Apps Approved

Following on from the previous post on the experiences on submitting the emergencySMS application to the Windows Mobile Marketplace, this weeks escapades are with the Autodesk Exchange store for AutoCAD.
Following on with the same format, we will review publishing, testing, updating and reporting below.

Registration
Anyone can submit an application or resource to the Autodesk Exchange Store, though for an application you’ll get more support and assistance in materials if you are part of the Autodesk Developer Network.

Verification and Publishing
Submission is of course online using your (free to register) Autodesk identifier.  However the whole process (though http-based) takes place from the Exchange interface, only accessible from an AutoCAD family application.  The web form is very comprehensive with details, descriptions, contacts, images, help text and a version history.
Applications can be submitted as any AutoCAD customisation (that’s numerous languages and file formats) but for a command application it should be compatible with the new automatic loading .bundle format.  This includes application, user interface / ribbon elements and an XML file defining what gets loaded and for what platform.  Working between x86 and x64 architecture is not as easy as I thought when there are unmanaged DLLs to deal with!
The completed .bundle package can be submitted as a ZIP file and the nice people at Autodesk will create a standardised installer wrapper, integrated with the Exchange interface.

Testing
It is not clear what the testing process is within Autodesk and there is no feedback interface to let you know what is happening, your submission goes into a black-hole and if you are lucky you get a confirmation email less than 10-days later.
The turn-around and volume of apps is obviously far less than for a mobile app stores but a little more interface and feedback would be welcome.

User Experience and Discovery
Again I am bewildered at the design decisions that mean you must have a copy of the parent platform (in this case AutoCAD) running before you can browse the library of solutions.  There is no chance to review off-line or send a link to management (or whoever will sign-off on the installation/payment) and this seems to be clearly missing a trick to me.
The Exchange integration with AutoCAD is however excellent, the new under-the-hood .bundle live deployment means than you can have in-place downloads and the application will launch and register with the dedicated plug-ins toolbar within moments of requesting a download - very smooth indeed.

Updating
My first submission was too large, requiring an update to the Exchange Store solution and then a initialisation error (which should have been caught by my or Autodesk testing) meant the app was pulled. A few hours to create the fix, up to 10 days to work through the process to reinstate isn’t inspiring for feature updates or patching!
However, the process is simple and harmless just requiring in-line edit changes to the existing submission / upload new files, preview and submit.

Reporting
As there is no developer-oriented app hub or developer centre there is no centralised resource to monitoring downloads or previews.  This is a shame, but it may come with time.
For now, sit back and create a suitable email filter to process the download details as they come in one by one…

Apps Applenty

This first topic has been inspired by my experiences in the last few weeks in publishing applications to two app stores – namely the Windows Phone Marketplace and the Autodesk Exchange store.
The processes in both are similar, and the lessons learned will be useful in both initial publishing and updating solutions.  So, onto the application stores (by any other name), one at a time…

Windows Phone – emergencySMS

The emergencySMS application for Windows Phone will calculate your location from GPS and look-up a representative address to SMS directly to the emergency services and a nominated contact.  It's the app we hope you never have to use!

Registration
The Windows Phone Marketplace requires registration with a small fee, but development tools and an emulator are provided for free, giving everything required for publication.
There is an optional amount of paperwork to complete for paid applications as all Marketplace applications are registered with Microsoft in the US and hence a TIN (tax identification number) is required to avoid hefty overheads on revenues received.

Verification and Publishing
Once you have had your brilliant idea, written some code using the freely available tools (essentially Visual Studio and C#) it’s time to go through the browser-based submission process.  A Windows Phone app is compiled as an .XAP file and it is this that is uploaded along with assorted details including a description, classification (tools, social, games...) and a rigorous set of supporting imagery in pre-defined dimensions that need to be carefully created from emulator screen grabs.

Testing
The application submission guidelines are followed by the Marketplace testers.   Although initial reports of variations in interpretation abound, my application failed fairly on a well-defined opt-in requirement that I hadn't read properly.  Full test guidelines are published and available to download.
It takes almost a (long) week for testing to result in a detailed failure report or publication, going live can be automatic or manual.  Test reports indicate that the app is run on a number of live devices, not just the emulator.

User Experience and Discovery
The Marketplace is only searchable for review and download from within the Zune companion desktop application and from the Marketplace application on the phone itself.  This means you cannot share links for review or even get an awareness of the broader depth of apps until you own a phone or register with Zune.  This is despite each application having a "deep-link" web address that could be made public but only forces a specific page load in Zune at present.

Updating
Resubmission for failed tests or application version updates is a repetition of the submission process; meaning it is worth while to take copies of all the descriptions and keywords prior to starting.  The requirement to resubmit all images from scratch seems a little arduous but takes little time in practice as long as they are all stored and managed.

Reporting
The App Hub is currently (20 July 2011) undergoing it’s first major update, to fix issues (such as the erroneous “missing registration” messages I have always had) and to be ready for the upcoming ‘Mango’ / Windows Phone 7.x release capabilities later this year.
The hub shows downloads by date or totals by country, application versions, app crashes (none to date!), reviews, revenues and profile registration details.

Next will be a discussion of the comparable experience in the Autodesk Exchange Store…