The AfterCompile target created contains AppConfigWithTargetPath changes which remove App.config and add transformed .config.

This seems to sometimes malfunction on VS 2017 (15.6.1) as AppConfigWithTargetPath is reused - the transformed .config is added twice, and target "GenerateApplicationManifest" fails on "ConfigFile" (Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(3812,9): error MSB4094).

This may be corrected for example by not adding twice the same .config
<AppConfigWithTargetPath Include="$(IntermediateOutputPath)$(TargetFileName).config" KeepDuplicates="false">

1. Right Click on App.Config
2. Click on Preview Config Transforms

Show Error Message "Cannot find source config".

In short ... probably Golavr know how ..

Related to class ProjectItemExtensions
Method
public static ProjectItem ParentProjectItemOrDefault(this ProjectItem source)
{
/*
* Ack Start
*/
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.ThreadHelper.ThrowIfNotOnUIThread();
ProjectItem pp = source?.Collection?.Parent as ProjectItem;
if (pp != null) return pp;

        pp = source as ProjectItem;
        return pp;
        /*
         * Ack End
         */
        /* Original
        // Something was changed in OLE? Microsoooftttt?
        if (!(source?.Collection?.Parent is ProjectItem parent))
        {
            ProjectItem p = source as ProjectItem;
            return null;
        }
        return parent;
        */
    }

windows 10 & visual studio 2019 16.0.3

1. install success
2. fist time Add Config Transforms failed, but try again success
3. CANNOT choose direct config to publish the project
4. FAILED when publish, error message: "obj\sat\xxx.config;obj\sat\xxx.config" is an invalid value for the "ConfigFile" parameter of the "GenerateApplicationManifest" task. Multiple items cannot be passed into a parameter of type "Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITaskItem"

There is a bug with the current implementation that was identified by Dan Bullock on 9/19/2017 wherein the extensions is created a new AfterBuild section in the project file for each config transform in a project, which causes only the first transform to be applied in a scenario where a project has more than one config file that needs to be transformed. Dan also presents the solution there. Please fix it if you have time.

"The sample project is not correct. The sample defines multiple <AfterBuild> but when it actually can only be defined once. Each definition replaces the previous.

In .csproj it should be a single AfterBuild with each TransformXml having a condition:

<Target Name="AfterBuild">
<!--Generate transformed config in the output directory-->
<TransformXml Condition="Exists('data.$(Configuration).config')" Source="data.config" Destination="$(OutputPath)data.config" Transform="data.$(Configuration).config" />
<TransformXml Condition="Exists('plainxml.$(Configuration).config')" Source="plainxml.config" Destination="$(OutputPath)plainxml.config" Transform="plainxml.$(Configuration).config" />
</Target>
By Dan Bullock 9/19/2017"

Apparently, the nesting feature of files has been removed from VB projects. When you add a <DependentUpon/> element, the file is not shown in Visual Studio (2015 Community in my case).

See the following for more info: https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/165081/vb-project-not-showing-dependentupon-files-anymore.html

I tried "Show All Files" as the post suggests, but that also does not show the app.env.config files in Visual Studio. So, I would suggest removing the <DependentUpon> elements when the project is VB, as this "feature" doesn't seem to work at all in that environment.

The transforms seem to go smoothly, though. Nice work!

it kills VS2015

Tried to use it on a .NET Core Console app project (C#) and after adding transforms, project cannot be loaded. Getting error:

error : The attribute "xmlns" in element <UsingTask> is unrecognized.

Had to remove the transformation sections from the project file to make it work.

Worked fine on a non-Core project.

I'm getting the following error in the output console when I try to preview a transformation in our project:

Failed to open C:\Projects\Projects.Web\
Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Projects\Projects.Web\'.

The issue happens when there is a dot in the path. Without the dot in the path, it works again.

Would be good to include some logic to ConfigurationTransformPackage.cs -> BeforeQueryStatus()-methods to only show each options when it makes sense.

What I'm thinking:

Add Configuration Transforms
Should only be visible (or maybe enabled) when the selected file is a .config-file that has no children.

Preview Configuration Transforms
Should only be visible (or maybe enabled) when the selected file has a parent file that is a .config-file. This means that the selected file is an actual transform.

Please add compatibility for visual studio 2019 since it just got released

When used in a VS2017 .csproj (i.e. ), targets must be changed to follow the new syntax, and therefore be correctly executed.

before (will not be executed)
<Target Name="AfterCompile" ... >
<Target Name="AfterPublish" ... >

after (will be executed)
<Target Name="TransformConfig" AfterTargets="AfterCompile" ... >
<Target Name="CopyTransformedConfig" AfterTargets="AfterPublish" ... >

The new Target names above are just an exemple, it does not matter anymore AFAIK.

Line breaks between attributes (+elements) are removed. This causes the preview to not show the changes in a meaningful manner.

If the given config is:

<Setting1
    value1="aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
    value2="b"
    value3="3"
/>

And the transform is:

<Setting1 xdt:Transform="SetAttributes(value2)"
    value2="bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb"
/>

The result is:
<Setting1 value1="aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" value2="bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb" value3="3"/>

Depending of the number of attributes or the length of the values, the line does not fit on the visible part of the screen what makes it difficult to see the changes.

I would like to have it like:

<Setting1
    value1="aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
    value2="bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb"
    value3="3"
/>

what causes the preview to mark only the lines (value1, value2) as modified.

Please disregard, I figured it out and it was something dumb on our part. I'd delete this entry if I could.

I had experienced the same issue as seen in #25
I wanted to readdress the issue and highlight the work around. As mentioned in one of the comments from https://www.oipapio.com/question-3728301 in my case the issue was resolved by replacing
<AppConfigWithTargetPath Remove="app.config" />
with
<AppConfigWithTargetPath Remove="@(AppConfigWithTargetPath)" />
inside the .csproj resolved the issue.
I've confirmed that the transformation is still working after this change. Any particular reason this solution isn't there by default?

I just installed the configuration transform extension and get an error on my initial clean/build:

"obj\Debug\FTP.exe.config;obj\Debug\FTP.exe.config" is an invalid value for the "ConfigFile" parameter of the "GenerateApplicationManifest" task. Multiple items cannot be passed into a parameter of type "Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITaskItem".

Can you suggest how I can resolve it?

Hello,

I follow your guide, but when I try click on app.config for copy link to app.debug.config, I have message "not change were made" ??
Thanks

M.

I have a new install of VS2015 Enterprise and have a website added to my project. The Configuration Transform extension is installed.

When I right click on a web.config file, I don't see any option 'Add config Transform'.

I saw a comment on StackOverflow that vb.net is not supported. Is this so?

When I right click on my Web.config file and click on "Add Config Transforms" I get the following error:

I finally figured out what one of my projects was not getting automatic binding redirects written during compilation. As soon as I stripped out the configuration that the Configuration Transform extension added to my csproj, assembly redirects were getting added again.

Any chance to get this to work with automatic assembly redirects?

Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise 2019
Version 16.5.4
When I click Add config transform on .net framework 4.7.2 project, I get a visual studio error - Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Creating new issue for the following Closed issue as I don't have permission to reopen and I don't believe issue was resolved.

Issue Url

I've uploaded sample project demonstrating error to original issue.

This is very confusing as the sample project I've uploaded is simply the default"out-of-the-box"
VS 2017 project template and ConfigurationTransform does not work.

I've configured a third solution configuration for a test installation of my software. So I also added a third config transformation file to set the specific config values for my test installation. The problem is that the extension seems to execute an insert transformation twice. Here is how I've configured my project:

Those are the names of my config transform files:
app.Debug.config
app.Release.config
app.Test.config

The app.Release.config and app.Test.config both contain this transformation:

<configuration xmlns:xdt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/XML-Document-Transform">
  <system.serviceModel>
    <bindings>
      <customBinding>
        <binding name="MyBinding" xdt:Locator="Match(name)">
          <httpTransport xdt:Transform="Remove" />
          <httpsTransport xdt:Transform="Insert" />
        </binding>
      </customBinding>
    </bindings>
  </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

As a result I'm getting the httpsTransport element twice when compiling in "Release" or "Test" solution configuration. As a workarround I've now simply added bevor adding the httpsTransport again.

Is there a better solution to this problem or is this maybe a bug in the extension?

After "Add Config Transform" the project unloaded and throws this error (VS2019):
C:*<solutionFolder><projectName>.csproj : error : The attribute "xmlns" in element is unrecognized. C:*<solutionFolder><projectName>.csproj

the following lines is added to the project (which the xmlns that causing the problem):
(at the top) :

(in the at the end):

any idea why?

I just spent quite a bit of time trying to work out why a new configuration setting wasn't being read when debugging for a ClickOnce project.

It turns out that it was all due to the fact that I never created an app.Debug.config file when upgrading the project, thus the entire config transform process was skipped.

  <Target Name="app_config_AfterCompile" AfterTargets="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="@(AppConfigWithTargetPath)" />
	  <AppConfigWithTargetPath Include="$(IntermediateOutputPath)$(TargetFileName).config">
		<TargetPath>$(TargetFileName).config</TargetPath>
	  </AppConfigWithTargetPath>
	</ItemGroup>
  </Target>

Essentially the Condition="Exists('app.$(Configuration).config')" is skipping the whole transform process. I suppose it was logical to assume that if you skipped it, the default MSBuild behavior of copying the App.config file over to MyApp.exe.config would take place, but that is not what is happening. Although MyApp.exe.config does get generated, it is apparently not being done based on the latest version of App.config.

Just to be clear, I don't need to do any transformation during debugging. But without an app.Debug.config file, debugging is working but the build does not pass through the latest changes to the config settings. Adding the config file solves the issue, but it would definitely be best if the MSBuild configuration didn't require one in order to output the right .config settings.

Please, make this extension compatible with the new Visual Studio 2022