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Windows IT Pro Blog
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MSIX Packaging Extension is now available in the Azure DevOps Marketplace!

jvintzel's avatar
jvintzel
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Jan 06, 2021

The MSIX Packaging Extension is an Azure DevOps extension which helps build, package and sign Windows apps using the MSIX package format.

CI/CD workflows have become an integral part of the development process to improve efficiency and quality while reducing cost and time to market. Microsoft's CI/CD solution Azure DevOps Pipelines is widely adopted and popular, but the current process of integrating build and deployment workflows for apps that need to be packaged as MSIX into Azure Pipelines is tedious, specifically for people that are not Azure Pipelines or MSIX experts. The new Azure DevOps extension offers a straightforward, intuitive and UI based solution making it easier to automate build and deployment process for apps being packaged as MSIX, and also for apps with existing CI/CD workflows to move to MSIX without disrupting their build and deployment mechanisms.

 

To learn more about using MSIX with CI/CD pipelines, check out our documentation. Head to the Azure DevOps Marketplace to grab the extension.

 

Check it out and let us know what you think!

 

John Vintzel (@jvintzel), PM Lead, MSIX

 

Thanks to Sahibi Miranshah for the post!

 

Updated Feb 02, 2023
Version 3.0
MSIX
  • Chacon's avatar
    Chacon
    Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
    Jan 20, 2021

    Hi Alan_Lam 

     

    > Can't find anywhere to ask the question.

     

    A good place to ask is posting in MSIX - Microsoft Tech Community or opening an issue in the GitHub repo at microsoft/msix-packaging

     

    > When I run it I get 

    ##[error]No task definition found matching ID e8789f65-a0e2-472b-98ca-8cfd83ccc3c3 and version 1.0.0. You must register the task definition before uploading the package.
     
    This was an issue with the task itself (a mismatched version number) and should be fixed now. It may take a bit to update on your Azure DevOps organization; but you may be able to force it to update the extension by uninstalling and installing it again.
  • Alan_Lam's avatar
    Alan_Lam
    Copper Contributor
    Jan 19, 2021

    Hi,

     

    Following the documentation but getting stuck. Can't find anywhere to ask the question.

     

    My msix worked perfectly fine on VS2019 on the desktop. Able to build msix and deploy and all that but all looks completely different on the web/azure pipeline. All the options are different.

     

    I've been able to build a wpf project into $(build.artifactstagingdirectory) and deliver by azure pipelines into an artifact wpfdrop and deploy into a blob on an azure website. But you don't want people to copy a zip file to upgrade their files! Thought it would be simple to copy an msix into the blob instead and get the program to reference the website to upgrade whenever.

     

    Without deleting any files, I've added "MSIX build and package" step straight after creating the wpfdrop. I assume all the executable file is still there. YAML equivalent code are:

     

    steps:
    - task: MSIX.msix-ci-automation-task.msix-packaging.MsixPackaging@1
    displayName: 'MSIX build and package'
    inputs:
    outputPath: '$(build.artifactstagingdirectory)\TestProj.msixbundle'
    buildSolution: false
    inputDirectory: '$(build.artifactstagingdirectory)'
    generateBundle: true

     

    When I run it I get 

    ##[error]No task definition found matching ID e8789f65-a0e2-472b-98ca-8cfd83ccc3c3 and version 1.0.0. You must register the task definition before uploading the package.
     
    I thought the "MSIX build and package" is the task? What else do I need to do? I thought the task would pick up the executable in $(build.artifactstagingdirectory) and turn it into $(build.artifactstagingdirectory)\Winnet3.msixbundle ??
     
    I could then 2) Sign it and 3) Create and App Installer after. Stuck on step 1) 😞
     
    How do I register task definition? Can you point me to the documentation?