Building Windows 8 Phone App on Command Line - command-line

Question

I'm currently porting an existing cross platform framework to Windows Phone 8.
The build process is fully automated and we are using a rock solid CI system.
I can build and deploy Windows Phone 8 samples from Visual Studio (Express 2012),
but now I need to integrate that into our build scripts.
Did anybody ever successfully build (and deploy) a Win Phone 8 app via the commandline?
(Or ant, make, scons, whatever...)
If yes, how?
Any hints are welcome.

Answer 1

I used the following bat file to build WP7 code (+ant automation on top of it). It may be helpful for you.
build.bat
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\MSBuild.exe build.xml /t:BuildAndCopy /p:Revision=123
where build.xml is something like (build itself goes under BuildAll target)
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Import Project="C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\MSBuildCommunityTasks\MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets"/>
<PropertyGroup>
<Major>1</Major>
<Minor>0</Minor>
<Build>0</Build>
<Revision>x</Revision>
<OutputPath>Build\</OutputPath>
<OutputPathDebug>..\Build\Debug\</OutputPathDebug>
<OutputPathRelease>..\Build\</OutputPathRelease>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="BuildAll" DependsOnTargets="Clean; Version">
<msbuild Projects="SomeApp.sln" Properties="Configuration=Release;OutputPath=$(OutputPathRelease)"/>
<msbuild Projects="SomeApp.sln" Properties="Configuration=Debug;OutputPath=$(OutputPathDebug)"/>
</Target>
<Target Name="Clean">
<RemoveDir Directories="$(OutputPath)" Condition="Exists('$(OutputPath)')"/>
<MakeDir Directories="$(OutputPath)" Condition="!Exists('$(OutputPath)')"/>
</Target>
<Target Name="Version">
<Message Text="Version: $(Major).$(Minor).$(Build).$(Revision)"/>
<XmlUpdate
Namespace=""
XmlFileName="WindowsPhone\Properties\WMAppManifest.xml"
XPath="//App[#Version]//#Version"
Value="$(Major).$(Minor).$(Build).$(Revision)"/>
</Target>
<ItemGroup>
<AppFiles Include="$(OutputPath)\**\*.xap"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="BuildAndCopy" DependsOnTargets="BuildAll">
<Copy
SourceFiles="#(AppFiles)"
DestinationFiles="#(AppFiles->'\\fs\Public\projects\mobile\SomeAppWP\$(Major).$(Minor).$(Build).$(Revision)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"
/>
<Copy
SourceFiles="#(AppFiles)"
DestinationFiles="#(AppFiles->'\\fs\Public\projects\mobile\SomeAppWP\latest\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"
/>
</Target>
</Project>

Answer 2

It should be easy. I'll assume you have the following file structure
$/WP8App/SampleApp.sln
You will have to use the paths and solution file in your project. Execute the following instructions, and make sure to update solution file and path:
Open a command prompt
Execute: %VS110COMNTOOLS%vsvars32.bat
Execute: %VS110COMNTOOLS%..\..\VC\WPSDK\WP80\vcvarsphoneall.bat
Execute: MSBuild "WP8App/SampleApp.sln" /t:rebuild
/p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="Any CPU" /v:d
Please notice:
The computer where you're going to run these commands should have the development environment for WP8 already set up.
If your application uses native libraries (such as PlayerFramework http://playerframework.codeplex.com/ which are installed into VS, these libraries should also be installed before running the commands)
I have used this process on VS2012 Pro and VS2012 Premium and Jenkins as Build Server.
Good luck,
Herb

Answer 3

Thanks to Sergei's MSBuild.exe hint I was able to build a simple sample via the command line.
https://github.com/AndreasOM/wp8-directx-commandline
There is a build.bat included, which should be enough to get you started to build for "windows phone 8" with the build system of your choice.
It's fairly hacky at the moment,
but once I get the current project done
I will clean it up.
Hint:
Never define a "CL" environment variable when working with "CL.exe" ;)