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Update from 09/2017. It is possible to develop iOS (and Android at the same time) application using React Native + Expo without owning a mac. You will also be able to run your iOS application within iOS Expo app while developing it. (You can even publish it for other people to. Swift is a robust and intuitive programming language created by Apple for building apps for iOS, Mac, Apple TV and Apple Watch. It’s designed to give developers more freedom than ever. Swift is easy to use and open source, so anyone with an idea can create something incredible. With Apple releasing its latest iOS Programming language Swift in the recently concluded developers conference, iOS developers and Mac developers would have already started looking for more information related to Swift. Online tutorials on Swift play a vital role in creating a knowledgeable Swift developers community. Swift-Tutorials.com is dedicated to providing comprehensive information on.
To start building your first Mac app, you will need to do the following:
- Connect to your repository service account (GitHub, Bitbucket, VSTS, Azure DevOps).
- Select a repository and a branch where your app lives.
- Configure the build's project or workspace, and the scheme you would like to build.
The course starts by introducing iOS development tools, basic programming concepts using Swift as the language, and industry best practices. Building on this foundation, you’ll follow a step-by-step curriculum, work through practical exercises, and create apps from scratch. Apr 14, 2019 In this episode we jump ship to macOS, building an app for the menu bar that lets us transform text using ROT13, similar characters, strikethrough, and Zalgo. A Mac computer running macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or a PC running macOS. You'll be building 3D augmented reality apps that look like Pokemon Go and Harry Potter's magical newspapers! By the end of this course, you will be fluently programming in Swift 5.1 and be ready to make your own apps or start a freelancing job as an iOS 13 developer. Swift for Windows & Linux. Developers who want to learn Swift have 2 alternative approaches to code Swift, next to working with Xcode on Windows. Swift is open source, which means you can essentially run it on any system. Currently, you can use: Swift 5 on Ubuntu Linux 16.04 and 18.04 via the official images; Swift 4.1 on Windows 10 via the unofficial swiftforwindows.github.io.
Note
For the app to be distributed, the build needs to be code signed with a certificate. A provisioning profile is optional. Additionally, build for Mac Installers is currently not supported.
1. Linking your repository
If you haven't previously connected to your repository service account, you will need to do this. Once your account is connected, select the repository where your Mac project is located. In order to setup a build for a repository, you need admin and pull permission for it.
2. Selecting a branch
After selecting a repository, select the branch you want to build. By default, all the active branches will be listed.
Swift Mac App Development
3. Setting up your first build
Before your first build, the Mac project needs to be configured.
3.1. Project/workspace and scheme
For a build configuration, an Xcode project or an Xcode workspace and a shared scheme are required. App Center automatically detects the projects, workspaces and shared schemes in your branch. Select the project or the workspace you want to build and the corresponding scheme.
If no scheme can be found, make sure that the scheme you want to build with is shared and that the container for the scheme is the project or the workspace you have selected and that these changes are checked into the branch you are setting up the build for.
3.2. Xcode version
Select the Xcode version to run the build on.
3.3. Build triggers
By default, a new build is triggered every time a developer pushes to a configured branch. This is referred to as 'Continuous Integration'. If you prefer to trigger a new build manually, you can change this setting in the build configuration.
3.4. Increment build number
When enabled, the CFBundleVersion in the Info.plist of your app automatically increments for each build. The change happens pre-build and won't be committed to your repository.
3.5. Tests
If the selected scheme has a test action with a test target selected, you can configure the tests to run as part of each build. App Center can currently run XCTest unit tests. App Center does not support launch tests for Mac builds.
3.6. Code signing
A successful build will produce a .app file. In order to install the build on a device, it needs to be signed certificate. To sign the builds produced from a branch, enable code signing in the configuration pane and upload a valid certificate (.p12), along with the password for the certificate. The settings in your Xcode project need to be compatible with the files you are uploading. A provisioning profile is optional for code signing.
Currently, App Center only supports these signing configurations:
- Manual signing using the Development export method with a development certificate only
- Manual signing using the Developer ID export method
- Automatic signing using the Development export method
You can read more about code signing in App Center's macOS code signing documentation and in the official Apple Developer documentation.
3.7. CocoaPods
App Center scans the selected branch and if it finds a Podfile, it will automatically do a pod install step at the beginning of every build. This will ensure that all dependencies are installed.
If the repository already contains a /Pods folder, App Center assumes you have checked in the pods in your repository and will no longer perform pod install.
3.8. Distribute to a distribution group
You can configure each successfully signed build from a branch to be distributed to a previously created distribution group. You can add a new distribution group from within the Distribute section. There is always a default distribution group called 'Collaborators' that includes all the users who have access to the app.
Once you save the configuration, a new build will be kicked off automatically.
4. Build results
After a build has been triggered, it can be in the following states:
- queued - the build is in a queue waiting for resources to be freed up
- building - the build is running and performing the predefined tasks
- succeeded - the build is completed and it has succeeded
- failed - the build has completed but it has failed; you can troubleshoot what went wrong by downloading and inspecting the build log
- canceled - the build has been canceled by a user action or it has timed out
4.1. Build logs
For a completed build (succeeded or failed), download the logs to understand more about how the build went. App Center provides an archive with the following files:
The build step specific logs (located in the build/ directory of the archive) are helpful for troubleshooting and understanding in what step and why the build failed.
4.2. The app (.app)
The .app file is a Mac application archive file which contains the Mac app.
- If the build has been signed correctly, the .app file can be installed on a device corresponding to the provisioning profile used when signing. More details about code signing and distribution with App Center can be found in App Center's macOS code signing documentation.
- If the build has not been signed, the .app file can be signed by the developer (e.g. locally using codesign).
4.3. The symbols file (.dsym)
The .dsym files contain the debug symbols for the app.
- If you have previously integrated the App Center SDK in your app with the crash reporting module enabled, the crash reporting service requires this
.dsymfile for a build in order to display human-readable (symbolicated) crash reports. - If you have previously integrated another SDK for crash reporting purposes in your app (e.g. HockeyApp SDK), the corresponding service requires the
.dsymfile in order to display human-readable crash reports.
Swift Mac App
Keep in mind that the .dsym files do not change upon code signing the .app. If you decide to code sign the build later, the .dsym generated before code signing is still valid.
Build internals
To build your project, we use xcodebuild, a command-line tool that allows you to perform build, query, analyze, test, and archive operations on your Xcode projects and workspaces.
Supported versions and requirements
Build machine version details are updated each time a new version of macOS is added. We keep an eye on the latest versions released by Apple and include them as soon as possible on the VMs used to run the builds.
Apple drew a lot of attention earlier this year when it debuted its own blog dedicated to updating developers on Swift, its programming language for building Mac and iOS apps first introduced at WWDC in June. The blog has since been used to share updates on the state of Swift as well as technical details about the programming language, but today Apple posted an official video tutorial (embedded below) targeted for new Swift developers on using the language and Xcode to build an app for iOS from scratch.
The video is about 6 minutes long and features a step-by-step tutorial with a voiceover narrating how to build a sample photo filtering app using Xcode on the Mac. The video concludes with demonstrating a functioning app written in Swift in the iOS Simulator.
In addition to today’s video post on building an app from scratch with Swift, Apple also has Swift guide books available through the iBook Store since June.
App Development With Swift
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