How to build a C# WinUI 3 unpackaged app with command line

Question

I have a WinUI 3 application written in C#. I want to setup a GitHub workflow to create a release with unpackaged app. Application, built using Visual Studio start normally when started from .exe file. But when I run app, built with dotnet build command, window is not showing up, but app is in Task Manager in Background Processes.

Here is part of main project's .csproj

<PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0-windows10.0.19041.0</TargetFramework>
    <TargetPlatformMinVersion>10.0.17763.0</TargetPlatformMinVersion>
    <RootNamespace>App</RootNamespace>
    <ApplicationManifest>app.manifest</ApplicationManifest>
    <Platforms>x64;ARM64</Platforms>
    <RuntimeIdentifiers>win10-x64;win10-arm64</RuntimeIdentifiers>
    <PublishProfile>win10-$(Platform).pubxml</PublishProfile>
    <UseWinUI>true</UseWinUI>
    <WindowsAppSDKSelfContained>true</WindowsAppSDKSelfContained>
    <UseRidGraph>true</UseRidGraph>
    <EnableCoreMrtTooling Condition=" '$(BuildingInsideVisualStudio)' != 'true' ">false</EnableCoreMrtTooling>
    <ApplicationIcon>Assets\Logo\Logo.ico</ApplicationIcon>
    <PackageLicenseFile>LICENSE</PackageLicenseFile>
    <PackageRequireLicenseAcceptance>True</PackageRequireLicenseAcceptance>
    <Version>0.0.0</Version>
    <WindowsPackageType>None</WindowsPackageType>
    <AllowUnsafeBlocks>True</AllowUnsafeBlocks>
    <EnableMsixTooling>true</EnableMsixTooling>
</PropertyGroup>

Answer 1

You can use following workflow, change options based on your needs. For more info see here https://github.com/ghost1372/Dotnet-Publish-Action

name: GitHub Release Publisher

on:
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  contents: write

env:
  # Configuring Project
  PROJECT_PATH: YOUR_FOLDER/YOUR_APP_NAME.csproj
  APP_NAME: YOUR_APP_NAME

  # Check Tag
  CHECK_TAG_EXISTENCE_BEFORE_CREATING_TAG: false
  
  # Custom Nuget Source
  IS_COMMUNITY_TOOLKIT_NUGET_SOURCE_ENABLED: false
  IS_CUSTOM_NUGET_SOURCE_ENABLED: false
  CUSTOM_NUGET_SOURCES: '' # Example ('https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json, https://api.nuget.org/v2/index.json,...')

  # Configuring Dotnet Build Commands
  PUBLISH_OUTPUT_FOLDER: Publish
  PUBLISH_SELF_CONTAINED: false
  PUBLISH_SINGLE_FILE: false
  PUBLISH_READY_TO_RUN: false
  PUBLISH_AOT: false # currently only Console App Supported
  PUBLISH_TRIMMED: false
  PUBLISH_TRIM_MODE: partial # or full

  # Configuring GitHub Release
  IS_PRE_RELEASE: false
  SKIP_IF_RELEASE_EXIST: true
  MAKE_LATEST: true
  ALLOW_UPDATES: false
  ARTIFACT_ERRORS_FAIL_BUILD: false

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    outputs: # For accessing them from 'release' job
      app-version: ${{ steps.get-version.outputs.version }}
      IS_PRE_RELEASE: ${{ env.IS_PRE_RELEASE }}
    strategy:
      matrix:
        platform: [x64, x86, arm64] # Change platform if you want to build only a specific platform

    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      with:
        fetch-depth: 0
        
    - uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v4
      with:
       dotnet-version: '8.0.x'

    # Add CommunityToolkit Labs and Main nuget sources
    - run: |
        nuget sources add -name CommunityToolkit-Labs -source https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/dotnet/CommunityToolkit/_packaging/CommunityToolkit-Labs/nuget/v3/index.json
        nuget sources add -name CommunityToolkit-Main -source https://pkgs.dev.azure.com/dotnet/CommunityToolkit/_packaging/CommunityToolkit-MainLatest/nuget/v3/index.json
      if: contains(env.IS_COMMUNITY_TOOLKIT_NUGET_SOURCE_ENABLED, 'true')

    # Add Custom nuget sources
    - run: |
        $sources = $env:CUSTOM_NUGET_SOURCES -split ','
        $trimmedSources = $sources | ForEach-Object { $_.Trim() }
        $prefix = "CUSTOM_SOURCES_"
        for ($i = 0; $i -lt $trimmedSources.Length; $i++) {
          $sourceName = "${prefix}$($i + 1)"
          nuget sources add -name $sourceName -source $trimmedSources[$i]
        }
      if: contains(env.IS_CUSTOM_NUGET_SOURCE_ENABLED, 'true')

    # Reading version tag from the csproj file.
    - uses: kzrnm/get-net-sdk-project-versions-action@v2
      id: get-version
      with:
        proj-path: ${{ env.PROJECT_PATH }}

    # Building with configured commands
    - run: |
        $runtimeIdentifier = "${{ matrix.platform }}"
        dotnet publish ${{ env.PROJECT_PATH }} -c Release -r win-$($runtimeIdentifier.ToLower()) /p:GITHUB_ACTIONS=true -p:Platform=${{ matrix.platform }} --self-contained ${{ env.PUBLISH_SELF_CONTAINED }} -p:PublishSingleFile=${{ env.PUBLISH_SINGLE_FILE }} -p:PublishReadyToRun=${{ env.PUBLISH_READY_TO_RUN }} -p:PublishTrimmed=${{ env.PUBLISH_TRIMMED }} -p:TrimMode=${{ env.PUBLISH_TRIM_MODE }} -p:PublishAot=${{ env.PUBLISH_AOT }} --output ${{ env.PUBLISH_OUTPUT_FOLDER }}/${{ matrix.platform }}

    # Zipping folder and all files
    - uses: vimtor/action-zip@v1.2
      with:
        files: ${{ env.PUBLISH_OUTPUT_FOLDER }}/${{ matrix.platform }}
        recursive: true
        dest: ${{ env.APP_NAME }}-v${{ steps.get-version.outputs.version }}-${{ matrix.platform }}.zip

    # Uploading all zip files to access them in the 'release' job
    - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
      with:
        name: artifacts-${{ matrix.platform }}
        path: ${{ env.APP_NAME }}-v${{ steps.get-version.outputs.version }}-${{ matrix.platform }}.zip

    # Checking version suffix for words like [alpha, beta, preview, and experiment]. Marking the release as a pre-release if any exists.
    - run: |
        # Define the list of strings
        $list = @("beta", "alpha", "preview", "experiment")

        # Define the suffix variable
        $suffix = "${{ steps.get-version.outputs.version-suffix }}"

        foreach ($item in $list) {
          # Convert both strings to lower case for case-insensitive comparison
          if ($suffix.ToLower().StartsWith($item.ToLower())) {
            echo "IS_PRE_RELEASE=true" >> $env:GITHUB_ENV
            break
          }
        }


  release:
    needs: build
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    env:
      # Read some variables from the 'build' job
      APP_VERSION: ${{ needs.build.outputs.app-version }}
      IS_PRE_RELEASE: ${{ needs.build.outputs.IS_PRE_RELEASE }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      # Downloading all zip files into the GitHub root directory (uploaded in 'build' job)
      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          merge-multiple: true

      # Configuring git to create a tag
      - run: |
          git config --local user.email "actions@github.com"
          git config --local user.name "GitHub Actions"

          TAG_NAME="v${{ env.APP_VERSION }}"
          if [[ "${{ env.CHECK_TAG_EXISTENCE_BEFORE_CREATING_TAG }}" == "true" ]]; then
              git fetch --tags
              if [[ $(git tag -l "$TAG_NAME") ]]; then
                  echo "Tag found (already exist). Skipping to the next step"
              else
                  echo "Tag not found, creating new tag"
                  git tag "$TAG_NAME"
                  git push origin "$TAG_NAME"
              fi
          else
              echo "Creating new tag"
              git tag "$TAG_NAME"
              git push origin "$TAG_NAME"
          fi  
          
      # Installing a package for generating a changelog file
      - run: npm install -g auto-changelog  
      - run: auto-changelog --tag-pattern .+ --commit-limit false --starting-version v${{ env.APP_VERSION }} --ending-version v${{ env.APP_VERSION }} --hide-credit  
      
      # Creating a Release in GitHub
      - uses: ncipollo/release-action@v1
        with:
          artifacts: "${{ env.APP_NAME }}-v${{ env.APP_VERSION }}-*.zip"
          bodyFile: "CHANGELOG.md"
          name: v${{ env.APP_VERSION }}
          tag: v${{ env.APP_VERSION }}
          prerelease: ${{ env.IS_PRE_RELEASE }}
          skipIfReleaseExists: ${{ env.SKIP_IF_RELEASE_EXIST }}
          makeLatest: ${{ env.MAKE_LATEST }}
          allowUpdates: ${{ env.ALLOW_UPDATES }}
          artifactErrorsFailBuild: ${{ env.ARTIFACT_ERRORS_FAIL_BUILD }}



      # - uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
      #   with:
      #     name: v${{ env.APP_VERSION }}
      #     tag_name: v${{ env.APP_VERSION }}
      #     body_path: CHANGELOG.md
      #     prerelease: ${{ env.PUBLISH_PRE_RELEASE }}
      #     files: |
      #       ${{ env.APP_NAME }}-v${{ env.APP_VERSION }}-*.zip