Generating Android Release Keystore for Visual Studio Apache Cordova Project

Below are the steps to generate an Android keystore for publishing a release version of an app built using Visual Studio Apache Cordova:
1. Make sure you have Java SDK installed.

2. Run keytool command like below:

keytool -genkey -v -keystore YOUR_KEY_NAME.keystore -alias KEY_ALIAS -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 20000

Use greater than 10,000 days (i.e. 20,000 days) validity to avoid expiration issue when uploading the package to Google App store.
For example:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.7.0_55\bin>keytool -genkey -v -keystore c:\users\rical\my-release-key.keystore -alias rical_blog_app_key -keyalg RSA -keysize 2048 -validity 20000

Then you will be prompted with some questions:

Enter keystore password: *****
Re-enter new password: *****
What is your first and last name? 
  [Unknown]:  Rical Wirawan 
What is the name of your organizational unit? 
  [Unknown]:  Organisation
What is the name of your organization? 
  [Unknown]:  MyOrg
What is the name of your City or Locality? 
  [Unknown]:  MyCity 
What is the name of your State or Province? 
  [Unknown]:  NSW
What is the two-letter country code for this unit? 
  [Unknown]:  61 
Is CN=Rical Wirawan, OU=Organisation, O=MyOrg, L=MyCity, ST=NSW, C=61 correct? 
  [no]:  yes 

Generating 2,048 bit RSA key pair and self-signed certificate (SHA256withRSA) with a validity of 10,000 days 
        for: CN=Rical Wirawan, OU=Organisation, O=MyOrg, L=MyCity, ST=NSW, C=61 
Enter key password for  
        (RETURN if same as keystore password): 
[Storing my-release-key.keystore] 

3. The key file will be generated in the specified folder.

4. If you use a recent version of Cordova CLI, open build.json file in the root folder of the project. If it does not exist yet then create the file manually. Then put the details in the file, continuing our example:

{
 "android": {
     "release": {
         "keystore":"C:\\users\\rical\\my-release-key.keystore",
         "storePassword":"*****",
         "alias":"rical_blog_app_key",
         "password":"*****",
         "keystoreType":""
       }
   }
}

If your Cordova CLI version is less than 5.0, open ant.properties file (under 'your_project_name\res\cert\android' folder). Then put the key details in the ant.properties file, continuing our example:

key.store=c:\\users\\rical\\my-release-key.keystore
key.alias=rical_blog_app_key
key.store.password=*****
key.alias.password=*****

6. Build the app in Release mode with Device or one of Android emulator platforms option. Do not use any of the Ripple emulators option.

7. The package will be created inside 'bin/Android/Release' folder. The file to be deployed to Google App store is the one that does not end with (-unaligned.apk), e.g. "android-release.apk".