Thursday, May 22, 2014

What is an XAP File?

Let me briefly explain what is XAP?

XAP is the file format used to install application software on Windows Phone 7.5/8 platforms and Silverlight Applications. This will change in Windows 8.1. You can look at the contents of an XAP file by renaming (by changing .XAP to .ZIP as it is ZIP formatted file) it.

XAP file of an App consists of the manifest, the required dlls and views.

Read about my XAP article here:
http://aspalliance.com/1844_DoubleAnimation_Basics_with_Silverlight_Application

Using XapDeploy.exe tool you can deploy to a connected device or a chosen emulator (choose emulator from drop-down list). To have emulators on a Windows 8.1 computer you should at least have the Windows 8.1 Professional edition.

Note: If you are using Windows App Studio Dev (http://appstudio.windows.com/?stay=1)   which is in Beta you can download the XAP file of your Phone project from there.

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