CruiseControl.net, send dynamic values to some files - web-config

Question

I have been searching for a few days, I have also asked a question on the cc.net forum, but still don't have the answer.
My task is to fill Web.config with specific values during the building using cc.net. Here is the example:
I'm developing an ASP.NET website, I have a Web.config with some configuration, e.g. connection string:
<add name="ContextName" connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=DatabaseName;User Id = UserName;Password=UserPassword;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
After the building I want to replace some values and make the config look like this:
<add name="ContextName" connectionString="Data Source=%SERVER%;Initial Catalog=%DATABASE%;User Id = %USER%;Password=%PASSWORD%;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
I tried this solution, but it didn't help me (or maybe I didn't understand how to use it properly).
Please help me to solve the task.
Thanks!

Answer 1

You can try to use this Config Transformation Tool which is XDT transformation command tool based on XDT (web.config) transform engine, which allows you to run XDT transformation on any XML files. You can use ccnet's task block to run it after your msbuild
<tasks>
<exec>
</exec>
</tasks>
More on ccnet executable task see here.
For more information on XDT transformation see this link in MSDN library

Answer 2

You can create a target on your build file to update the web.config and call that target after the build. I use something similar in my build files, here is an example:
<target name="update-config" >
<property name="export.config" value="" unless="${property::exists('export.config')}" />
<call target="${config-settings}" /> <!-- test or stage -->
<xmlpoke file="${export.config}" xpath="/configuration/appSettings/add[#key='ContextName']/#connectionString" value="${configValue.connectionString}" failonerror="true" />
</target>
<target name="test">
<property name="configValue.connectionString" value="test connection string here" />
</target>
<target name="stage">
<property name="configValue.connectionString" value="stage connection string here" />
</target>
After executing the target that compile your code and export you can run the target update-config, in this case I'm expecting a variable export.config with the path of the exported web.config then calling another target that sets the the value of the connectionstring variable (this can be target test or stage) and finally xmlpoke the web.config with the value.
Hope this helps!