c# - Transforming included configuration files using configSource -

this question kind of 2 parter. in vs2015 mvc project has multiple different build configurations, test, uat, live etc. web.config can right click , select add config transform create transform files each build configuration.

if have external config file, such log4net.config how can configure have dependant transforms web.config ? done manually editing project.csproj file ?

secondly, have web.config file :

<configuration>     <configsections>         <section name="log4net" type="log4net.config.log4netconfigurationsectionhandler, log4net" />     </configsections>      ...      <log4net configsource="log4net.config" /> </configuration> 

when build project, web.config automatically gets transformed through following afterbuild target in project.csproj file :

<target name="afterbuild">     <transformxml source="web.config"             transform="web.$(configuration).config"             destination="$(outputpath)\$(assemblyname).config" /> </target> 

how can transform included log4net.config file using same configuration transformation ? realise place transformxml afterbuild target, correct way of doing transform, or missing ?

i opted solution of using base log4net.config file, log4net.xxx.config file each build configuration , additional transformxml task in afterbuild target :

• log4net.config
• log4net.debug.config
• log4net.release.config
• log4net.test.config
• log4net.uat.config

the project.csproj file looks :

<content include="log4net.config">   <copytooutputdirectory>always</copytooutputdirectory> </content> <none include="log4net.debug.config">   <dependentupon>log4net.config</dependentupon> </none> <none include="log4net.release.config">   <dependentupon>log4net.config</dependentupon> </none> <none include="log4net.test.config">   <dependentupon>log4net.config</dependentupon> </none> <none include="log4net.uat.config">   <dependentupon>log4net.config</dependentupon> </none>  ....  <target name="afterbuild">    <transformxml source="web.config" transform="web.$(configuration).config" destination="$(outputpath)\$(assemblyname).config" />    <transformxml source="log4net.config" transform="log4net.$(configuration).config" destination="$(outputpath)\log4net.config" /> </target> 

and example log4net.test.config looks (i using transform change connection strings , log4net's logging level) :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>  <log4net  xmlns:xdt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/xml-document-transform">     <appender>         <connectionstring             value="data source=example.com;initial catalog=examplelogs;user id=xxx;password=xxx"             xdt:transform="replace" />     </appender>      <root>         <level             value="debug"             xdt:transform="replace" />     </root> </log4net> 

this transforms log4net.config file in output path successfully. uses same approach transforming web.config files , should understandable other developer picks project.

whilst works , has been in production while now, i'm still looking confirmation correct way of doing transforms of included config files.