Build-time variables with XCode - objective-c

I have the following scenario:
A Jenkins server which builds my iOS XCode project
The application sources data from a URL that needs to point to a different location depending on whether the build is for production or development
I need to be able to specify, at build-time, which environment I want to build the application for such that the URL used in the code (re: #define DATA_URL #"http://...") is proper for the environment being built for.

I do something simpler and to do this we set a macro in the build-settings under the header Preprocessor Macros then for each type of build (DEBUG, RELEASE, etc) set something like (DEBUG) APP_CONFIG=1 and for (RELEASE) APP_CONFIG=2 and so on for any others you have. Then in your ***-Prefix.pch you can do something like (Note this doesn't have to go in ***-Prefix.pch it can go anywhere in your code)
#if(APP_CONFIG==1)
#define DATA_URL #"http://..."
#else
#define DATA_URL #"http://..."
#endif
I asked something simpler a while a go here is the link Settings bundle for iPhone app
Hope this helps if it is not what you were looking for comment and I will try to amend best to help.

Related

How to build multiple configurations of an ESP-IDF application

I have one ESP-IDF application and two hardware boards. I use a preprocessor definition to control which hardware board version to build. For now, I'm modifying the config in the sdkconfig file via menuconfig. But I would like to build both versions at once from a script, or build only one specific config without the manual process of menuconfig.
I have a header that looks like this, and works when HW_VER is set correctly:
#if HW_VER == 2
#define BTN_GPIO 9
#elif HW_VER == 3
#define BTN_GPIO 10
#endif
And from the a script I would like to build each by selecting a value for HW_VER, for example:
idf.py build -DHW_VER=2
idf.py build -DHW_VER=3
The idf.py build command runs cmake and ninja. I'm new to cmake, so perhaps there is a natural way to do this?
I would also like to build release and debug builds, turn on/off memory debugging etc. from the command line.
I've tried idf.py build -DHW_VER=2 but I've learned that these vars are only sent to cmake and not to the preprocessor. The HW_VER macro remains undefined.
Using add_definitions() in my CMakeLists.txt can set HW_VER, but doesn't help me make different builds from the same files.
Using a config variable like CONFIG_HW_VER in the sdkconfig works to control builds using menuconfig but I don't see a way to automate this.
I've considered modifying the configuration variable, CONFIG_HW_VER in the sdkconfig file programmatically, but this file is under source control, and it is auto generated by menuconfig, so that doesn't seem wise.
Similarly I can modify the CMakeLists.txt file programmatically, but that file is also under source control, and isn't a trivial format.
I use two ways to feed custom configurations into an ESP IDF project.
Firstly, the light weight stuff like preprocessor definitions from the environment are quite simple. You have to configure CMakeLists.txt file (the one in project root) to pass variable values from environment into the build process. For example, to create something equivalent to preprocessor definitions -DMY_NUMBER=123 and -DMY_STRING="abc" add this somewhere before the "project" line:
add_compile_definitions(MY_NUMBER=$ENV{MY_NUMBER})
add_compile_definitions(MY_STRING=\"$ENV{MY_STRING}\")
...
project(myproject)
Assuming you're working in Bash, build with:
$ MY_NUMBER=123 MY_STRING="abc" idf.py build
or (for a slightly more "sticky" enviroment):
$ export MY_NUMBER=123 MY_STRING="abc"
$ idf.py build
You can use cmake to add more advanced logic, e.g. setting default values in case the environment doesn't set anything.
Secondly, the more powerful configuration tool for ESP IDF is the menuconfig target and sdkconfig file. As you've already noticed, playing with sdkconfig directly is not so easy. In my projects I consider this a generated temporary file and I never commit it to git. Instead I delete it. When sdkconfig is missing, idf.py will take file sdkconfig.defaults, copy it into sdkconfig and work with this. That is your best mechanism for supporting different hardware configurations - no sdkconfig and instead different variants of sdkconfig.defaults for each hardware you wish to support.
As an example, assume you have two different HW versions described in sdkconfig.defaults.hw_ver1 and sdkconfig.defaults.hw_ver2 and you wish to build for HW ver2 configuration:
$ rm sdkconfig && cp sdkconfig.defaults.hw_ver2 sdkconfig.defaults
$ idf.py reconfigure
Now you can build for this configuration like you usually would:
$ idf.py build
When you wish to build for the other FW configuration, re-execute the previous commands with sdkconfig.defaults.hw_ver1
All this is rather thoroughly documented in the Build System documentation, so feel free to dig in.

Facebook iOS 3.7 FacebookAppId

I just installed from pkg the SDK 3.7 for Facebook.
I see that I need to put there a value for FacebookAppId. However I have 2 apps: one for testing and one for production.
Since I need to support variables for Debug and Release, I am using an Environment file which determines the value based on the configuration value. (Debug or Release)
How can I "tell" the SDK to use the relevant one for each release type, without changing it manually when building it?
I didn't check in the source code. Just the compiled one.
Is there a way to do it?
You can use the Preprocessor macros over here..
How to use it :
Go to Build settings of your project.
Search "Preprocessor macros". Here define your macros like for eg FBDebugAPPID for debug moed & FBReleaseAPPID for release mode.
FBSettings class used to override the default facebook AppId.
Then after add below code in your delegate method..
#if defined(FBDebugAPPID)
**Use your debug app id**
[FBSettings setDefaultAppID:#"DEBUGAPPId"]
#elif defined(FBReleaseAPPID)
**Use your release app id**
[FBSettings setDefaultAppID:#"RELEASEAPPId"]
#endif
Hope it resolve your problem..
You can change you enviornment.plist variables by adding a run script build phase
To add a Run Script Build Phase in Xcode
Select your application target in your project, then select "Build Phases".
In the menu bar, click "Editor", select "Add Build Phase", and then click on "Add Run Script Build Phase".
You should now see a Run Script section in the middle of your Build Phase options, as shown above.
Inside the body of the Run Script Build Phase, paste in the script.
#!/bin/bash
if [ "${CONFIGURATION}" = "Release" ]; then
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :FacebookAppID 321" "$INFOPLIST_FILE"
else
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Set :FacebookAppID 321" "$INFOPLIST_FILE"
fi
Here's a simpler approach,
Recent Xcode project templates already have a DEBUG=1 macro defined for the Debug build configuration.
You can use it in combination with #ifdef
#ifdef DEBUG
#define FACEBOOK_APP_ID #"FB_DEVELOPMENT_ID"
#else
#define FACEBOOK_APP_ID #"FB_PRODUCTION_ID"
#endif

How can I add an #ifdef DEBUG to Xcode?

I have some code in a project which should never be used in the release build, but is useful when testing. I'd like to do something like this:
#ifdef DEBUG
// Run my debugging only code
#endif
Where do I add the DEBUG setting in Xcode 4? I tried putting it in the "Edit Scheme" under Run MyApp->Arguments Passed On Launch, but it didn't work. Alternatively, is there a flag already available for this?
In recent Xcode project templates there’s already a DEBUG=1 macro defined for the Debug build configuration (in the Preprocessor Macros section). You can test it using the #if preprocessor directive.
I usually add my -DDEBUG=1 to the OTHER_C_FLAGS section in my XCode 4 project's build settings.
And yes, they can even discriminate between Debug / Release / ADHOC / Store builds.

Debug mode on iOS

been researching this a while and not sure entirely what to do.
I want to allow users to switch debug mode either on or off. With debug mode on NSLogs will be printed to console.
currently I can set debug mode on or off in the build settings using a preprocessor (DEBUG) and I use the following code to "block" NSLogs.
#ifdef DEBUG
NSLog(#"If you can see this then debug is on");
#endif
I have created a toggle switch in the settings page to get input from the user but I don't know how to use this input to then undefined/redefine DEBUG. Any ideas?
I am not sure if this is even possible so any alternate solutions would also be appreciated.
Many Thanks :)
You should not use preprocessor directives: using #ifdef DEBUG means that, if DEBUG is not defined, that piece of code doesn't get compiled at all.
You should instead replace preprocessor directives with a simple if statement that check a global variable (or, at least, that may be a solution).
I believe your code block would only check if you are building for debug or release and will build accordingly.
You can build it on a device it will be on release mode , I don't think it is possible to run the simulator in release mode otherwise.
Maybe manually building the application for simulator and moving the packed file to run only on simulator without running xcode, but it will not be reasonable I guess.

Hide code in static library (iOS Obj-C)

I'm working to create an iOS static library that I wish to sell. I've walked through the steps for the initial builds and have generated the .a/.h output.
When I include these files in a separate project, I don't see any way to browse the contents on the .a file.
HOWEVER, when a line of code in my library crashes the app (like I said, it's still in development), the debugger shows the entire class (.m) file to me. What's up with this?
I don't really understand what all goes into static libraries, and I'm not sure I compiled that version for both simulator and device. Could that have something to do with it? If so, could someone explain why?
Thanks!!!
Don't worry, your source code is not included in the archive (.a) file.
Xcode is smart enough to find the source code file on your computer, based on the debugging information embedded in the file. If you build the library using the "Release" configuration (or otherwise modify the build settings so that debugging symbols are stripped) and don't have the source anywhere on the machine, a developer will have to resort to their knowledge of x86 or ARM assembly to figure out how your code works.
By the way:
Since a lot of Objective-C is handled at runtime, a lot of class names and selector names will be visible in your library. That's just how it works. You could try to obfuscate it, but I think your time is better spent writing more useful code to sell.
If you want to give people a static library for iOS development, you'll want to build versions for the iOS Simulator (x86) and the iOS Device (arm) and then use lipo to combine them into a single fat static library. Search around for "lipo xcode fat static library" for different ways to do this. Some solutions are more convoluted than others.
I had the same issue. #benzado is right about what he has mentioned. But I had to strip debugging symbols to solve the issue. To do so, I had to change Build Settings of project library before build as mentioned below.
Select your Target and go to Build Settings. Set
' Strip Debug Symbols During Copy ' to YES
' Debug Information Format ' to 'DWARF with dSYM File'
' Generate Debug Symbols ' to 'NO'
' Symbols Hidden by Default ' to 'YES'
To see what are these for, refer Apple Build Setting Reference
And build the library using the "Release" configuration. This worked for me.
If you have a project for static library with all .m files on your computer then every copy of this library (.a file) will be symbolicated with its .m file while debugging in xCode.
xCode doesn't search for appropriate .m file through all your disk. It knows the place of original project. So if you distribute only library it fully hides your initial code.
To make sure you can copy your library in some new project then clear .m file in library project.
From this moment any attempt to debug methods of library will give empty file on screen.