MSIX Pakage for Testing then Production

Copper Contributor

Hi,

I am looking into MSIX/AppX within our company. We do have a non-prod and production environment for our development/test the prod release process.

 

Is it possible to build the package once, deploy the package to non-prod then to prod?

 

My thought would be to have to internal share 1 for Non-Prod and then 1 for Prod.

I am testing using the VS 2019 and the Windows Application Packaging Project. If there is an existing article or some type of reference, that will work as well.

 

Thanks,

Steve

4 Replies

Hi @SteveDeleon 

 

Sorry, but I don't follow. What is the difference between the prod and non-prod environments?

 

I am trying to understand why do you think there is a limitation. Different VS configs?

@Bogdan Mitrache Thanks for the response.

 

I'm new to APPX/MSIX so it may be a simple thing, I just have the assumption that if an MSIX package is updated on an internal network share for internally developed apps, all client machines that have that app installed would get updated. Just trying to see how we can only deploy to testers then to all users without having to change the package .... perhaps configs, policies, etc. ?

 

To answer your question, the difference between prod and non-prod is it depends on the dev team and how they implemented but in summary it can be how the app is installed and/or launched (e.g. install location/package may be different, maybe params passed in via shortcut; env=dev, env=qa, env=prod, etc.). I am just starting to look at AppX/MSIX for our internal apps and just want to see how it would fit into our current process and maybe standardize across the board with MSIX :)

 

Hopefully that makes sense. 

 

Thanks,

Steve

Hi @SteveDeleon 

 

The recommended approach is to use different package names for prod and non-prod. If you're using the App Packaging Project in VS you can add two instances of the Packaging project to your solution, one for prod and one for non-prod. Just make sure to name them differently in the Packaging tab that shows up when you double click the package.appxmanifest e.g. 

 

prod.jpgnon-prod.jpg

Both of your Packaging Projects can reference the same Application and you only have to build this application once.

 

If you'd like an even more customisable solution to create different packages and deploy to different users from the same build have a look at this talk and this sample that walk you through how to setup an MSIX packaging & deployment CI/CD Pipeline using Azure DevOps.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Tanaka

 

 

@Tanaka_Jimha Thank you Much for the reply!!!

 

Greatly appreciated !

 

Thanks,

Steve