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How to specify extensions in a package manifest

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Note  For Windows 10, see What's different in Windows 10.

 

Your app can use extensibility points to interact with the system or other apps. To declare an extensibility point for your app, use the Extension (CT_ApplicationExtensions) element. To declare an extensibility point for the package, use the Extension (CT_PackageExtensions) element.

Alternatively, you can package your app using Visual Studio. See Packaging your app using Visual Studio. Note that in Microsoft Visual Studio they are called “Declarations” and there is no distinction between package and app level extensions.

Instructions

Step 1:

Follow the steps in How to create a basic package manifest.

Step 2:

If the extensibility point is a package extensibility point, add a Package/Extensions node. The schema for each extensibility point is category-specific. For more info, see the description of the Category attribute for the Extension (CT_PackageExtensions) element.

Here's an example Package/Extensions node. Both extensions are windows.activatableClass extensions.

Note  The category name and child element names are related. In this example Category value ends with inProcessServer and child element is InProcessServer (different casing though).

 

<Package xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/appx/2010/manifest">
   <Extensions>
      <Extension Category="windows.activatableClass.inProcessServer">
         <InProcessServer>
            <Path>bin\GrayscaleTransform.dll</Path>
            <ActivatableClass ActivatableClassId="Microsoft.Samples.GrayscaleEffect" ThreadingModel="both" />
         </InProcessServer>
      </Extension>
   </Extensions>
</Package>

Step 3:

If the extensibility point is an app extensibility point, add a Package/Applications/Application/Extensions node. The schema for each extensibility point is category-specific. For more info, see the description of the Category attribute for the Extension (CT_ApplicationExtensions) element.

Here's an example Package/Applications/Application/Extensions node. The extensions is a windows.fileTypeAssociation extension. Some extensions contain child elements like in the example below and others do not, like windows.accountPictureProvider.

Note  The category name and child element names are related. In this example Category value ends with fileTypeAssociation and child element is FileTypeAssociation (different casing though).

 

<Package xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/appx/2010/manifest">
   <Applications>
      <Application Id="AssociationLaunching.App">
         <Extensions>
            <Extension Category="windows.fileTypeAssociation">
               <FileTypeAssociation Name="imagetypes">
                  <SupportedFileTypes>
                     <FileType>.gif</FileType>
                     <FileType>.jpg</FileType>
                     <FileType>.png</FileType>
                  </SupportedFileTypes>
               </FileTypeAssociation>
            </Extension>
            <Extension Category=”windows.accountPictureProvider”/>
         </Extensions>
      </Application>
   </Applications>
</Package>

How to create a package manifest manually