Code Quality: Add a solution configuration for each build of the app

[Lamparter]

Description

Here's an interesting idea: what if instead of using the Configure-AppxManifest.ps1 script, each "branch" or release channel of the app (Release, Preview, Dev) were literally a solution configuration? For example, instead of choosing Debug|x64, you'd choose Dev|x64. Resources such as the app icon and name would dynamically change rather than needing to be updated using a script.

Concerned code

• The solution file
• Areas where there are differences per branch
  • Different features
  • Different app icons

Gains

• eg. A better readability.
• eg. Uncoupling concepts X and Y.
• eg. Clarifying the responsibility of class C.

Requirements

• Add #if compiler blocks to hide features that are restricted to a channel
• Using MSBuild property files, the associated app icons could also be dynamically changed

Comments

This would be a good thing to do when a new solution is created.

[0x5bfa]

Since the script does replacement of strings mostly in Package.appxmanifest, we don't have to care. Also the script is much usable because it finds and replaces strings even in XAML files, where you can't use #if and #endif pre compiler directives. Plus, as far as we use .sln we are not able to avoid making it very long, unreadable and fragile.

Thus, we don't have much gain from this unfortunately.

[yaira2]

I'm in agreement with @0x5bfa regarding this proposal. We used to have separate configurations, and while technically better practice, we found that for our use cases they caused more problems than they were worth.