Can I force the installer project to use the .config file from the built solution instead of the original one?

Question

I am using the solution to this question in order to apply configuration changes to App.config in a Winforms project. I also have an installer project for the proj

Answer 1

Based off Alec's answer, here is a similar element that you can use along with the transformations and still get their full benefit:

  <ItemGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <Content Include="$(OutputPath)$(AssemblyName).dll.config">
      <InProject>false</InProject>
      <Link>$(AssemblyName).dll.config</Link>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>

This way, you can use the SlowCheetah transforms or the built-in ones to transform your .config file, and then go into your Visual Studio Deployment Project (or other) and include the Content from the affected project in your Add -> Project Output... page easily, with minimal changes.

Answer 2

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.

  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|x86' ">
    <AppConfig>App.Release.config</AppConfig>
  </PropertyGroup>

This will force the deployment project to use the correct config file when packaging.

Answer 3

I accomplished this in a different manner with no external tools:

I added a post-build event that copied the target files to a 'neutral' directory (the root of the /bin folder in the project) and then added this file to the .vdproj. The deployment project now picks up whatever the latest built version is:

Post Build Command:

copy /y "$(TargetDir)$(TargetFileName).config" "$(ProjectDir)bin\$(TargetFileName).config"

This worked for what I needed without any external tools, and works nicely with SlowCheetah transformations.

Answer 4

The question is old, but the following could still help many folks out there.

I would simply use Wix WiFile.exe to replace the concerned file in the msi this way (for the sake of this example, we call your msi yourPackage.msi):

Step 1. From command prompt run: WiFile.exe "yourPackage.msi" /x "app.exe.config." The above will extract the "wrong" app.exe.config file from the msi and place it the same directory as your msi;

Step 2. Place the new (prod) config file (must have the same name as the extracted file: app.exe.config) in same location as your msi; This means that you are overwritting the app.exe.config that has just been extracted in step 1 above, with your new (production config file);

Step 3. From command prompt run: WiFile.exe "yourPackage.msi" /u "app.exe.config."

THAT'S ALL!

The above can be done in a few seconds. You could automate the task if you wanted, for instance, by running it as batch or else.

After running step 3 above, your msi will contain the new config file, which will now be installed at your clients' when they run the setup.

Answer 5

I combined the best of the following answers to get a fully working solution without using any external tools at all:

1. Setup App.Config transformations

Source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/5109530

In short:

Manually add additional .config files for each build configuration and edit the raw project file to include them similar to this:

<Content Include="App.config" />
<Content Include="App.Debug.config" >
  <DependentUpon>App.config</DependentUpon>
</Content>
<Content Include="App.Release.config" >
  <DependentUpon>App.config</DependentUpon>
</Content>

Then include the following XML at the end of the project file, just before the closing </project> tag:

<UsingTask TaskName="TransformXml" AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll" />
<Target Name="AfterCompile" Condition="exists('app.$(Configuration).config')">
  <TransformXml Source="app.config" Destination="$(IntermediateOutputPath)$(TargetFileName).config" Transform="app.$(Configuration).config" />
  <ItemGroup>
    <AppConfigWithTargetPath Remove="app.config" />
    <AppConfigWithTargetPath Include="$(IntermediateOutputPath)$(TargetFileName).config">
      <TargetPath>$(TargetFileName).config</TargetPath>
    </AppConfigWithTargetPath>
  </ItemGroup>
</Target>

Finally edit the additional .config files to include the respective transformations for each build configuration:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration xmlns:xdt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/XML-Document-Transform">
  <!-- transformations here-->
</configuration>

2. Include the appropriate .config in the setup project

First, add a command in the postbuild event of your main project to move the appropriate transformed .config file to a neutral location (e.g. the main bin\ directory):

copy /y "$(TargetDir)$(TargetFileName).config" "$(ProjectDir)bin\$(TargetFileName).config"

(Source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/26521986)

Open the setup project and click the "Primary output..." node to display the properties window. There, add an ExludeFilter "*.config" to exclude the default (untransformed) .config file.

(Source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/6908477)

Finally add the transformed .config file (from the postbuild event) to the setup project (Add > File).

Done.

You can now freely add build configurations and corresponding config transforms and your setup project will always include the appropriate .config for the active configuration.

Answer 6

First of all: it is impossible to make the Setup Project point to another app.config file by using the Primary output option. So my solution is going to be a work around. I hope you find it useful in your situation.

Overview:

The basic idea is:

• Remove the forced app.config from the Setup Project;
• Add a file pointing to the app.config, manually;
• Use MSBuild to get into the vdproj file, and change it to match the real output of the transformed app.config.

Some drawbacks are:

• The setup project only gets updated, if the project it deploys build. ahhh... not a real drawback!
• You need MSBuild 4.0... this can also be worked around!
• Need a custom Task, called FileUpdate... it is open source and has installer.

Lets Work:

1) Go to your Setup Project, and select the Primary Output object, right click and go to Properties. There you will find the Exclude Filter... add a filter for *.config, so it will remove the hard-coded app.config.

2) Right click your Setup Project in the Solution Explorer -> Add -> File... select any file that ends with .config.

3) Download MSBuild Community Tasks Project, I recomend the msi installer.

4) Unload your project (the csproj) and replace the code from the other question with this one:

Code:

  <UsingTask TaskName="TransformXml" AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll" />
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\MSBuildCommunityTasks\MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets" />
  <Target Name="AfterCompile" Condition="exists('app.$(Configuration).config')">
    <!-- Generate transformed app config in the intermediate directory -->
    <TransformXml Source="app.config" Destination="$(IntermediateOutputPath)$(TargetFileName).config" Transform="app.$(Configuration).config" />
    <!-- Force build process to use the transformed configuration file from now on. -->
    <ItemGroup>
      <AppConfigWithTargetPath Remove="app.config" />
      <AppConfigWithTargetPath Include="$(IntermediateOutputPath)$(TargetFileName).config">
        <TargetPath>$(TargetFileName).config</TargetPath>
      </AppConfigWithTargetPath>
    </ItemGroup>
    <PropertyGroup>
      <SetupProjectPath>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\$(IntermediateOutputPath)$(TargetFileName).config</SetupProjectPath>
    </PropertyGroup>
    <!-- Change the following so that this Task can find your vdproj file -->
    <FileUpdate Files="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\Setup1\Setup1.vdproj"
                    Regex="(.SourcePath. = .8:).*\.config(.)"
                    ReplacementText="$1$(SetupProjectPath.Replace(`\`,`\\`))$2" />
    <FileUpdate Files="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\Setup1\Setup1.vdproj"
                    Regex="(.TargetName. = .8:).*\.config(.)"
                    ReplacementText="$1$(TargetFileName).config$2" />
  </Target>

5) The previous code must be changed, so that it can find your vdproj file. I have placed a comment in the code, indicating where you need to make the change.

Now, everytime you build your main project, the MSBuild will change the Setup project, so that it uses the correct app.config file. It may have drawbacks, but this solution can be polished and become better. If you need leave a comment, and I'll try to respond ASAP.

Resources I Used

MSBuild 4.0 is needed because I need to use String's Replace function, to replace single "\" to double "\" in the path. See MSBuild Property Functions for details about using function in MSBuild.

I learned about the FileUpdate Task in this other question. The official project is MSBuild Community Tasks Project.

These two topics were important to my findings:

Trying to include configuration specific app.config files in a setup project

Problems with setup project - am I thick?