Use Xcode's targets to manage the build of development and production builds

How to create a new target

How do I create a development target in Xcode? I use the sample project "Todo" to guide you through the process step-by-step. You can also use your own project and follow the steps:

1. Enter project settings in the project's navigation panel. Under the targets area, right-click an existing target and select ' Duplicate ' to replicate the existing target.

2.Xcode will ask if your new target is being developed for the ipad. For this tutorial, we just select "Duplicate only".

Tip: If your project supports generic devices, Xcode will not prompt you for the above message.

3. Now we have a new target and build scheme called ' Todo copy '. Rename and make it easier to understand.

• Select the new target in the targets list. Press the ENTER key to edit the text and add a more appropriate name. I'm more inclined to "Todo Dev". You are free to choose any name you like.

• Next, find "Manage schemes ...", select the shceme you created in step 1, and press "enter" to make the name of scheme the same as the name of the new target (this is the name you chose for the new target)

4. Step 4 is optional, but highly recommended. If you want to simply differentiate between development and production builds, you should use a separate icon and launch page for each version. This will give testers a clearer idea of which app is being used and prevents the development version from being uploaded.

Jump to ' assets.xcassets ' to add a new icon. Right-click the icon > app Icons & Launch Images > New iOS app IcoN. Rename "Appicon-dev" to add your own picture.

5. Now go back to project settings, select your development target, and change the bundle Identifier. You can simply append "Dev" to the original ID. If you performed step 4, make sure that you change the app app icon to set the one that you created in the previous step.

6. Xcode will automatically add a plist file (such as Todo copy-info.plist) to your target. You can find it in the root folder of the project. Rename it from "Copy" to "Dev" and place it under the original plist file. Here you will be more likely to manage the files.

7. Now open the "Build Settings" that you developed target, scroll to "packaging" and change the value to the developed Plist file (Todo dev.plist).

8. Finally, we will pre-process the macro/compiler identity for the production and development target configuration. We can then use that identity in our code to detect the version of the application that is running.

For objective-c projects, go to ' Build Settings ' under ' Apple LLVM 7.0-preprocessing '. Expand ' Preprocessor Macros ' to add a variable in the Rebug and release areas. For developing target (that is, Todo Dev), set the value to ' development = 1 '. Another, set the value to ' development=0 ' to represent the production version.

For swift projects, the compiler no longer supports preprocessing directives. As an alternative, it uses the compile-time property and build configuration. Select develop target and add an identity to represent the development version. Find ' Build Setting ' scroll down to the ' Swift compiler-custom Flags ' section. Set the value '-ddevelopment ' to indicate this target as the development version.

Now that you've created and configured the development target, what's the next step?

Using target and macro

Based on the configured macro dev_version, we can use it to dynamically compile the project in code. The following is a simple example:

Objective-c:

#if development#define server_url @ "http://dev.server.com/api/" #define Api_token @ "Di2023409jf90ew" #else # define Server_url @ "http://prod.server.com/api/" #define Api_token @ "71a629j0f090232" #endif

In objective-c you can use ' # if ' to check the environment of ' development ' and set the URLS/API key accordingly.

Swift:

#if developmentlet server_url = "http://dev.server.com/api/" Let Api_token = "Di2023409jf90ew" #elselet server_url = "http ://prod.server.com/api/"Let Api_token =" 71a629j0f090232 "#endif

In Swift you can still use the ' #if ' parameter to determine the build's parameters for dynamic compilation. However, in addition to using ' #define ' to define basic constants, we can also define a global constant with ' let ' in Swift.

Tip: Usually, you'll put the above code in the app delegate. But ultimately it depends on where you initialize the application settings.

Now, when you select the "Todo Dev" scheme to run the project, you create a development version that automatically sets the server's configuration to the development environment. Now you can upload the development version to TestFlight or Hockeyapp for testers and managers to test.

Then if you need to create a production version, you can simply choose "Todo" scheme. No code changes are required.

Some considerations for managing multiple target

1. When you add new files to the project, do not forget to select two target to keep your code synchronized in two versions.

2. If you are using Cocoapods, do not forget to add a new target to your podfile. You can specify multiple target using ' link_with '. You can refer to the CocoaPods documentation for further details. Your podfile looks like this:

SOURCE ' Https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git ' Platform:ios, ' 7.0 ' workspace ' todo ' Link_with ' todo ', ' Todo Dev ' pod ' Mixpanel ' pod ' afnetworking '

3. If you are using a continuous integration system, such as Travis CI or Jenkins, do not forget to configure the two target build and deliver.

Original address: http://www.cocoachina.com/ios/20160331/15832.html

Use Xcode's targets to manage the build of development and production builds