UWP installer without powershell

Question

I am looking for a more userfriendly way to make an installer for my UWP Application. I don't want to distribute through the store and I am aware that you need to set the developer setting to enable sideloading of applications.

Is it possible, in C#, to mimic the execution of the PowerShell script which deploys an appx package into the system? And if so, how does this work when you want to update the appx package instead of a new install?

It seems a bit weird for my users to have to execute a powershell script by hand to install an application. So I would like to create an installer instead.

EDIT: to elaborate, I am looking for a way in C# to install an appx package. I don't want to use any command line / external tools

Thanks

Answer 1

You can install an appx package from code with the Windows.Management.Deployment.PackageManager object's AddPackageAsync method. This is demonstrated for C++ and C# in the Add app package sample on MSDN.

To update an existing package call PackageManager.UpdatePackageAsync

Answer 2

Microsoft has now adds its own graphical installer. You can simply double click the appxbundle file.

If you use a self signed cert it must be set as trusted in the system. The cer file is also in the zip archive with is created by Visual Studio.