Modifying WMAppManifest.xml based on Build Configuration - visual-studio

Question

I would like to release to distinct flavours of my app and would like to indicate this in the application name displayed on the phone. As far as I know for Silverlight Phone Apps the name is solely determined by WMAppManifest.xml. Therefore I would like to modify the application title at build time based on my Build Configuration. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

You can do this with a bit of T4 templating and code generation (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb126445.aspx if you don't know about this.)
The following steps will allow you to use a different application title if you are using the debug or release configuration.
Take a copy of WMAppManifest.xml and rename it to WMAppManifest-base.tt
Change the content of WMAppManifest-base.tt to be
<## template language="C#" #><## output extension=".xml" #><?xml version="1.0"?>
<Deployment xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windowsphone/2009/deployment" AppPlatformVersion="7.0">
<App xmlns="" ProductID="{4c5315b6-4030-46c5-b5ea-17284d6af0c6}" Title="<#= this.ConfiguredAppTitle #>" RuntimeType="Silverlight" Version="1.0.0.0" Genre="apps.normal" Author="WindowsPhoneApplication8 author" Description="Sample description" Publisher="WindowsPhoneApplication8">
<IconPath IsRelative="true" IsResource="false">ApplicationIcon.png</IconPath>
<Capabilities>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_IDENTITY_DEVICE"/>
<Capability Name="ID_CAP_NETWORKING"/>
</Capabilities>
<Tasks>
<DefaultTask Name ="_default" NavigationPage="MainPage.xaml"/>
</Tasks>
<Tokens>
<PrimaryToken TokenID="WindowsPhoneApplication8Token" TaskName="_default">
<TemplateType5>
<BackgroundImageURI IsRelative="true" IsResource="false">Background.png</BackgroundImageURI>
<Count>0</Count>
<Title><#= this.ConfiguredAppTitle #></Title>
</TemplateType5>
</PrimaryToken>
</Tokens>
</App>
</Deployment>
<#+
string ConfiguredAppTitle = "MyPhoneApp";
#>
(Adjust capabilities, etc. as appropriate.)
In the same folder as WMAppManifest-base.tt create a file called Debug.WMAppManifest.tt with the following contents:
<#
ConfiguredAppTitle = "MyDebugApp";
#><## include file="WMAppManifest-base.tt" #>
Now create a file called Release.WMAppManifest.tt with the following contents:
<#
ConfiguredAppTitle = "MyReleaseApp";
#><## include file="WMAppManifest-base.tt" #>
Create a file called copyifnewer.bat in the root of the project. Give it the following contents:
echo Comparing: %1 with %2
if not exist %1 goto File1NotFound
if not exist %2 goto File2NotFound
fc %1 %2
if %ERRORLEVEL%==0 GOTO NoCopy
echo Files are not the same. Copying %1 over %2
copy %1 %2 /y & goto END
:NoCopy
echo Files are the same. Did nothing
goto END
:File1NotFound
echo %1 not found.
goto END
:File2NotFound
copy %1 %2 /y
goto END
:END
In the project properties add this PRE-build command:
"$(ProjectDir)\copyifnewer.bat" "$(ProjectDir)properties\$(ConfigurationName).WMAppManifest.xml" "$(ProjectDir)properties\WMAppManifest.xml"
Now you can adjust the values in the debug & release files to alter the titles as you wish.
If you have other configurations just create appropriately named files (with the same contents as the debug.*.tt) and they'll be picked up automatically.
Note that when testing, if you install the app with one name (in the emulator or phone) you'll have to uninstall it to see a name change reflected in the application list.
Note to self: must blog about this. (It's really powerful but hard to work out how to do the first time.)

Answer 2

You can use the pre-build step (Project Properties -> Build Events -> Pre-Build event command line) in the project properties with conditional command-lines to achieve this.
Having files for each version and then copying over the default to replace the data there. You can also set up your icons to use this same system! :)
if $(ConfigurationName) == Phone_Free_Debug (
copy /Y $(ProjectDir)Properties\WMAppManifest_Free.xml $(ProjectDir)Properties\WMAppManifest.xml
copy /Y $(ProjectDir)173x173icon_Free.png $(ProjectDir)173x173icon.png
copy /Y $(ProjectDir)200x200icon_Free.png $(ProjectDir)200x200icon.png
)
if $(ConfigurationName) == Phone_Free_Release (
copy /Y $(ProjectDir)Properties\WMAppManifest_Free.xml $(ProjectDir)Properties\WMAppManifest.xml
copy /Y $(ProjectDir)173x173icon_Free.png $(ProjectDir)173x173icon.png
copy /Y $(ProjectDir)200x200icon_Free.png $(ProjectDir)200x200icon.png
)
if $(ConfigurationName) == Phone_Debug (
copy /Y $(ProjectDir)Properties\WMAppManifest_Paid.xml $(ProjectDir)Properties\WMAppManifest.xml
copy /Y $(ProjectDir)173x173icon_Paid.png $(ProjectDir)173x173icon.png
copy /Y $(ProjectDir)200x200icon_Paid.png $(ProjectDir)200x200icon.png
)
if $(ConfigurationName) == Phone_Release (
copy /Y $(ProjectDir)Properties\WMAppManifest_Paid.xml $(ProjectDir)Properties\WMAppManifest.xml
copy /Y $(ProjectDir)173x173icon_Paid.png $(ProjectDir)173x173icon.png
copy /Y $(ProjectDir)200x200icon_Paid.png $(ProjectDir)200x200icon.png
)

Answer 3

I know this is an old thread now, but came across it as I was looking to do something similar and the accepted answer was spot on for me. I just wanted to add in a suggestion for a modification to the batch file part of it, in case it helps anyone else. I would have commented on the accepted answer but lack the reputation to so far, so hope no-one minds me adding it as a separate answer..!
If you're version-controlling your solution (e.g. in TFS) your WMAppManifest might be write-protected, unless you specifically remembered to check it out prior to build. If it is, the batch file won't be able to overwrite it, but you won't get any notification of it and the build will proceed, meaning you may fail to notice it didn't update per your build configuration. To address this, add the following to the end of the batch file (after :END):
if %errorlevel% neq 0 exit /b %errorlevel%
If the batch file fails, the build will stop, alerting you to the issue.
Also, don't create the batch file in Visual Studio! It'll save in UTF-8 encoding (I think) and you may get errors when Windows tries to shell it. Create it in notepad to ensure it saves in ASCII. If you save it with the wrong encoding and it won't run, the above amend will catch that as well.