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.

<

Answer 1

The 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;

Note:

• Changes to the .config specified by the attribute won't trigger a restart of the asp.net worker process