NicolTIP#017: How to automate the build process (of WP7 apps and more:) with powershell

I developed for fun a couple a WP7 apps and I needed to automate (just a little bit:-) the release process, mainly because:

• The application version must be entered in various point and should be keep in sync
• I’d like to store all released version in a specific directory

The easiest way I found to do this is via PowerShell. I wrote a super simple script that:

• store into a variable the version you want to assign to the build
• replace the version in all location needed for the project.
  • In my project, that is of just 1 dll, I had to keep in sync the following files:
    • Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs
    • Properties\WMAppManifest.xml
    • Model\ApplicationInfo.cs (this is a custom c# class…)
• Rebuild the solution as “release”
• Copy the .xap file into Releases Folder, renaming it adding the version to the file

The directory structure I used (in my project – LED) is the following

• LED (solution folder)
  • Releases
    • NicolD.Phone.App.LED-1.0.0.1.xap
    • NicolD.Phone.App.LED-1.0.0.2.xap
    • …
  • NicolD.Phone.App.LED (project folder)
    • bin
      • …
    • …
  • LED.sln
  • Build.ps1 (the file below)

I think that this approach can be used/extended in many other scenarios similar to this one.

Good luck

 $version = "1.02.00.00"

$SolutionPath = "D:\MyProjects2010\WP7\PRO\LED\"

$Solution = $SolutionPath + "LED.sln"

$SolutionBin = $SolutionPath + "NicolD.Phone.App.LED\Bin\"

$LogFile = $SolutionBin + "Build.log"

$VStudio2010= "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe"

$releases = $SolutionPath + "Releases\"

$build        = $SolutionBin + "Release\NicolD.Phone.App.LED.xap"

$buildArchive = $releases +    "NicolD.Phone.App.LED-" + $version + ".xap"

function replace 

{

    $o = $args[0]

    $a = $args[1]

    $b = $args[2]

    (Get-Content $o) | 

    Foreach-Object {$_ -replace $a, $b} | 

    Set-Content $o

}

$AssemblyInfo = $SolutionPath + "NicolD.Phone.App.LED\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs"

$filter = 'AssemblyVersion\("\d+.\d+.\d+.\d+"\)'

$newstring = 'AssemblyVersion("' + $version + '")'

replace $AssemblyInfo $filter $newstring

$filter = 'AssemblyFileVersion\("\d+.\d+.\d+.\d+"\)'

$newstring = 'AssemblyFileVersion("' + $version + '")'

replace $AssemblyInfo $filter $newstring

$manifest = $SolutionPath + "NicolD.Phone.App.LED\Properties\WMAppManifest.xml"

$filter = 'Version="\d+.\d+.\d+.\d+"'

$newstring = 'Version="' + $version + '"'

replace $manifest $filter $newstring

$appinfo = $SolutionPath + "NicolD.Phone.App.LED\Model\ApplicationInfo.cs"

$filter = 'ApplicationVersion = "\d+.\d+.\d+.\d+"'

$newstring = 'ApplicationVersion = "' + $version + '"'

replace $appinfo $filter $newstring

& $VStudio2010 $Solution /clean | Out-Null

& $VStudio2010 $Solution /rebuild release /out $logfile | Out-Null

copy $build $buildarchive