I need to allow an iPad to quickly install an IPA saved on a local network. The solution I am using today is pretty cumbersome:
Create IPA
Uninstall previous version from iPad
Restart iTunes, if running
Drag new IPA over to iTunes
Sync
Populate the documents folder of the app with large test files which was deleted because of uninstall.
I tried several other ways, including the obvious just drag over the new IPA directly to iTunes without uninstalling it first, but the updated IPA is just ignored.
(Also, I cannot install over a cable from Monodevelop directly, as I am on a Windows machine and the remote controlled Mac doing the actually compilation is not physically anywhere near me. We also have other testers who need to install the IPA as well.)
Is there a faster way to do this? I am doing frequent benchmarks of my app, and this long testing cycle is seriously slowing everything down.
If you are using iOS 4+, you can accomplish this with wireless distribution:
http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/featuredarticles/FA_Wireless_Enterprise_App_Distribution/Introduction/Introduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009979-CH1-SW2
If you don't want to use PHP you can have a look at my shell script that will help you generate all the necessary .plist files and links:
https://github.com/sveinungkb/ios-ota-buddy
Related
Is it possible to download and install raw .app files onto the iPhone simulator. I like the functionality of some apps but simply do not have an iPhone. Would it be possible to download the app files and install them onto the simulator?
No. Release builds target ARM processors. The simulator doesn't emulate the CPU, that's why you have to build for it specifically - simulator builds are x86.
Do you mean with the IPA file? Unfortunately with Ad Hoc releases you need to install the provisioning profile that AFAIK won't allow you to install. There may be a hack but without hacking it there is no way to do so.
If the developer is built for simulator arch, then you can run it. By placing the .app file in the following location.
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator.sdk/Applications/
Note: make sure your restarting the simulator to take effect.
Having already upgraded from Mac OS X 10.5 to 10.6, I really don't want to push my luck upgrading to 10.7. So when the time comes I am looking to do a clean install. Please keep in mind that I am a relative newbie to Mac OS and so far every thing has, well, "just worked". That being said ...
What should an iOS developer backup prior to doing a clean install of Lion?
Thanks in advance,
Mike
Export any developer or distribution certificates from Keychain Access that you do not want to recreate.
If you've been good about checking everything (including artwork, your own documentation, snippets, etc.) into an external source code control repository (and have tested this by building from a clean checkout into an empty directory), then all you really need to continue iOS development on any new or different Mac are your logins, certificates and private keys. Just re-download the SDK appropriate for the Mac OS you are running.
But there might be a whole bunch of other stuff on your Mac in your User account that you might want to backup (iOS backups, music, photos, documents, etc., etc.)
how can I deploy my prototype app in order to test it on my iphone? obviously it isn't at the stage where it can go on the app store but I;d like to play about with it for testing..
Do I HAVE to enrol in the developer program?
You need to be enrolled in the Apple Developer Program to receive a certificate you can use to sign your apps to be installed on your iDevice.
In short, yes. But you knew that.
Although we as a developer don't suggest illegal installation, but some developers may find it is actually easier with the dark method:
Install you iPhone or iPad with "Installous" and "iFile",
with iFile, you can open a wifi port for any computer in the same wifi network to access the machine from there browser and upload file to the machines (without using iTune), so you can put your *.ipa file in the machine.
In order to manually install the ipa file, you may want to use the Installous, so what someone will do is to put the ipa to the [root]/mobile/Documents/Installous/Downloads, then when you open up Installous, go to Downloads, you will see your ipa and be able to install it!
Hope this hope.
I am developing an iphone app using xcode. I would like to automate the "build and run" process, and so want to know if there is any way to install the built app on simulator or device.
There is xcodebuild install command but i don't know how to set the installation directory DSTROOT to simulator/device. Please help me there.
I have looked through many forums where people suggest just to use xcode GUI to do the stuff, and I do that too, but I would really like to know the command-line way.
Thanks
All you need to do is copy the built .app from wherever XCode puts it to ~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/User/Applications/[somefolder]/, with a file named [somefolder].sb (alongside the folder, not in it) containing the following:
(version 1)
(debug deny)
(allow default)
Then launch /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Applications/iPhone Simulator. And select your App. Without Jailbreaking it's NOT possible to install it from outside the GUI.
The install build action for Xcode will only copy the built product to the install path specified in the xcode project.
This is used for frameworks and libraries that need installing after being built so that other apps can link against them from a common location.
I don't think you'll be able to use this build action to automate the Build and Run process - that is going to have to be done manually by each developer. There is no way to push apps onto a device without using Xcode, iTunes or the iPhone Configuration utility. As for the Simulator, it's as woodleader says. But for the device, without jailbreaking and writing your own code, you can't do this.
What you can do is use xcodebuild to generate daily/nightly builds for continuous integration. You can write a script that checks out the source form version control, runs xcodebuild and puts the built product in an easy to reach location. The installtion onto devices will still need to be done manually however.
How do I convert a .ipa file to a .deb file?
Your question makes very little sense, since .IPA is the extension for an application installed on the i(Phone|Pad|Pod), where as .DEB is the extension for a package for the Linux operating system Debian.
Based on your comments, the answer is: you pay the $99/year to Apple, and you can then deploy things to your own iPhone (there are plenty of docs out there on this), or you Jailbreak your iPhone, and in that case, I'm not sure how app deployment works, but I'm sure there are docs out there for that too.
It is unfortunate that Apple has chosen to require payment for people to tinker with their own devices, but I guess that's why there are some many people Jailbreaking there devices.
Correction to the previous answer:
Your question makes perfect sense
iOS (and Mac OS) are based on linux. Sometimes, when downloading apps for a jailbroken iphone onto your PC, these files will be have a deb extension because of this.
try this page for a couple of methods:
http://xsellize.com/topic/32674-converting-cydia-applications-to-ipa-format/
If someone wants to convert an ipa to deb I am 90% sure it is because they are not able to perform sideloading (e.g. I failed with ideviceinstaller), and they want to install the package with Cydia without the need of sideloading.
Tools:
rullinoiz/ipa2deb
Un1Gfn-obj/ios/ipa2deb.sh - written by me based on the previous one
alamshafil/ipa2deb - C# - Windows - GUI - I haven't tried it
TL;DR of how they work:
Create a DEBIAN/control and fill in some package info
Unpack ipa to a directory (ipa is kinda equivalent to zip)
Repack the directory with dpkg -b or dpkg-deb