MSDeploy setParamFile is not recognizing parameters - powershell

Question

I'm trying to use MSDeploy with the parameter settings file option so I can build once and deploy to multiple environments by overriding the parameters with different files. From PowerShell I'm calling msdeploy.
msdeploy.exe -verb:sync `
-source:"contentPath='$SourceLocalPath'" `
-dest:"contentPath='$TargetLocalPath',computername='$TargetServer'"
-setParamFile:"$ParamFilePath" `
-verbose
This results in an error about not recognizing parameters.
msdeploy.exe : Error: The declared parameter 'SqlConnString' is not
recognized.
If I remove the "setParamFile" line, it deploys fine, but then uses default values. Also if I try to manually import the package from IIS, it displays the parameters with defaults filled in.
I have a Parameter.xml file in the root of the web project:
<parameters>
<parameter name="SqlConnString" description="Please provide the SQL connection string" defaultValue="...;Initial Catalog=xxx;server=xxx;" tags="">
<parameterEntry kind="XmlFile" scope="\\web.config$" match="/configuration/connectionStrings/add[#name='Sql']/#connectionString" />
</parameter>
</parameters>
The package is getting created with a ...SetParameters.xml file inside the package, which contains the entries from my Parameters.xml file plus the standard entries.
<parameters>
<setParameter name="SqlConnString" value="...Initial Catalog=xxx;server=xxx;"/>
...
</parameters>
Thank you

Answer 1

Try changing the value in "name" from "SqlConnString" to "YourSqlConnectionName-Web.config Connection String". If you want to know the exact name you have to look at your web.config file. The above example should work for a section like this in your web.config file:
<connectionStrings>
<add name="YourSqlConnectionName"
connectionString="...;Initial Catalog=xxx;server=xxx;"
providerName="System.Data.EntityClient"/>
</connectionStrings>
So you should configure your setParameters.xml file like:
<parameters>
<setParameter name="YourSqlConnectionName-Web.config Connection String" value="...Initial Catalog=xxx;server=xxx;"/>
</parameters>
and your Parameters.xml file like:
<parameters>
<parameter name="YourSqlConnectionName-Web.config Connection String" description="Please provide the SQL connection string" defaultValue="...;Initial Catalog=xxx;server=xxx;" tags="">
<parameterEntry kind="XmlFile" scope="\\web.config$" match="/configuration/connectionStrings/add[#name='YourSqlConnectionName']/#connectionString" />
</parameter>
</parameters>
Hope this solves your issue.