When I want to test my application in Microsoft Visual Studio I want to use a alternate app.config from production. In my development environment I have other connection strings etc.
To switch between development and production configuration I have come up with the following configuration:
I want to switch configuration in the IDE and use the apropriate app.config file.
For each environment I have added a separate app.config.file to my project.
Next I have added a pre-build.bat and a post-build.bat in the solution.
The pre-build.bat file contains one command to replace app.config for the selected configuration:
copy /y %1\app.config.%2 %1\app.config
The post-build.bat file contains one command to replace the app.config with the release or “production” configuration.
Last step is to tie these components all together. Add a Pre-build and a Post-build event in the project properties page. You should be able to find these settings right clicking the project and click on properties.
The command I added to start pre-build.bat is:
“$(ProjectDir)pre-build.bat” “$(ProjectDir)” “$(ConfigurationName)”
and for the post-build.bat the command is:
“$(ProjectDir)post-build.bat” “$(ProjectDir)”
