xboxappdev 6. dev center publishing uwp apps

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Publishing to the StoreBrandon Hurlburt |

@brandonh_msftSr. Software Development Engineer

UWP = Universal Windows Platform

Universal Windows Platform

One Store +One Dev Center

Cloud Services

One SDK + Tooling

Adaptive User Interface Natural

User Inputs

Holographic

ConsoleDevices

+IoT

Surface HubMobile

PC

Configuration Manageme

ntSecurity

Updates

Every Xbox One is a UWP development device

Getting your app out thereWindows Dev Center & the Store submission process

Register for a developer account online at dev.windows.comFor individuals, $19. For companies, $99. One-time charge, no renewalGo!

Getting Started with Dev Center

Reserve your app name for that great idea!As soon as you have an idea for an app, reserve that name!Go to dev.windows.comLog in with your accountHead to your dashboardCreate a new AppGet the name reserved!

Your app’s ready to go live, what next?Start your first submission and get it in the store!

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Defining the “how much,” “where,” and “on what” of your app

How much will you chargeFree? Trial? Paid up front?

Where will you sell itAny combination of 242 markets worldwideIndividual pricing per-market

What will it run on?Desktop? Mobile? HoloLens? Xbox?

Step 1 – Pricing & Availability

Free, $0.99 - $999.99

None, Indefinite, 1-30 days

Global presence242 markets worldwideIndividual pricing per-market

Sale, sale, sale!

Distribution and Visibility

Hide: You can pass out a direct link, but people won’t be able to download. Rather, you’ll have to set up and pass out Promotional Codes for your app in order for users to download it.

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Manually: Once it’s validate & certified, you’ll get an e-mail and will have to come back to the Dev Center Dashboard and click a button for the Publish operation to continue and start distributing your app or app update to Store users.

No Sooner: “Gate” the publishing of your app until the specified date & time once it passes certification. At that time, the Publish operation will automatically kick off.

Publish date

App Submission PropertiesSet up various pieces of Metadata for your app

Category + Subcategory26 different categoriesDefines the browsing presence of your app in the store.

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Level-set with Microsoft and set permissions for your app as it relates to installation and backups• Use 3rd party commerce system,

sell physical goods or take donations? (eg: a Hosted Web App might have a Shopping Cart where payment is fulfilled through a credit card provider, PayPal, etc)

• Tested for Accessibility?• Allow the app to be put on

removablestorage?

• Back up the app’s storage folders tothe user’s OneDrive folderautomatically?

Declarations

Hardware PreferencesPreferences, not restrictions

Age RatingsProvides the necessary information for compliance in various markets throughout the world as it relates to software ratings and content. Process is overseen by IARC which provides “spot checks” and investigation in to complaints filed by users.

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You are obligated only to provide due diligence in rating your app.

Our news app could show news related to war, natural disasters, etc so could show violent imagery. Similar logic applies for controlled substances.

Have you done the IARC questionnaire for your app for another purpose? You can input the IARC Rating ID and the associated ratings without filling out the questionnaire.

Age Ratings (cont.)

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When you’re done, you’ll get a report of how your answers mapped to the various rating agencies around the globe. If you feel it doesn’t accurately reflect your app, have a closer look at the questions and more closely evaluate your app to see if your answers were indeed indicative of the potential content of the app.

You can Edit your answers or Continue on, accepting the ratings shown

Age Ratings (cont.)

PackagesUpload your application bundle to the Store!

Building your app for Store submissionVisual Studio time!

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You *MUST* build your UWP app with the Anniversary Update SDK in order to submit it to the Store as an Xbox UWP

First things first

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Open Solution in Visual Studio

Right-click App project | Store | Create App Packages…

Associate your app with your Store listing

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‘Yes’ to upload to the Store

‘No’ to build a package that can be side-loaded on to devices

Associating with the Store (cont.)

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Choose the Store Listing for the app you’re building

You can also Reserve a name here instead of the portal

If you’re creating a pkg as an update to an existing app, select the “Include app names…” checkbox

Make sure the right MS Account is selected in the upper right

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1) Automatic increment is for 3rd digit (aka: ‘build number’). Will bump with each ‘Create App Package’ run

2) 4th digit “untouchable” – used by Store’s compiler. Must be 0 to upload to Store

• PDBs can be included so stack traces can be present in analytics collected by Store, HockeyApp, Application Insights, etc.

• Store only accepts .Net Native Release-compiled output from this tool (.appxupload)

Create the Store package

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Launch WACK (Windows App Certification Kit) and ensure your app passes this process

This is the exact process used by the Store’s automated certification pipeline

Click ‘Output location’ link to open right to the folder where the .appxupload file resides

Upload your PackageDrag & Drop your .appxupload in to the Packages step of your new Submission

Package goes through some quick & cursory validating

Presents with deciphered package metadata; make sure this is what you expect

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You’re also presented with a device matrix to declare which devices will get which of your app’s packages

Useful when adding new UWP packages to older store listings, or to apply different *packages* to different Device families

Check the Xbox box (of course)!

1) When Microsoft creates the next game-changing device, your app may be automatically-deployed to that device with this box checked

You can pick your family…

Create the Store listingListing for each language declared as supported in the app’s manifest

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Description, keywords, screenshots

Feature List

Copyright information

Additional license terms

URLs for your company/app, privacy policy

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Simply drag & drop screenshots you’ve taken on the various platforms in to their place in to the listing description

Also works for uploading branding images for the Store listing

Drag & drop screenshots

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You define the logo for the Store in your app’s manifest file

Pulled out automatically in to your listing

Some imagery will be auto-populated

Notes for certificationAnything the certification engineers at Microsoft need in order to properly use/vet your app and its stability

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You can change the publishing method any time before ‘Release’ is hit

‘Cancel’ will only back out the Submission

process, the submission details will still be there for you to tweak &

resubmit

Submit!

Add-ons (aka in-app purchases)

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Associated with an app

Price set independently

Have their own description text per language

Can be put on sale

Consumable or Durable

Add-ons treated a lot like apps themselves

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Can update icon, title, description, keywords, lifetime (for durables) pricing, market availability, visibility, separate from your app

Submitted, certified, and published separate of the app itself

Can go on sale individually, gated/manual publish just like apps

Add-ons have their own Submission flow

Loads of other new features just announced!

https://aka.ms/2016devcenterupdate

gradual rollout

flighting for Xboxsubmission API

mandatory updates

simplified market pricing

store-managed consumables

future-start promo codes

simplified dev center user access

latest-version ratings

lifetime reporting for add-ons

Dev Center app

Feedback Hub integration for YOUR appreal-time analytics

improved payout notifications

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