How to share keychain data between iOS applications - iphone

I am describing a problem for which it took me quite some time to learn the answer.
The "GenericKeychain" example is a good start at providing a wrapper for sharing keychain data between applications when using the accessGroup in the init.
However, implementing this in my app yielded an obscure error code (which took forever to locate) -25243, which means: No access control.
I ran Apple's example app (GenericKeychain) on my iPad only to get the same error. Huh?
Does Apple's documentation fail to deliver on what is necessary to accomplish this?

After some (a lot of) digging throughout the web, I found the answer. The access Group that you use when constructing your KeychainItemWrapper class must ALSO be specified in each of your application's Entitlements.plist file in the "keychain-access-groups" section.
It seems almost obvious now that I see "keychain-access-groups". However, I had no idea to even look there. Hope this helps others.

Actually it's not hard to do. Please follow the steps.
App1:
Open your App's target Capabilities and enable KeyChain Sharing.
Add a identifier. (eg : com.example.sharedaccess)
Add "UICKeyChainStore" to your project.
Be sure you have a team id added to your App1 project.
Add Security.framework to your App1 project.
And add these codes to somewhere you need.
[UICKeyChainStore setString:#"someValue" forKey:#"someKey" service:#"someService"];
App2:
Open your App's target Capabilities and enable KeyChain Sharing.
Add a identifier. (eg : com.example.sharedaccess)
Add "UICKeyChainStore" to your project.
Be sure you have a team id added to your App2 project.
Add Security.framework to your App2 project.
And add these codes to somewhere you need.
NSString *string = [UICKeyChainStore stringForKey:#"someKey" service:#"someService"];
Your TeamIDs should be same for both projects.
I tried these steps on a real iPhone device.
I also tried these steps with Automatic and iOs Development provisioning profile.
My apps' bundle identifiers were like that : com.example.app1, com.example.app2.

Related

How do I decompile a .sis file?

I need to be able to view and edit a .sis file. Can anyone suggest the right way to do this please?
Basically, you could indeed extract stuff, modify them and re-pack them. there are tools that can help on this, for example SisContent claims to be able to do so, thus you could use this app at least for viewving the SIS.
Anyhow, the problem there is then the signing. If the app requires capabilities that are ok with Self-signing (and is not having any auto start feature etc.) then you could make own Self-signing certificate, either with the makekeys included in the SDK, or using OpenSSL. With SisContent, there also appears to be Self signing certificate included in it.
Anyhow note that following capabilities: ReadDeviceData, WriteDeviceData, PowerMgmt, ProtServ, SwEvent, SurroundingsDD, Trusted UI, CommDD, DiskAdmin, MultimediaDD, NetworkControl, CommDD, DiskAdmin, MultimediaDD and NetworkControl. Can not be used with self-signing, and as there is no ways on signing apps (and there were never a way on signing others apps) with real Symbian certificate having publicer ID. and thus these apps can not really be installed after they are modified.
Then again, if you are targeting for pre-3rd edition devices, then they are not requiring any signing, thus you could extract the files, modify them, and simply repack with makesis.
There is a software called unmakeSis.

Create an App within an App

I am being presented with a very interesting project. The task that I must complete is to figure out a way to allow a partner to be involved in an app without giving up their source code. The code will be included in the main bundle of the app so it is not dynamically stored. The partner has a fully functional app that is needed to be ran in a window within the main app at the appropriate time. I know having the partners create a web app would be ideal so it is treated like a webpage but I am more concerned with codes that must be written natively in iOS.
My question is what is the best way to go about solving this? In theory it is like an App within an App. Is there a way if they gave up their .app file I can include this in the bundle and then run it when I catch a certain event? Should I have the partners create their code in a framework and then import into the shell project? What is the best way to approach this problem?
If your 2nd-party doesn't want to provide you with the source code, why doesn't he compile it to object code then let you simply link it to your app?
By the way, at least on official (non-jailbroken) iDevices, apps can't 'embed' or 'open' one another in such a way - you can open an app programmatically if 1. it's a separate app 2. it has a registered special URL associated to its bundle.
Is there a way if they gave up their .app file I can include this in
the bundle and then run it when I catch a certain event?
No, you'll want to have them create a library instead. You can then include that library in your project.
Creating a library is as simple as:
Choose File->New...->Project... in Xcode.
Select the "Cocoa Touch Static Library" project template.
Add your code.
Build.
The result is a static library that you can add to your application(s). The library will contain the compiled code that you added, but doesn't include the source code. The library developer should provide whatever header files are necessary to use the code in the library.
An App within an App is possible however it requires a common data framework that allows one app to reference the same data without confusing the the source of and destination of the data.
Such a framework allows one app to interact with another app referencing the same data.

Storing app parameters like secret key

I'm working on a little SDK which has a configFile.plist file to store things like secret key.
Developer who implement this SDK in his app, and other users will download the app, they will be able to go into the app binary and change anything in the .plist file.
Is there any way to store this info without letting users modifing the parameters easily? I don't want users to have the ability to change the parametes in the .plist file.
Thanks in advance for any help!
When it comes to plist storage, it's easily accessible either way. Your best option is to provide a class file for configuration, and not a plist. Example below..
//Config.h
#define SHARED_SECRET #"2390849028349829384"
#define SOME_OTHER_VALUE 1
..and so on, this way, the class file is compiled with the App, and not visible to the user but accessible by the developer. Once you #import "Config.h", you can use SHARED_SECRET and SOME_OTHER_VALUE in place of the value itself within the code. If this suffices as a solution to your question, mark it as the answer. Hope it helps..
Keeping in mind that people are going to be able to see/change almost anything with the right tools, you can't prevent people from hacking this.
If the key is going to be different for each user of the SDK, then you might want to make it the Developer's responsibility and have them provide the private key to you using a delegate method. That will make it their problem, and it will make it easier for them to compile the key directly into code, which is going to be less obvious for the end-user to access.

Choosing the correct bundle ID in iTunes Connect.

I am preparing to submit an app to the App Store and have come across the following form. In the past when I have done this incorrectly it caused me a lot of grief which I would like to avoid this time around.
It is giving me a few options to choose from, but I'm not sure which one is correct. I would assume there is a way to check my Xcode project to be sure that the bundle IDs match. More specifically I would think that the form below would correspond to my bundle id name
where if my app is called AWESOMEAPP the correct bundle to choose should read EricBrotto.AWESOMEAPP or EricBrotto - *. In fact I don't have either as an option. What I do have is ericbrotto - *. That said could I just choose this one and change my Bundle identifier to ericbrotto.${PRODUCT_NAME:rfc1034identifier}?
Any clarification would be great!
I would get rid of the dollar signs, and enter explicitly com.ericbrotto.myawesomeapp into all of the provisioning portal, iTunes Connect and the Xcode Target Build settings. Or use a wildcard just for the provisioning profile.

one code base for iphone generic application?

I have built a generic application which can handle different content data - but for each content data, it will be a different iphone application (with a different name).
I would like of couse to only keep one code base for all these different apps (as it would be easier maintenance) but I have 2 questions:
1- I would need to change the appname in the buildsettings, etc.. and may be it is going to be an overkill...? especially with the upload process then...? What are your experiences in that domain and what would you recommend me to do?
2- how can I have all the pictures for logo (Icon.png, etc...) to co-exist into one app? For the moment, I have a global variable (as a singleton pattern) that I switch to change appname and loaded data inside the program
Thanks in advance for your help
Cheers,
geebee
You can do this pretty easily, it's what most developers do in their lite versions. All you have to do is add another target to create a new app out of the same code and use that global variable.
In order to change the images included in the app you simply edit the target and under the copy bundle resources menu remove the unnecessary resources. You'll notice that when you add a new resource you have the option to include it in any one or more of your targets. Simply select the one that you want and it will only be accessible to that target.
The reason that this works is that each target can have its very own info.plist. All the settings and resources can be separate, and the code can be different using your #ifdef global_var.
Here's a slightly outdated tutorial that should get you started if you need it.
http://www.bit-101.com/blog/?p=2098
For each application name add one target.
Create one xyz-info.plist for each of the target. (in this case for the xyz.app)
In each of the xyz-info.plist assign the appropriate icon files etc.
Within your build phases for each of the targets you will define which images go with which app.