How to get rid of "$(ReplacableToken...)" in web.config completely

I am creating a publishable package and when I navigate to obj\Debug\Package\PackageTmp directory, I am seeing the web.config's connection string is replaced by a replacable token, and I simply don't want that. I won't be using publishing batch files or anything, I'll be copying the files in the directory (I'm using the publishing package system only to get rid of lots of dynamically generated files while I'm testing my project and get the fresh/original file tree of my project) I don't want those web.config tokens and transforms etc, I just want my web.config file to be copied just like any other file. How do I achieve that? I've seen the /p:AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=False method for the commad line but I'm not using the command line, I am using the GUI to create the package. How will I stop web.config from changing the connection string to a token?

And before you say: Yes, I know that I can copy the original web.config from my original directory, but I don't want to deal with this and that, I want to finish it with a single click as I'm testing the publish package and frequently re-creating the package.

Solution 1:

You have to edit your .csproj file and in the Debug PropertyGroup you'll have to add the following:

<AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings>False</AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings>

I have the following on Release and ReleaseCERT Configurations in my Project.csproj (I've only added the AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings line):

<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == '**Release**|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
    <!-- add the following line to avoid ConnectionString tokenization -->
    <AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings>False</AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == '**ReleaseCERT**|AnyCPU'">
    <OutputPath>bin\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <!-- add the following line to avoid ConnectionString tokenization -->
    <AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings>False</AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings>
</PropertyGroup>

Solution 2:

I had to do what the accepted answer said, but instead in the Properties/PublishProfiles/__THEPROFILE__.pubxml file rather than the .csproj file.

(this may because I'm using VS2012?)

Solution 3:

I had a similar issue when I was trying to create a web project package externally for a WiX setup according to the Travis Illig instructions. I solved it by adding the AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=False to the MSBuild/@Properties:

<MSBuild Projects="%(ProjectReference.FullPath)"
         Targets="Package"
         Properties="Configuration=$(Configuration);Platform=AnyCPU;AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=False"
         Condition="'%(ProjectReference.WebProject)'=='True'"