In the past weeks I have been testing a new development process which I plan to use going forward. The main benefit is the automation of the process of releasing new versions which currently is a manual process for me (and for every user). A change that will come with this is that I will be moving from the current MSI installer to a new MSIX installer package. One of the main reasons for this is that automatic updates for the application itself is a lot easier to realise.
Pros:
easy to install, reset, and remove
automatic application updates
easy to patch small fixes
signing required (secure, trusted by windows)
preview version side by side with current release
users on the same (latest) version, easier to make certain changes
higher installation success rate compared to old MSI
Cons:
a desktop shortcut is not made automatically (drag icon from start menu to desktop)
signing required (expensive for a single developer instead of a business)
primarily designed for windows 10, support for windows 7 is likely to be dropped as previously stated in v1.0 release notes
In short (and less technical) what I hope the result will be:
automatic app updates
quick and easy to fix small issues
save time, less sleepless nights (high on the list due to a new job)
always up-to-date and happy users
As noted, this does require a code signing certificate but the automated development process and the pros greatly outweigh the cons. I hope to first try this process with the content creation tool making sure it works as expected before I start testing this process with the character builder.
Thanks for supporting and stay safe!