Frustrated by the requirements for testing and distributing your iOS app? You’re not alone. This concise book takes you step by step through the maze of certification and provisioning processes that have to happen before, during, and after development. You’ll learn what’s required to sign certificates, test your app on iOS devices, and release the finished product to the App Store.
Whether you’re a developer looking to spend more time coding and less time figuring out how to install your application, or a release engineer responsible for producing reliable builds, this guide will help you successfully navigate the build and release processes for your iOS app.
Get an overview of the iOS Dev Center, including the iOS Provisioning Portal, Member Center, and iTunes Connect
Create your App ID, and generate signing certificates for development and distribution
Manage the provisioning profiles necessary to test your app on iOS devices
Learn common scenarios for iOS Simulator, Ad Hoc, and App Store distribution builds
Automate the process to continuously build, sign, and package your app(s) for distribution
Chapter 1 Introduction to iOS Build and Release
The iOS Dev Center
Automatic Device Provisioning
Adding the Apple WWDR Certificate
Chapter 2 App IDs and Certificates
App IDs
Development and Distribution Certificates
Development Certificate Setup
Distribution Certificate Setup
Exporting Your Distribution Private Key
Importing Your Distribution Private Key
Chapter 3 iOS Devices and Provisioning Profiles
iOS Device Provisioning
Using iOS Devices for Testing
Development and Distribution Provisioning Profiles
Transferring Your Developer Profile to Another Computer
Ron Roche is a Senior Build & Release Engineer based in Silicon Valley who specializes in building mobile applications. Ron has been automating and documenting complex build processes for more than 10 years.
Comments about oreilly Essential iOS Build and Release:
Note! Before you consider buying this book, make sure you are already a member of iOS Developer Program (program that you have to pay for). If you don't have it, I'd rather postpone purchase of this title.
When you develop iOS app, there is always a moment when you want to try your application on the device. This is very painful as you have to drop 99$ to be able to do so. You have to buy iOS Developer Program access and go through all the odds and ends related to provisioning. It usually takes like few days, if you do this for the first time.
Ron explicitly tells the reader that he will cover this particular topic only. And I think, this book is the first one on the market to capture issues related to the Apple's provisioning in quite broad perspective. Apart from that, Ron also discusses building related specifics of the XCode as well. This may save your life in case of the settings that are bound to signing the application and are required for proper upload to iTunes App Store.
What I like in the book is the explanation of all these little "traps" you will encounter while developing for the device or while preparing the app for the submission. Ron tells you what you have to pay attention for in order to avoid future problems. You can find here description of how to make sure you won't get lost with the certificates, application's names, bundle names, etc.
The book is written in step-by-step tutorial style. You have to simply follow Ron and reproduce the steps in your own environment.
In general, you can find all the information that are presented in the book over the net. But they are spread around various forums, Apple's developer pages, etc. In here, you get everything in one place. This way, you can save what's most important – the time.
