be used to   Change the connection string Remove debugging trace and settings Register error pages   See Web config Transformation Syntax for Web Application Project Deployment on MSDN for more information   It is also possible  albeit officially unsupported  to apply the same kind of transformation to an non web application app config file  See Phil Bolduc blog concerning how to modify your project file to add a new task to msbuild   This is a long withstanding request on the Visual Studio Uservoice   An extension for Visual Studio 2010 and above   SlowCheetah   is available to take care of creating transform for any config file  Starting with Visual Studio 2017 3  SlowCheetah has been integrated into the IDE and the code base is being managed by Microsoft  This new version also support JSON transformation

User · Answer

You can also use the extension  Configuration Transform  works the same as  SlowCheetah

User · Answer

This is one of the huge benefits of using the machine config  At my last job  we had development  test and production environments  We could use the machine config for things like connection strings  to the appropriate  dev test prod SQL machine    This may not be a solution for you if you don t have access to the actual production machine  like  if you were using a hosting company on a shared host

User · Answer

On one project where we had 4 environments  development  test  staging and production  we developed a system where the application selected the appropriate configuration based on the machine name it was deployed to   This worked for us because    administrators could deploy applications without involving developers  a requirement  and without having to fiddle with config files  which they hated   machine names adhered to a convention  We matched names using a regular expression and deployed to multiple machines in an environment  and we used integrated security for connection strings  This means we could keep account names in our config files at design time without revealing any passwords    It worked well for us in this instance  but probably wouldn t work everywhere

User · Answer

I use a NAnt Build Script to deploy to my different environments   I have it modify my config files via XPath depending on where they re being deployed to  and then it automagically puts them into that environment using Beyond Compare   Takes a minute or two to setup  but you only need to do it once  Then batch files take over while I go get another cup of coffee      Here s an article I found on it

User · Answer

Have you looked in to web deployment projects   http   www microsoft com downloads details aspx FamilyId 0AA30AE8-C73B-4BDD-BB1B-FE697256C459 amp displaylang en  There is a version for VS2005 as well  if you are not on 2008

User · Answer

In Visual Studio 2010 and above  you now have the ability to apply a transformation to your web config depending on the build configuration   When creating a web config  you can expand the file in the solution explorer  and you will see two files    Web Debug Config Web Release Config   They contain transformation code that can be used to   Change the connection string Remove debugging trace and settings Register error pages   See Web config Transformation Syntax for Web Application Project Deployment on MSDN for more information   It is also possible  albeit officially unsupported  to apply the same kind of transformation to an non web application app config file  See Phil Bolduc blog concerning how to modify your project file to add a new task to msbuild   This is a long withstanding request on the Visual Studio Uservoice   An extension for Visual Studio 2010 and above   SlowCheetah   is available to take care of creating transform for any config file  Starting with Visual Studio 2017 3  SlowCheetah has been integrated into the IDE and the code base is being managed by Microsoft  This new version also support JSON transformation

User · Answer

The Enterprise Library configuration editor can help you do this  It allows you to create a base config file and then deltas for each environment  You can then merge the base config and the delta to create an environment-specific web config  Take a look at the information here which takes you through it better than I can

User · Answer

On one project where we had 4 environments  development  test  staging and production  we developed a system where the application selected the appropriate configuration based on the machine name it was deployed to   This worked for us because    administrators could deploy applications without involving developers  a requirement  and without having to fiddle with config files  which they hated   machine names adhered to a convention  We matched names using a regular expression and deployed to multiple machines in an environment  and we used integrated security for connection strings  This means we could keep account names in our config files at design time without revealing any passwords    It worked well for us in this instance  but probably wouldn t work everywhere

User · Answer

I d like to know  too   This helps isolate the problem for me    lt connectionStrings configSource  connectionStrings config   gt    I then keep a connectionStrings config as well as a   host  connectionStrings config    It s still a problem  but if you do this for sections that differ in the two environments  you can deploy and version the same web config    And I don t use VS  btw

User · Answer

This is one of the huge benefits of using the machine config  At my last job  we had development  test and production environments  We could use the machine config for things like connection strings  to the appropriate  dev test prod SQL machine    This may not be a solution for you if you don t have access to the actual production machine  like  if you were using a hosting company on a shared host

[asp.net] Using different Web.config in development and production environment

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