Just a short question. Has anybody ever published ...

# compose-desktop

[Michael Paus]

Just a short question. Has anybody ever published a Compose Desktop Application in the Microsoft Store ? Is it equally restrictive as Apple’s App Store?

[Adam Brown]

I haven't, but I'm planning to soon. It sounds like Conveyer might help with some of the packaging. MSIX is easier to publish I think?

[Michael Paus]

On their website they say you can use an MSI installer as well (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/publish/publish-your-app/overview?pivots=store-installer-msi-exe), so I am hoping the default jpackage output will do. If this shouldn’t work it might be possible to do it via this https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/packaging-tool/create-app-package But before I invest time and money into this I’d like to get some feedback from someone who actually did it. So, keep us informed 😇.

[mikehearn]

Yes we have customers who have done this.

[mikehearn]

Conveyor knows how to directly upload and publish. The review process is OK but if there's anything "unusual" then arguing with them can take a long time and be a pain. Like if you need to request special privileges.

[mikehearn]

That's with MSIX. We haven't tried MSI or NSIS. I think the Store doesn't always upgrade apps smoothly if you use those (because they are allowed to display GUIs and stuff so it can't be done in the background)

[Michael Paus]

@mikehearn I am considering to use the Microsoft Store and Apple’s App Store as an easy to use infrastructure to eventually monetize a new desktop application or do you know anything better for that purpose?

[mikehearn]

They can work. The MS Store has a much better deal than the Mac App Store. Stripe isn't that hard for collecting payments, but if you feel the rake is worth it and can tolerate the mandatory sandboxing then by all means, the MAS can be convenient.

[Thomas]

Yes, my app is on the Windows Store as MSIX. I use the command line tools makeappx and makepri in a little script which packages the compose files (output of createDistributable task). Signing is not needed. You also need the runFullTrust capability which Microsoft has to approve. But if you explain it's a jvm app it's fine.

For payments I integrated the Microsoft store in-app purchases.

You can find a link on hueessentials.com to the Microsoft store if you want to check out the result.

[Marcin Wisniowski]

@Thomas Nice tool, did you consider releasing a Linux build?

[Thomas]

@Marcin Wisniowski Yes, but no app store with in-app purchase integration (or anything commercial at all) is currently stopping me. I would have to set up my own server for this, which I am looking into but seems like too much work for now. But apart from this, my app should be functional on linux.