Using SlowCheetah's app.config transformations with Setup projects

Question

I'm using the SlowCheetah XML Transforms extension to handle web.config-like transformations with app.config. That part works great.

I added a setup project and configured it to include the project output of the first project. I noticed that when I ran the installer, it installed the non-transformed app.config. Looking at the Primary output Outputs (say that 10 times fast), I noticed that its finding the binary in Project\bin\Debug\Project.exe, but Project.exe.config comes from Project\app.config instead of Project\bin\Debug\Project.exe.config.

I could exclude app.config from the Primary output, and hard-code the path to a specific configuration's app.config (Project\bin\Debug\Project.exe.config), but then I'd get the same app.config regardless of which configuration I used to build it.

Is there a workaround for getting the appropriate transformed app.config in a Setup project?

Answer 1

Hi we are planning on releasing a new version which has ClickOnce support in the next few days. If you need a build of the add in before than which has the fix please contact me and I can get that out to you.

Answer 2

This may not be exactly the answer you're looking for but I have previously wrestled with how to get the correct app.config file into a setup project. I have a TFSBuild.proj msbuild file that uses transforms. The SlowCheetah transforms I think use the same msbuild task but I may be incorrect. SlowCheetah certainly provides a more useful user experience when working with transform files. My build file takes a slightly different approach. At the end of the automated build I wanted to generate installers for each of the target deployment environments. I use a number of msbuild extensions, including the TransformXml build task - not all required for the following but FWIW these are the imports:

<!-- import extensions -->
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\ExtensionPack\MSBuild.ExtensionPack.tasks"/>
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\MSBuildCommunityTasks\MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets"/>
<UsingTask TaskName="TransformXml"
       AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll"/>

I have the following environments defined:

<ItemGroup>
  <!-- target deployment environments -->
  <Configs Include="Prod" />
  <Configs Include="Staging" />
  <Configs Include="Test" />
</ItemGroup>

Then the standard AfterCompileSolution target contains a call to the target that generates the installer for each environment:

<Target Name="AfterCompileSolution">

  <!-- Create installers for target deployment environments -->
  <CallTarget Targets="MyProject" />

</Target>

<Target Name="MyProject" Outputs="%(Configs.Identity)">
  <ItemGroup>
    <MyProjectTempConfig Include="$(SolutionRoot)\MyProjectService\Temp.config" />
    <MyProjectConfigFrom Include="$(SolutionRoot)\MyProjectService\App.%(Configs.Identity).config" />
    <MyProjectConfigTo Include="$(SolutionRoot)\MyProjectService\App.config">
      <Attributes>ReadOnly</Attributes>
    </MyProjectConfigTo>
  </ItemGroup>

  <Message Text="MyProject - Target environment: %(Configs.Identity)" />

  <!-- transform app.config using appropriate -->
  <Copy SourceFiles="@(MyProjectConfigTo)"
        DestinationFiles="@(MyProjectTempConfig)"
        OverwriteReadOnlyFiles="true"
        ContinueOnError="true"
        Condition="!Exists(@(MyProjectTempConfig))"/>

  <File TaskAction="RemoveAttributes" Files="@(MyProjectConfigTo)"/>

  <TransformXml Source="@(MyProjectTempConfig)"
                Transform="@(MyProjectConfigFrom)"
                Destination="@(MyProjectConfigTo)" />

  <!-- run setup -->
  <Exec Command="&quot;$(ProgramFiles)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv&quot; &quot;$(SolutionRoot)\MyProject.sln&quot; /build Release /project MyProjectService.Setup"/>

  <!-- rename output for target deployment environment -->
  <Copy SourceFiles="$(SolutionRoot)\MyProjectService.Setup\Release\MyProjectService.msi"
        DestinationFiles="$(OutDir)\%(Configs.Identity)_MyProjectService.msi"
        OverwriteReadOnlyFiles="true"
        ContinueOnError="true"/>

</Target>