Trying to use msbuild to modify web.config and write to a new file, command succeeds but does nothing

Teagan Strauss 1

I'm trying to write a PowerShell script to run on Atlassian Bamboo that calls msbuild to modify a web.config file based on a web.Beta.config file and write the results to a new web.Beta.config file in a new directory.
The msbuild command runs 'successfully', with 0 warnings and 0 errors in the build, but does not create anything.
The command I'm running is:
& 'Path To MsBuild\MSBuild' 'Path to Sln\MySln.sln' '/property:TransformInputFile="Path to Sln\Web\Web.config";TransformFile="Path to Sln\Web\Web.Beta.config";TransformOutputFile="Path to Sln\Publish\web.configs\Web.Beta.config"'

Tianyu Sun-MSFT 27,431 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-01-18T09:58:21.34+00:00

Hi @Teagan Strauss , may I ask, did you follow or refer to some documents(or threads) to write the command? And did you change or customize some codes in .xxproj file and other related files?
Teagan Strauss 1 Reputation point

2021-01-18T14:35:43.563+00:00
@Tianyu Sun-MSFT

did you follow or refer to some documents(or threads) to write the command?

Yes, this.

And did you change or customize some codes in .xxproj file and other related files?

I didn't change any csproj files directly, no. What I've done is:

Use ConfigurationManager in Visual Studio to add Beta, Dev and Prod builds

Modify web.Beta.config, web.Dev.config and web.Prod.config like below.

Run the command

Teagan Strauss 1

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<!-- For more information on using web.config transformation visit https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125889 -->

<configuration xmlns:xdt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/XML-Document-Transform">
  <location>
    <system.webServer>
      <aspNetCore>
        <environmentVariables xdt:Transform="InsertIfMissing">
          <environmentVariable name="Environment"
                               value="Beta"
                               xdt:Locator="Match(name)"
                               xdt:Transform="InsertIfMissing" />
        </environmentVariables>
      </aspNetCore>
    </system.webServer>
  </location>
</configuration>

Teagan Strauss 1 Reputation point

2021-01-18T17:01:37.58+00:00

Realized a problem. I'd forgotten the "/target:Transform".
Problem is now, it's failing with "error MSB4057: The target "Transform" does not exist in the project.".
Tianyu Sun-MSFT 27,431 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-01-20T09:57:31.207+00:00

Hi @Teagan Strauss , for this error, you need to add the target:Transform to the .csproj file. There isn’t a default target named Transform so you need to custom one for your project. You can refer to this thread.

Teagan Strauss 1

Okay, that error's gone away, and... now we're back to no errors but still not working. No web.configs subdirectory is being made under the Publish directory.
Here's the output:

Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 16.8.3+39993bd9d for .NET Framework
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Build started 1/21/2021 4:42:49 PM.
Project "Path to csproj\Web.csproj" on node 1 (Transform target(s)).
ExecuteTransformations:
  Performing full T4 transformation
  Performing full T4 preprocessing
Done Building Project "Path to csproj\Web.csproj" (Transform target(s)).

Build succeeded.
    0 Warning(s)
    0 Error(s)

Teagan Strauss 1

Also, I had to change it to pass in the csproj instead of the sln, since it was complaining about all the other csprojs that didn't have the import. New command is:

& 'Path To MsBuild\MSBuild' /target:Transform 'Path to csproj\Web.csproj' '/property:TransformInputFile="Path to csproj\Web.config";TransformFile="Path to csproj\Web.Release.config";TransformOutputFile="Path to sln\Publish\web.configs\Web.Release.config"'