What is a XAP file?
A .xap file is a Silverlight application package file used for deploying Silverlight applications on the web. To open and run a .xap file, you will need a web browser that supports Silverlight (such as Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge) and the Silverlight plugin installed. Simply navigate to the website hosting the .xap file, and the application should automatically run in the browser.
How XAP files are stored?
The .xap files are stored as a compressed archive of all the necessary files for a Silverlight application. The .xap file is a .zip archive that contains a manifest file (AppManifest.xaml) and all the files needed for the application to run, such as .dlls, .xaml files, image files, and media files. The .xap file is usually deployed on a web server, and can be downloaded by a client and run in a Silverlight-enabled web browser.
Relation with Silverlight
The .xap file is specifically related to Microsoft Silverlight, which is a cross-platform, cross-browser plugin for delivering multimedia experiences and rich interactive applications for the web. The .xap file is a type of package file used for deploying Silverlight applications on the web. It contains all the necessary files for the application, such as .dlls, .xaml files, image files, and media files, packaged in a compressed archive format. When a user navigates to a website hosting a .xap file, the Silverlight plugin downloads the .xap file, decompresses it, and runs the Silverlight application contained within.
How to open XAP file?
To open a .xap file, you will need to use a web browser with Silverlight support and the Silverlight plugin installed. You can then navigate to a website hosting the .xap file or open the file locally. The Silverlight application contained in the .xap file should then automatically run in the browser.
Alternatively, you can extract the contents of the .xap file by renaming it to .zip and decompressing it using a file compression tool such as WinZip or 7-Zip. This will allow you to access the individual files contained within the .xap archive.