ASP.NET Web.config transformation won't work in installer

Question

I am working on an ASP.NET project in Visual Studio .NET 2010 and attempting to make an MSI installer using a Web Setup Project. I added the Primary output from the project (wh

Answer 1

I found a workaround that works for me:

1. Create needed configurations (Dev,QA,Production etc.) and associated web config transformations.

2. Use notepad or other text editor and include following in your web application project file (.csproj file) before tag (near the end of the project file):

   <Target Name="AfterBuild">
     <TransformXml Source="Web.config" Transform="$(ProjectConfigTransformFileName)" Destination="Web.Transformed.config" />
   </Target>
   

   Do not include Web.Transformed.config in the web application project - if you do visual studio will alert you about the changes after every build which is pretty annoying.

3. In the web setup project: select Content files - > Exclude Filter and add Web.config (and all other Web.*.config files containing transformation rules).

4. In the web setup project: select file system editor icon -> web application folder -> Add File and select Web.Transformed.config in the root of your web application project folder.

5. In the same screen: right click Web.Transformed.config and rename it to Web.config

Now you are able to generate .msi files with selected configuration and root web.config file is transformed! Please note that this does not affect web.config files in the sub folders.

Answer 2

The answer ended up being located on another SO post which I missed when I was searching through before asking because it wasn't exactly what I wanted:

MSBuild Script and VS2010 publish apply Web.config Transform

A co-worker suggested using that to place the transformed Web.config in the project's bin directory and a Web Setup Project configured to grab the Web.config out of the bin directory and put it in the installer. This ended up being the most workable solution without installing any add-ons into Visual Studio.

Answer 3

You have to make a deployment project (I think this is a separate download), then your Web Setup project take the precompiled output of the deployment project as it input. One neat thing is that you can have it change a section of your Web.config when it builds.