Setup a dev environment for Sencha Touch + Sencha Cmd + Phonegap on Windows

Assumptions:
- You are on Windows (this article was written against Windows 7)
- You pickup an arbitrary install location of C:\dev\ folder

There are three components to install

1. Sencha-cmd
2. Sencha Touch SDK
3. Phonegap
4. Upgrade your old apps if you had some

Installing sencha-cmd

Download SenchaCmd-5.1.3.61-windows.exe.zip (or the latest for your operating system).
The result will that you will find files installed at for example:
C:\dev\sencha-cmd\Sencha\Cmd\5.1.3.61

Installing Sencha Touch Free Commercial

You might be confused as to whether Sencha Touch is free or not. This is often the case with companies that have some releases under the GPL software. If you navigate on their website you might end up thinking that you must purchase Sencha Touch for a price above 1000$US. However they have released in the past under GPL and to this day they still continue to have this dual licensing. They make the GPL version available as a download link through your email at http://www.sencha.com/legal/GPL/. They also have a free commercial license available at http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/download/ that does not seems to be a 30-day trial version and on the download link email it does *not* mention that it is a 30-day free trial - so I would assume it is not the trial but I cannot confirm and I've contacted them to clarify and still waiting for the answer. If they would ever decide to stop licensing it under the GPL, anyone could still branch off their latest GPL release and distribute it for free. What is the catch or difference between the paid version? First if you build your app against their GPL framework, your app will also be "contaminated" by the GPL and you'll have to make your app open-source under GPL. You cannot publish on the App Store because of this. If you ever want to release your app closed-source you need to use the Sencha Touch Commercial license release.

Upgrade your old apps if you had some

$> cd dev/sencha-root/myApp
$> sencha app upgrade -noframework

Sencha Cmd v5.1.3.61
[INF] building application
[INF] Backing up application files from C:\dev\sencha-root\myApp to C:\dev\sencha-root\myApp\.sencha_backup\myApp\2.3.1.410
[INF] Updating application and workspace files
[INF] A backup of pre-upgrade application files is available at C:\dev\sencha-root\myApp\.sencha_backup\myApp\2.3.1.410
[INF] Existing native support was found, upgrading native packaging
[INF] Checking for config.xml and moving to native root.
[INF] Patching build.xml to original state.
[INF] Removing native.properties file.
[INF] Removing Build properties
[INF] Patching app.json removing old properties
[INF] Adding native build to app.json

Sources: http://www.sencha.com/blog/getting-started-with-sencha-touch-2-build-a-weather-utility-app-part-1/