In opening up the .xap file that is generated as output from a Silverlight application I’ve been tinkering with lately, I noticed a file called AppManifest.xaml.
I’ve also noticed an option in the property pages for the Silverlight project that appears to allow you to optionally not output AppManifest.xaml for the project. When unchecking that option, however, I get errors when running the application: Invalid or malformed application: Check manifest.
What is the purpose of the AppManifest.xaml file?
Maybe this blog post will help: http://blogs.msdn.com/katriend/archive/2008/03/16/silverlight-2-structure-of-the-new-xap-file-silverlight-packaged-application.aspx. It discusses the .xap file and its parts including the AppManifest.
To save people a link click, in short, it defines the application for deployment, its entry point, and references all the assemblies needed to run.