I lose WorldAnchors when switching between Debug and Release builds.

igierardstim

I'm developing using the Unity SDK. World anchors are pretty great no problem using them but when I change build modes all of my stored anchors disappear. I can understand having separate stores for release and debug but to have the debug store deleted when run in release mode and vice versa is pretty frustrating. Is there anything you can do to prevent this from happening?

I was looking at the ImportExportAnchorManager which seems to imply I could store anchors outside of the provided WorldAnchorStore if I wanted to but it seems like this is something that should be handled.

Patrick

I think I have the process figured out. The trick is to have two (or three if you consider master) package.appxmanifest files. Name one debug_package.appxmanifest and the other release_package.appxmanifest.

Then in each of these appxmanifest files change any string that looks like a display name of the app. I doubt they all need to be changed.
And change the PhoneProductId to a new GUID. I incremented the last digit in my GUID.

then add this to the prebuild command line:
xcopy /y "$(ProjectDir)$(ConfigurationName)_package.appxmanifest" "$(ProjectDir)package.appxmanifest"

I tested this in the emulator. I haven't been able to confirm that this will allow switching between debug and release without losing the local anchor store for the app, but I believe it will.

Patrick

The anchors are stored in the context of your application. Debug and release are, pedantically, different applications. You could export the serialized anchor to one of the user's library folders on the HoloLens and import the anchor in the other flavor.

igierardstim

I understand that they would have different context but why does loading another context erase the previous?

I guess I'll just have to write a serializer/saver. I try and post back here if I ever get around to it.

Patrick

Apologies, I misunderstood your question. The app is different, but the targets appear the same, so the old app is being uninstalled and the new app is being installed. I have very little knowledge of how these app packages are constructed, but there must be a way to make debug and release deploy as different 'apps'. I'll try to figure this out, but if someone smarter than me beats me to the punch, my feelings won't be hurt.

Patrick

I think I have the process figured out. The trick is to have two (or three if you consider master) package.appxmanifest files. Name one debug_package.appxmanifest and the other release_package.appxmanifest.

Then in each of these appxmanifest files change any string that looks like a display name of the app. I doubt they all need to be changed.
And change the PhoneProductId to a new GUID. I incremented the last digit in my GUID.

then add this to the prebuild command line:
xcopy /y "$(ProjectDir)$(ConfigurationName)_package.appxmanifest" "$(ProjectDir)package.appxmanifest"

I tested this in the emulator. I haven't been able to confirm that this will allow switching between debug and release without losing the local anchor store for the app, but I believe it will.

igierardstim

Thanks I'll try this and report back

igierardstim

Seems to have done the trick. Obviously there are now two instances of the app in the "start menu" but I don't lose anchors now.