Azure pipeline transforming web.config files during release

Question

I'm trying to use web.config transformation in my release pipeline. However, no matter what I'm doing, I always get

2019-11-11T12:19:46.1172474Z ##[warning]Unable to apply transformation for the given package. Verify the following.

I have a Web.config and a Web.Elastic.config. The project has no dependentUpon for any .config files in it's csproj, and Web.Elastic.config has content as build action and is in the zip file generated from the build task.

In addition, I disabled config transformations during building just to be sure. I'm not sure what else I can do. This happens both when using the File Transform Task Preview as well as the XML transformation option during the IIS Web App Deploy task.

The File Transform task is configured like this:

enter image description here

I reduced my configs to this to see if there's something wrong with the transformation itself:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="apiConfig" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler, System, Version=1.0.5000.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" />
  </configSections>
  <apiConfig>
    <add key="ClientBasetUrl" value="http://localhost:4200" />
  </apiConfig>
  <system.web>
    <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.6.2">
      <assemblies>
        <add assembly="System.Net.Http.WebRequest, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" />
      </assemblies>
    </compilation>
    <!-- This will handle requests up to 20MB -->
    <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.6.1" maxRequestLength="20480" />
  </system.web>
</configuration>

with the transformation looking like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration xmlns:xdt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/XML-Document-Transform">

  <apiConfig xdt:Transform="Replace">
    <add key="ClientBasetUrl" value="https://elastic.OURPROJECT.com" />
  </apiConfig>
  <system.web xdt:Transform="Replace">
    <customErrors mode="Off" />
    <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.6.2" />
    <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.6.1" maxRequestLength="20480" />
  </system.web>
</configuration>

With System.Debug set to true, the File Transformation task provides the following logs, which are not very helpful:

2019-11-11T12:19:43.1224281Z ##[debug]agent.TempDirectory=C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_temp
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1289319Z ##[debug]loading inputs and endpoints
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1292645Z ##[debug]loading ENDPOINT_AUTH_PARAMETER_SYSTEMVSSCONNECTION_ACCESSTOKEN
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1301246Z ##[debug]loading ENDPOINT_AUTH_SCHEME_SYSTEMVSSCONNECTION
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1304962Z ##[debug]loading ENDPOINT_AUTH_SYSTEMVSSCONNECTION
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1307442Z ##[debug]loading INPUT_ENABLEXMLTRANSFORM
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1309334Z ##[debug]loading INPUT_FILETYPE
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1316311Z ##[debug]loading INPUT_FOLDERPATH
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1316632Z ##[debug]loading INPUT_XMLTRANSFORMATIONRULES
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1322390Z ##[debug]loaded 7
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1334690Z ##[debug]Agent.ProxyUrl=undefined
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1336439Z ##[debug]Agent.CAInfo=undefined
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1336699Z ##[debug]Agent.ClientCert=undefined
2019-11-11T12:19:43.1336884Z ##[debug]Agent.SkipCertValidation=undefined
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2867243Z ##[debug]check path : C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_tasks\FileTransform_8ce97e91-56cc-4743-bfab-9a9315be5f27\1.1.6\task.json
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2867893Z ##[debug]adding resource file: C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_tasks\FileTransform_8ce97e91-56cc-4743-bfab-9a9315be5f27\1.1.6\task.json
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2868317Z ##[debug]system.culture=en-US
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2882674Z ##[debug]check path : C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_tasks\FileTransform_8ce97e91-56cc-4743-bfab-9a9315be5f27\1.1.6\node_modules\webdeployment-common-v2\module.json
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2883957Z ##[debug]adding resource file: C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_tasks\FileTransform_8ce97e91-56cc-4743-bfab-9a9315be5f27\1.1.6\node_modules\webdeployment-common-v2\module.json
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2884521Z ##[debug]system.culture=en-US
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2900694Z ##[debug]folderPath=C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\r2\a\SLX-Backend\drop\OURPROJECT.zip
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2902832Z ##[debug]Finding files matching input: C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\r2\a\SLX-Backend\drop\OURPROJECT.zip
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2907625Z ##[debug]fileType=xml
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2908713Z ##[debug]targetFiles=null
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2911002Z ##[debug]enableXmlTransform=true
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2912768Z ##[debug]xmlTransformationRules=-transform **\OURPROJECT\obj\Release\Package\PackageTmp\Web.Elastic.config -xml **\OURPROJECT\obj\Release\Package\PackageTmp\Web.config
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2916829Z ##[debug]This is zip package 
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2919443Z ##[debug]Agent.TempDirectory=C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_temp
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2919672Z ##[debug]Agent.TempDirectory=C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_temp
2019-11-11T12:19:43.2927405Z ##[debug]extracting C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\r2\a\SLX-Backend\drop\OURPROJECT.zip to C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_temp\temp_web_package_9699193652416063
2019-11-11T12:19:45.9624316Z ##[debug]extracted C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\r2\a\SLX-Backend\drop\OURPROJECT.zip to C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_temp\temp_web_package_9699193652416063 Successfully
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0225418Z ##[debug]defaultRoot: 'C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_temp\temp_web_package_9699193652416063'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0225668Z ##[debug]findOptions.allowBrokenSymbolicLinks: 'false'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0225791Z ##[debug]findOptions.followSpecifiedSymbolicLink: 'true'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0225928Z ##[debug]findOptions.followSymbolicLinks: 'true'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0226038Z ##[debug]matchOptions.debug: 'false'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0226147Z ##[debug]matchOptions.nobrace: 'true'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0226280Z ##[debug]matchOptions.noglobstar: 'false'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0226387Z ##[debug]matchOptions.dot: 'true'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0226547Z ##[debug]matchOptions.noext: 'false'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0226657Z ##[debug]matchOptions.nocase: 'true'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0226763Z ##[debug]matchOptions.nonull: 'false'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0226896Z ##[debug]matchOptions.matchBase: 'false'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0227016Z ##[debug]matchOptions.nocomment: 'false'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0227146Z ##[debug]matchOptions.nonegate: 'false'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0227252Z ##[debug]matchOptions.flipNegate: 'false'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0227392Z ##[debug]pattern: '**\OURPROJECT\obj\Release\Package\PackageTmp\Web.config'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0227519Z ##[debug]findPath: 'C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_temp\temp_web_package_9699193652416063'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0227632Z ##[debug]statOnly: 'false'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0227769Z ##[debug]findPath: 'C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_temp\temp_web_package_9699193652416063'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0227885Z ##[debug]findOptions.allowBrokenSymbolicLinks: 'false'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0228032Z ##[debug]findOptions.followSpecifiedSymbolicLink: 'true'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0228152Z ##[debug]findOptions.followSymbolicLinks: 'true'
...
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0970036Z ##[debug]615 results
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0970193Z ##[debug]found 615 paths
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0970374Z ##[debug]applying include pattern
2019-11-11T12:19:46.0970559Z ##[debug]adjustedPattern: 'C:\vstsagent\A1\_work\_temp\temp_web_package_9699193652416063\**\PackageTmp\Web.config'
2019-11-11T12:19:46.1099930Z ##[debug]1 matches
2019-11-11T12:19:46.1100207Z ##[debug]1 final results
2019-11-11T12:19:46.1172474Z ##[warning]Unable to apply transformation for the given package. Verify the following.
2019-11-11T12:19:46.1179673Z ##[debug]Processed: ##vso[task.issue type=warning;]Unable to apply transformation for the given package. Verify the following.

I guess this means you think it's not? Can you explain why not? I figured Azure DevOps is a commonly used tool, and there have been various questions asked about this topic already, for example [here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/54254446/how-to-include-my-config-transformation-files-in-the-web-deploy-zip/54255786), [here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/55945554/azure-pipeline-file-transformation-is-not-working-why?noredirect=1&lq=1) or [this similar question](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/57498234/file-transform-task-fails-to-transform-xml-configurations-on-zipped-package) — Stefano Branco, Nov 11 '19 at 13:11
Server configuration issues are off topic and should, instead, be asked on https://serverfault.com/ You should delete this and ask over there. — Rob, Nov 11 '19 at 13:13
I think I did a bad job picking a title. Changed the title to make it more clear this is not about Azure DevOps Server configuration. — Stefano Branco, Nov 11 '19 at 13:42
Just want to check whether below is useful for you. Did you still facing any error now? Feel free to leave comment below if still encounter any puzzle. If it helped, you can [accept it](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5234/how-does-accepting-an-answer-work) which would will also help others in the community — Mengdi Liang, Nov 14 '19 at 03:50

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 12 '19 at 11:00

As the configuration in the config files you shared above, there's no any problem in it when apply it on my side.

In fact, in your build log, it has been show you the problem caused by what.

You can see that the task only found out only one file while here it should match 2 files, like this:

These 2 files, one is config and another is transformation config file. But in your build, it can only found out one file (Not sure whether the log you shared is completed, as I see, it only detect out Web.config file).

This issue should relevant the configuration of your task. Seems you were linking the artifact, and want to applying the transformation into that.

Please modify the Package or folder blank as this pic shown:

And change your Transformation rules as:

-transform **\*.Elastic.config -xml **\*.config

Thanks for your response. I had to keep linking the artifact, otherwise it would not work, but the change to the transformation rule did indeed solve the problem. I decided to be super specific there because there are other config files in there, but it seems that caused the problem. It's working as intended now. — Stefano Branco, Nov 15 '19 at 07:55

Azure pipeline transforming web.config files during release

1 Answers1