diff --git a/scripts/afterPrepareHook.js b/scripts/afterPrepareHook.js
index 90f4c8fc..b8af35e4 100644
--- a/scripts/afterPrepareHook.js
+++ b/scripts/afterPrepareHook.js
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ function processConsoleOptions_cordova_54(consoleOptions) {
  * @param {String} optionName - build option name from console; will be mapped to configuration from chcpbuild.options file
  * @return {boolean} true - if build option is found and we successfully injected it into config.xml; otherwise - false
  */
-function prepareWithCustomBuildOption(ctx, optionName) {
+function prepareWithCustomBuildOption(ctx, optionName, chcpXmlOptions) {
   if (optionName.length == 0) {
     return false;
   }
@@ -137,11 +137,23 @@ function prepareWithCustomBuildOption(ctx, optionName) {
 
   console.log('Using config from chcp.options:');
   console.log(JSON.stringify(buildConfig, null, 2));
-  chcpConfigXmlWriter.writeOptions(ctx, buildConfig);
+
+  mergeBuildOptions(chcpXmlOptions, buildConfig);
+
+  console.log('Resulting config will contain the following preferences:');
+  console.log(JSON.stringify(chcpXmlOptions, null, 2));
+
+  chcpConfigXmlWriter.writeOptions(ctx, chcpXmlOptions);
 
   return true;
 }
 
+function mergeBuildOptions(currentXmlOptions, buildConfig) {
+  for (var key in buildConfig) {
+    currentXmlOptions[key] = buildConfig[key];
+  }
+}
+
 module.exports = function(ctx) {
   var buildConfig,
     chcpXmlOptions;
@@ -160,18 +172,18 @@ module.exports = function(ctx) {
     return;
   }
 
+  // read plugin preferences from config.xml
+  chcpXmlOptions = chcpConfigXmlReader.readOptions(ctx);
+
   // if any build option is provided in console - try to map it with chcpbuild.options
-  if (prepareWithCustomBuildOption(ctx, consoleOptions.buildOption)) {
+  if (prepareWithCustomBuildOption(ctx, consoleOptions.buildOption, chcpXmlOptions)) {
     return;
   }
 
-  // read plugin preferences from config.xml
-  chcpXmlOptions = chcpConfigXmlReader.readOptions(ctx);
-
   // if none of the above
   if (chcpXmlOptions['config-file'].length == 0) {
     printLog('config-file preference is not set.');
   } else {
-    printLog('config-file set to ' + chcpXmlOptions['config-file']);
+    printLog('config-file set to ' + chcpXmlOptions['config-file']['url']);
   }
 };
diff --git a/scripts/lib/chcpBuildOptions.js b/scripts/lib/chcpBuildOptions.js
index 09f47e9d..eca80104 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/chcpBuildOptions.js
+++ b/scripts/lib/chcpBuildOptions.js
@@ -25,7 +25,18 @@ Those options then injected into platform-specific config.xml.
       return null;
     }
 
-    return chcpBuildOptions[buildName];
+    var resultConfig = chcpBuildOptions[buildName];
+
+    // backwards capability
+    // TODO: remove this in the next versions
+    if (resultConfig['config-file'] && !resultConfig['config-file']['url']) {
+      var url = resultConfig['config-file'];
+      resultConfig['config-file'] = {
+        'url' : url
+      };
+    }
+
+    return resultConfig;
   }
 
   // endregion
@@ -53,7 +64,7 @@ Those options then injected into platform-specific config.xml.
 
     return objData;
   }
-  
+
   // endregion
 
 })();
diff --git a/scripts/lib/chcpConfigXmlReader.js b/scripts/lib/chcpConfigXmlReader.js
index 529ef3bf..b5e03ea5 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/chcpConfigXmlReader.js
+++ b/scripts/lib/chcpConfigXmlReader.js
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ Helper class to read plugin-specific options from the config.xml.
    */
   function readOptions(ctx) {
     var configFilePath = path.join(ctx.opts.projectRoot, 'config.xml'),
-      configXmlContent = xmlHelper.readXmlAsJson(configFilePath);
+      configXmlContent = xmlHelper.readXmlAsJson(configFilePath, true);
 
     return parseConfig(configXmlContent);
   }
@@ -40,22 +40,11 @@ Helper class to read plugin-specific options from the config.xml.
    * @return {Object} plugin preferences
    */
   function parseConfig(configXmlContent) {
-    var rootContent = configXmlContent['widget'],
-      parsedData = {
-        'config-file': ''
-      };
-
-    // if no <chcp> tag is found - return empty preferences
-    if (rootContent['chcp'] == null) {
-      return parsedData;
+    if (!configXmlContent.chcp) {
+      return {};
     }
 
-    var chcpContent = rootContent.chcp[0];
-    if (chcpContent['config-file']) {
-      parsedData['config-file'] = chcpContent['config-file'][0]['$']['url'];
-    }
-
-    return parsedData;
+    return configXmlContent.chcp;
   }
 
   // endregion
diff --git a/scripts/lib/chcpConfigXmlWriter.js b/scripts/lib/chcpConfigXmlWriter.js
index c4da38a6..ca5dde3a 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/chcpConfigXmlWriter.js
+++ b/scripts/lib/chcpConfigXmlWriter.js
@@ -128,38 +128,29 @@ We will use it to inject plugin-specific options.
         return;
       }
 
-      // if config.xml already has chcp preferences - read them
-      var chcpConfig = {};
-      if (configData.widget.hasOwnProperty('chcp') && configData.widget.chcp.lenght > 0) {
-        chcpConfig = configData.widget.chcp[0];
-      } else {
-        configData.widget['chcp'] = [];
-      }
-
       // inject new options
-      injectConfigUrl(chcpConfig, options);
+      var chcpXmlConfig = {};
+      for (var preferenceName in options) {
+        injectPreference(chcpXmlConfig, preferenceName, options[preferenceName]);
+      }
 
       // write them back to config.xml
-      configData.widget.chcp[0] = chcpConfig;
+      configData.widget['chcp'] = [];
+      configData.widget.chcp.push(chcpXmlConfig);
       xmlHelper.writeJsonAsXml(configData, configXmlFilePath);
     });
   }
 
   /**
-   * Inject config-file preference if any is set in provided options.
+   * Inject preference into xml.
    *
-   * @param {Object} xml - config.xml data
-   * @param {Object} options - plugin options to inject
+   * @param {Object} xml - current xml preferences for the plugin
+   * @param {String} preferenceName - preference name
+   * @param {Object} preferenceAttributes - preference attributes
    */
-  function injectConfigUrl(xml, options) {
-    if (!options.hasOwnProperty('config-file')) {
-      return;
-    }
-
-    xml['config-file'] = [{
-      '$': {
-        'url': options['config-file']
-      }
+  function injectPreference(xml, preferenceName, preferenceAttributes) {
+    xml[preferenceName] = [{
+      '$': preferenceAttributes
     }];
   }
 
diff --git a/scripts/lib/xmlHelper.js b/scripts/lib/xmlHelper.js
index 7a2e7849..67ae125a 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/xmlHelper.js
+++ b/scripts/lib/xmlHelper.js
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Small helper class to read/write from/to xml file.
 (function() {
 
   var fs = require('fs'),
+    xml2jsProcessors = require('xml2js/lib/processors'),
     xml2js = require('xml2js');
 
   module.exports = {
@@ -17,14 +18,24 @@ Small helper class to read/write from/to xml file.
    * @param {String} filePath - absolute path to xml file
    * @return {Object} JSON object with the contents of the xml file
    */
-  function readXmlAsJson(filePath) {
+  function readXmlAsJson(filePath, simplify) {
     var xmlData,
       xmlParser,
-      parsedData;
+      parsedData,
+      parserOptions = {};
 
+    if (simplify) {
+      parserOptions = {
+          attrValueProcessors: [xml2jsProcessors.parseNumbers, xml2jsProcessors.parseBooleans],
+          explicitArray: false,
+          mergeAttrs: true,
+          explicitRoot: false
+      };
+    }
+
+    xmlParser = new xml2js.Parser(parserOptions);
     try {
       xmlData = fs.readFileSync(filePath);
-      xmlParser = new xml2js.Parser();
       xmlParser.parseString(xmlData, function(err, data) {
         if (data) {
           parsedData = data;