How do I map SSIS 2012 Package Variables to Parameters?

Question

I have created multiple packages that use variables to assign Connection Manager Expressions such as Connection String. However in the new SQL 2012 Project Deployment Model I don't seem to be able to configure these variables.

Would I therefore need to create these Parameters for the Environment and map them to specific Package Variables? Is this even possible and how is this done?

This link describes configuring the Parameters, but not associating to package Variables.

Further to this, it seems I could set a Varaiable Expression to be a Project or Package Parameter, however this seems a bit convoluted. Perhaps I should stop using Variables altogether?

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Update: I've now cut-over to using Project-level and Package-level Parameters (instead of Package Variables) when I need to modify per-environment settings such as file paths and connection strings. Perhaps this was the intent from MS: any best practice advice is of course, still welcome.

Answer 1

I am bit too late to answer this question but I would like to make a point about Parameter role in package deployment model

It says'

In general, if you are deploying a package using the package deployment model, you should use configurations instead of parameters.

When you deploy a package that contains parameters using the package deployment model and then execute the package, the parameters are not called during execution. If the package contains package parameters and expressions within the package use the parameters, the resulting values are applied at runtime. If the package contains project parameters, the package execution may fail.

Here is a beautiful answer about setting up variables for different environment configurations.