6 ms·

Visual Studio App Center

63 points by vdepizzol 9y ago

keithba 9y ago
Hi! We are very proud of what we've built here. Regardless of how you built your app (Swift, Java, React Native, Xamarin), we offer CI, releasing to your beta users and the app stores, Crash reporting, analytics, and even push messaging. Let us know your thoughts!
- stult 9y ago
  Will the App Center support WPF once the HockeyApp transition is complete? Or if it won't, what will the timing be for the HockeyApp WPF support ending? I've got a desktop beta out right now, with some users on Windows 10 and many still on Windows 7 (unfortunately). The W7 users are using a WPF version of the beta. I guess losing the HockeyApp integration just means we'll lose crash reporting analytics from the Windows 7 users because HockeyApp only partially supports WPF as is. That isn't the end of the world as we are slowly rolling out Windows 10 firm-wide right now, but it would be nice to know the timing for planning purposes.
  - lumaxis 9y ago
    Hey! Engineer on the App Center team here. We have a detailed explanation of our HockeyApp -> App Center migration plans at https://www.hockeyapp.net/appcenter/transition/ https://www.hockeyapp.net/appcenter/transition/ but the gist is: We won't shut down before all HockeyApp users are happy with what we built and want to switch over. That also includes WPF support. The latest App Center SDK available on NuGet already supports WPF, support for Build and Test are coming in the future!
rkachowski 9y ago
Why does my IDE need an app store?
- keithba 9y ago
  Good question! The "Visual Studio" brand is our brand for many of our developer tools. App Center isn't part of the Visual Studio IDE. It's a Web-hosted service for app developers providing CI/CD, testing, and many other services.
Ciantic 9y ago
Superficially looking at this, how does this differ from Azure? I know it seems to support more, but it also clearly re-invents same things as in Azure. Edit: Looking again, this is for native apps only?
- keithba 9y ago
  App Center and Azure work together. Azure provides services for powering application and services (including compute, containers, storage, databases.) App Center is focused on many of the lifecycle services (like CI, Crash reporting, distributing to beta testers and stores, etc).
- macavity23 9y ago
  This IS 'Azure Mobile Center' - mobile.azure.com redirects to this. ZERO communication about this change. MS might have changed but their legendarily-confusing branding is still the same. I have a React Native app in App Center and it works great.
MyDamnUser 9y ago
Is it possible to opt out of it somehow?
- g051051 9y ago
  Opt out of what? It's a service you subscribe to.
  - MyDamnUser 9y ago
    Seems like i was too quick out of the gate, my bad.
shidoshi 9y ago
This is nifty, and congrats to the M$ teams for continuing to kill it on the announcements (right before re:Invent.) Will this service also support soft push via services like AirWatch for private/non-store deployments?
- keithba 9y ago
  We support the Intune company portal and we will be taking a look at other services. We offer a full REST API and webhooks, so this also something you could cook up as an extension to the product in the meantime.

63 points by vdepizzol 9y ago

Hi! We are very proud of what we've built here. Regardless of how you built your app (Swift, Java, React Native, Xamarin), we offer CI, releasing to your beta users and the app stores, Crash reporting, analytics, and even push messaging. Let us know your thoughts!

stult 9y ago
Will the App Center support WPF once the HockeyApp transition is complete? Or if it won't, what will the timing be for the HockeyApp WPF support ending? I've got a desktop beta out right now, with some users on Windows 10 and many still on Windows 7 (unfortunately). The W7 users are using a WPF version of the beta. I guess losing the HockeyApp integration just means we'll lose crash reporting analytics from the Windows 7 users because HockeyApp only partially supports WPF as is. That isn't the end of the world as we are slowly rolling out Windows 10 firm-wide right now, but it would be nice to know the timing for planning purposes.
- lumaxis 9y ago
  Hey! Engineer on the App Center team here. We have a detailed explanation of our HockeyApp -> App Center migration plans at https://www.hockeyapp.net/appcenter/transition/ https://www.hockeyapp.net/appcenter/transition/ but the gist is: We won't shut down before all HockeyApp users are happy with what we built and want to switch over. That also includes WPF support. The latest App Center SDK available on NuGet already supports WPF, support for Build and Test are coming in the future!

rkachowski 9y ago

Why does my IDE need an app store?

keithba 9y ago
Good question! The "Visual Studio" brand is our brand for many of our developer tools. App Center isn't part of the Visual Studio IDE. It's a Web-hosted service for app developers providing CI/CD, testing, and many other services.

Ciantic 9y ago

Superficially looking at this, how does this differ from Azure? I know it seems to support more, but it also clearly re-invents same things as in Azure. Edit: Looking again, this is for native apps only?

keithba 9y ago
App Center and Azure work together. Azure provides services for powering application and services (including compute, containers, storage, databases.) App Center is focused on many of the lifecycle services (like CI, Crash reporting, distributing to beta testers and stores, etc).
macavity23 9y ago
This IS 'Azure Mobile Center' - mobile.azure.com redirects to this. ZERO communication about this change. MS might have changed but their legendarily-confusing branding is still the same. I have a React Native app in App Center and it works great.

MyDamnUser 9y ago

Is it possible to opt out of it somehow?

g051051 9y ago
Opt out of what? It's a service you subscribe to.
- MyDamnUser 9y ago
  Seems like i was too quick out of the gate, my bad.

shidoshi 9y ago

This is nifty, and congrats to the M$ teams for continuing to kill it on the announcements (right before re:Invent.) Will this service also support soft push via services like AirWatch for private/non-store deployments?

keithba 9y ago
We support the Intune company portal and we will be taking a look at other services. We offer a full REST API and webhooks, so this also something you could cook up as an extension to the product in the meantime.