The Xap version number needs to be higher than previous version

Problem:

I ran into this issue when I tried to publish the latest version of windows phone application.  I had to refer back to my article,  http://fetchmytip.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-publisher-display-name-username.html

Key quote:

"Turns out that Visual Studio can't update two very important files, package.appmanifest.xml and WMAppManifest.xml.  These have to be done by hand."  This keyed me into the fact that the appxmanifest.xml file was not updated to what was set in the project.  The build process set the version to 1.0.0.0 regardless of what you set the WMmanifest too!!

Solution:

The version number for the wmappmanifest.xml was set in the project to correct value 1.0.0.3.  However, each time I built the xap the Appxmanifest.xml file listed the version as 1.0.0.0.  This is what the Store loader kept chocking on.   I had to manual change the version number in the appxmanifest.xml file to 1.0.0.3.  Once this was done I could upload the project to the store.

The publisher display name, $username$, specified in the package doesn't match the publisher name

Problem:

I was trying to publish latest upgrade to our app.  The Windows Phone version has just been completed.  No it is not a universal app yet.  That is coming.  This is a Windows Phone Silverlight 8.1 app.  I built the xap and went to deploy it to the store and got this weird error:

The publisher display name, $username$, specified in the package doesn't match the publisher name

Solution:

Turns out that Visual Studio can't update two very important files, package.appmanifest.xml and WMAppManifest.xml.  These have to be done by hand.  The MSDN article was not absolutely clear on where to go so I thought I would provide some cues. 

The MSDN article provides this handy table which required some careful reading to determine what was meant. 

Element or attribute to update	Corresponding value from your Dashboard	Corresponding field in Manifest Designer
Name attribute of the Identity element.	Package identity name from the App info page.	Package name on the Packaging tab.
DisplayName element.	The reserved name for the app.	Package display name on the Packaging tab.
Publisher attribute of the Identity element.	Windows publisher name from the App info page.	None.
Version attribute of the Identity element.	Not applicable.	Version on the Packaging tab.
PublisherDisplayName element.	Publisher name from the Account summary page.	Publisher display name on the Packaging tab.

Table 1

Step 1:

Go to the app page in the store
https://dev.windows.com/en-us/dashboard/apps/<Your App ID>/Identity

It provides the needed information for your app

Package/Identity/Name	NameAppYour
Package/Identity/Publisher	CN={App GUID}
Package/Properties/PublisherDisplayName	Your App Name

Table 2

Step 2:

In Visual Studio, go to the release project in your solution and locate the file Package.appxmanifest.
Open this file and select the Packaging tab. 

Step 3:(Name attribute of the Identity element = Package/Identity/Name)

The package name listed should match should match the Package/Identity/Name in table 2.  If it does not then you will get an error when you try to publish to the store. 

Step 4:(PublisherDisplayName element = Package/Properties/PublisherDisplayName)

Ensure the Package Display name matches Package/Properties/PublisherDisplayName in table 2.

Step 5:(Publisher attribute of the Identity element = Package/Identity/Publisher.)

This last step requires you to leave Visual Studio and open the file Package.appxmanifest with notepad or text editor of your choice.  Visual Studio does not allow you to edit the last two fields which need to be done by hand.

Open the file and locate the identity element.  The publisher attribute should be set to the setting in
Package/Identity/Publisher.

<Identity Name="Your Package Name" Publisher="CN=Your Publisher ID" Version="1.0.0.0" />

Summary

Table 3 summarizes the changes and location for the elements.  Once I understood where the values were located I was able to load my Windows Phone app into the Windows Store without further errors.

Element or attribute to update	Corresponding value from your Identity Dashboard
Name attribute of the Identity element.	Package/Identity/Name
DisplayName element.	Select the Packaging tab in file Package.appxmanifest.  Display name element allows you to change the value.
Publisher attribute of the Identity element.	Package/Identity/Publisher
Version attribute of the Identity element.	Select the Packaging tab in file WMAppManifest.xml. Version textbox allows you to change the value.
PublisherDisplayName element.	Package/Properties/PublisherDisplayName

Table 3

Source

1. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn655122(d=printer,v=vs.105).aspx
2. https://dev.windows.com/en-us/dashboard/apps/<Your App ID>/Identity

Invalid package family name: Appname_q6srzhww6szzg (expected: Appname_e0kvyw5mrygy8)

Problem:

Trying to submit a Windows Phone Silverlight 8.1 app to the Windows Store and getting this error.
I was puzzled by the error so I started to play around with the Package.appxmanifest file.

Solution:

Listed with this error was also a related Invalid Publisher Name which was the underlying issue.  I had mistyped my publisher name.  This should be 36 character GUID and I had only 32 characters.
Once I had corrected the incorrect publisher name, the package family name was corrected.  This helped me understand that the package publisher GUID is being used to generate the unique id tacked onto the end of the package family name.

Needed to use the correct publisher name.  This is listed on your app identity page https://dev.windows.com/en-us/dashboard/apps/{App ID}/Identity

Source:

See my post coming later this week...