Azure & My MVC 5 Web.Config

Question

Everytime I do a commit and deploy(Publish) to Azure using MVC 4 or 5 in Visual Studio 2012 to my Azure Website which uses Azure SQL for my datasource (not sure what info is pertinent here). I get an Error when Visual Studio pulls up my website in the browser to test it.

Now the error below is what I get until I manually go back into Visual Studio and upload the Root Web.Config file. Which should have just been uploaded anyways. But once I upload that again by itself the errors go away.

Here is the error:

Error:

Format of the initialization string does not conform to specification starting at index 0.

Source Error:

    Line 12:     </div>
    Line 13: </div>
    Line 14: @Html.Action("Appraisers", "Partials")
    Line 15: </div>
    Line 16: <!-- End div class="row" -->

I can't post the entire stack trace here, I'm having problems doing so, but here are the first few lines from each error in the trace:

    [ArgumentException: Format of the initialization string does not conform to specification starting at index 0.]
    System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions.GetKeyValuePair(String connectionString, Int32 currentPosition, StringBuilder buffer, Boolean useOdbcRules, String& keyname, String& keyvalue) +5314705
    System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions.ParseInternal(Hashtable parsetable, String connectionString, Boolean buildChain, Hashtable synonyms, Boolean firstKey) +124
    System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions..ctor(String connectionString, Hashtable synonyms, Boolean useOdbcRules) +95
    System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionString..ctor(String connectionString) +59
    System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionFactory.CreateConnectionOptions(String connectionString, DbConnectionOptions previous) +24
    System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.GetConnectionPoolGroup(DbConnectionPoolKey key, DbConnectionPoolGroupOptions poolOptions, DbConnectionOptions& userConnectionOptions) +167
    System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.ConnectionString_Set(DbConnectionPoolKey key) +61
    System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.set_ConnectionString(String value) +66
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalConnection.InitializeFromConnectionStringSetting(ConnectionStringSettings appConfigConnection) +122
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalConnection.Initialize() +62
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalConnection.get_Connection() +12
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalContext.get_Connection() +89
    System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.DbContextInfo..ctor(Type contextType, DbProviderInfo modelProviderInfo, AppConfig config, DbConnectionInfo connectionInfo) +171
    System.Data.Entity.Migrations.DbMigrator..ctor(DbMigrationsConfiguration configuration, DbContext usersContext) +240
    System.Data.Entity.Migrations.DbMigrator..ctor(DbMigrationsConfiguration configuration) +15
    System.Data.Entity.MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion`2.InitializeDatabase(TContext context) +69
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.<>c__DisplayClasse`1.<CreateInitializationAction>b__d() +76
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.PerformInitializationAction(Action action) +60
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.PerformDatabaseInitialization() +337
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalContext.<InitializeDatabase>b__4(InternalContext c) +7
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.RetryAction`1.PerformAction(TInput input) +110
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalContext.InitializeDatabaseAction(Action`1 action) +198
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalContext.InitializeDatabase() +73
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.GetEntitySetAndBaseTypeForType(Type entityType) +27
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.Linq.InternalSet`1.Initialize() +53
    System.Data.Entity.Internal.Linq.InternalSet`1.GetEnumerator() +15
    System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.DbQuery`1.System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<TResult>.GetEnumerator() +53
    System.Collections.Generic.List`1..ctor(IEnumerable`1 collection) +369
    System.Linq.Enumerable.ToList(IEnumerable`1 source) +58
    OrlandoAppraiser.Controllers.PartialsController.Appraisers() +34
    lambda_method(Closure , ControllerBase , Object[] ) +62
    System.Web.Mvc.ActionMethodDispatcher.Execute(ControllerBase controller, Object[] parameters) +14
    System.Web.Mvc.ReflectedActionDescriptor.Execute(ControllerContext controllerContext, IDictionary`2 parameters) +157
    System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionMethod(ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor, IDictionary`2 parameters) +27
    System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker<BeginInvokeSynchronousActionMethod>b__36(IAsyncResult asyncResult, ActionInvocation innerInvokeState) +22
    ...
    ...
    [HttpException (0x80004005): Error executing child request for handler 'System.Web.Mvc.HttpHandlerUtil+ServerExecuteHttpHandlerAsyncWrapper'.]
    System.Web.HttpServerUtility.ExecuteInternal(IHttpHandler handler, TextWriter writer, Boolean preserveForm, Boolean setPreviousPage, VirtualPath path, VirtualPath filePath, String physPath, Exception error, String queryStringOverride) +3122279
    System.Web.HttpServerUtility.Execute(IHttpHandler handler, TextWriter writer, Boolean preserveForm, Boolean setPreviousPage) +76
    System.Web.HttpServerUtility.Execute(IHttpHandler handler, TextWriter writer, Boolean preserveForm) +28
    System.Web.HttpServerUtilityWrapper.Execute(IHttpHandler handler, TextWriter writer, Boolean preserveForm) +19
    System.Web.Mvc.Html.ChildActionExtensions.ActionHelper(HtmlHelper htmlHelper, String actionName, String controllerName, RouteValueDictionary routeValues, TextWriter textWriter) +464
    System.Web.Mvc.Html.ChildActionExtensions.Action(HtmlHelper htmlHelper, String actionName, String controllerName, RouteValueDictionary routeValues) +83
    System.Web.Mvc.Html.ChildActionExtensions.Action(HtmlHelper htmlHelper, String actionName, String controllerName) +11
    ASP._Page_Views_Home_Index_cshtml.Execute() in c:\DWASFiles\sites\orlandoappraiser\VirtualDirectory0\site\wwwroot\Views\Home\Index.cshtml:14
    System.Web.WebPages.WebPageBase.ExecutePageHierarchy() +198
    System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage.ExecutePageHierarchy() +104
    System.Web.WebPages.StartPage.RunPage() +17
    System.Web.WebPages.StartPage.ExecutePageHierarchy() +64
    System.Web.WebPages.WebPageBase.ExecutePageHierarchy(WebPageContext pageContext, TextWriter writer, WebPageRenderingBase startPage) +78
    System.Web.Mvc.RazorView.RenderView(ViewContext viewContext, TextWriter writer, Object instance) +235
    System.Web.Mvc.BuildManagerCompiledView.Render(ViewContext viewContext, TextWriter writer) +107
    System.Web.Mvc.ViewResultBase.ExecuteResult(ControllerContext context) +291
    System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionResult(ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionResult actionResult) +13
    System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionResultFilterRecursive(IList`1 filters, Int32 filterIndex, ResultExecutingContext preContext, ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionResult actionResult) +56
    System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionResultFilterRecursive(IList`1 filters, Int32 filterIndex, ResultExecutingContext preContext, ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionResult actionResult) +420
    System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionResultWithFilters(ControllerContext controllerContext, IList`1 filters, ActionResult actionResult) +52
    System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass28.<BeginInvokeAction>b__19() +173
    System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass1e.<BeginInvokeAction>b__1b(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +100
    System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +10
    System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResultBase`1.End() +49
    System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.EndInvokeAction(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +27
    System.Web.Mvc.Controller.<BeginExecuteCore>b__1d(IAsyncResult asyncResult, ExecuteCoreState innerState) +13
    System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +36
    System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResultBase`1.End() +54
    System.Web.Mvc.Controller.EndExecuteCore(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +39
    System.Web.Mvc.Controller.<BeginExecute>b__15(IAsyncResult asyncResult, Controller controller) +12
    System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +28
    System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResultBase`1.End() +54
    System.Web.Mvc.Controller.EndExecute(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +29
    System.Web.Mvc.Controller.System.Web.Mvc.Async.IAsyncController.EndExecute(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +10
    System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.<BeginProcessRequest>b__4(IAsyncResult asyncResult, ProcessRequestState innerState) +21
    System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +36
    System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResultBase`1.End() +54
    System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +31
    System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.System.Web.IHttpAsyncHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult result) +9
    System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +9631764
    System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +155

Sorry about all of that, but I wanted to make sure I gave as much info about the problem as possible.

Answer 1

That error is typically an indication that your connection string in your web.config is not formatted correctly. Are you doing any transforms of your web.config as part of deployment (eg changing the connection string on Release build)?