For the next version of a NSDocument-based app, I am revising the document parameters, that is, the values in Info.plist > CFBundleDocumentTypes and UTExportedTypeDeclarations. Specifically, I am changing from a flat NSPersistentDocument to a document package (with the help of BSManagedDocument).
The revised app can create new documents, but they appear in Finder with a generic icon, and when I close such a new document and try to re-open it, -[NSDocumentController openDocumentWithContentsOfURL:display:completionHandler:]fails, creating an error in NSCocoaErrorDomain with code 256, description “newDoc.myExtension” could not be handled because MyApp cannot open files of this type, and failure reason MyApp cannot open files of this type.
I understand that there are several significant parameters CFBundleDocumentTypes and UTExportedTypeDeclarations, and these must all be correct or you get this error. In this case, they are correct. I've confirmed this by comparing the Info.plist in my built product with the Info.plist of a different but similar app that works.
I've also tried calling LSRegisterURL() with inUpdate = true from main(), but that did not help.
What might be wrong? I'm running in macOS 10.12.6, building with macOS 10.13 SDK and Xcode 9.
Apparently the problem is in updating the Launch Services database. I copied the new application, with the revised Info.plist, into /Applications, replacing an old version, then launched this copy once. After these two steps, document icons are now correct when I reopened a Finder window, and upon relaunching my new app, it can now reopen its own new documents without error.
UPDATE: Today (macOS 10.13 Beta 8) I had the same problem, but installing the corrected app into /Applications did not work. However, this time, rebuilding the Launch Services database by running the following command in Terminal, and then relaunching my app, did work:
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain u -domain s -domain l -v
A side effect of the above is that some apps will have generic icons in the dock and cmd-tab application switcher until relaunched.
I think that either Launch Services much prefers apps in /Applications over apps in Xcode's DerivedData folder, even if the latter is the only one currently running, or running apps from Xcode's DerivedData do not register at all, or both.
It seems from the documentation that calling LSRegisterURL() should have had the same effect, but apparently not.
Related
I am testing my macOS app, and I need to uninstall it to check some special features. For iOS apps this is very simple, I simple remove the app from the simulator and then I reinstall it. How can I do the same thing for macOS?
I've already tried to delete the app from /Users/myuser/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Build/Products/Debug/myapp.app
But that doesn't work. If I run my project again, all previous settings and saves are kept.
How can I completely remove an app made in Xcode for macOS development?
The topic: Delete app from OSX simulator in Xcode didn't help me.
This command will delete whatever's in the UserDefaults database for your app:
defaults delete com.mywebsite.myapp
Replace com.mywebsite.myapp with the bundle ID of your application.
If you have items other than just UserDefaults settings, they'll appear in the home/Library/Containers folder in a folder named after your app bundle (assuming your app is sandboxed; otherwise check home/Library/Application Support). You'll find the plist file for your UserDefaults in here as well, although deleting that using the Finder isn't reliable, since the system sometimes caches the plists in memory, so the defaults command is still the best way to clear that.
There are many apps that allow you to thoroughly uninstall apps, for example AppCleaner. However I'd try to use the clean build folder option within Xcode first.
I am not new to programming, but I am new to Swift. I have developed a small app that I have no intention of distributing, I just want to use it for myself. Everything works just as desired in XCode and now I want to deploy that app locally. How can I run my app on my machine without needing to have XCode also running? I just want to see my app in my Applications folder and run it when I want. Does XCode put build files somewhere that I can access them and use outside of XCode?
On the Product menu there is an Archive option. Select that to create an archive of your app.
Xcode should then automatically open the Organiser window with the archive of your app selected.
You'll see a big blue button called Upload to App Store on the right with two smaller buttons below it. The one you want is called Export... Press it and you'll get a pane giving you various export options with different kinds of signing.
The bottom option creates an unsigned .app file which you can put in your Applications directory.
NB As Eric D says, you can just drag the app out of the products directory, but unless you edit the scheme, that will give you a debug build with less optimisation and with asserts activated.
Update for Xcode 11.2
As Bell B. Cooper points out, the process has changed slightly. Now when you archive an app, you get a window listing the apps and a big blue "Distribute" button. Pressing this, gets you a dialog box giving you the various options. Which one you choose depends on what you want to do with the executable. With Catalina, unless it's just for your own use, you probably want to go for one of the options that involves signing the app.
Edit: while this answer still works, it targets old Xcode versions and uses the debug version of your executable. For recent Xcode versions, and for using the release version of your executable, see JeremyP's answer.
Each time you build an OS X application with the current scheme, Xcode automatically populates the "Products" folder with the related app bundle.
You can find this folder in the Project Navigator:
Xcode > Project Navigator > "Products" folder
Your .app is in there and ready to be used and/or copied to the /Applications folder.
New to OS X development and have tried removing ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData from my system, Product>Clean but still wouldn't wipe the data. I know its much simpler in iOS simulator. Any advise on removing OS X app data completely so that it runs like as if its the first time?
Unlike iOS apps, macOS apps don't delete all of their data when uninstalled.
Assuming the data you are referring to is stored in the UserDefaults, this is the solution I found to test the app first launch.
Quit Xcode
Remove the DerivedData folder
Delete the UserDefaults plist file. Depending on your app's configuration it will be in one of these locations (more info in this answer):
Sandboxed apps:
~/Library/Containers/com.example.myapp/Data/Library/Preferences/com.example.myapp.plist
~/Library/Containers/com.example.myapp/Data/Library/SyncedPreferences/com.example.myapp.plist
Non sandboxed apps:
~/Libraryf/Preferences/com.example.myapp.plist
~/Library/SyncedPreferences/com.example.myapp.plist
Relaunch the app from Xcode
If the only thing you need to test is a flow based on a "first launch flag" (a Bool in the UserDefaults that is set to true after first launch), you can reset that one along with this command:
defaults write com.example.myapp "settingName" "0"
You'll still have to quit Xcode, delete the DerivedData, and re-open Xcode for the change to take place.
Note that sometimes this doesn't work on the first try. I'm not sure why but I'm guessing Xcode does some state tracking inside that gets in the way. In my experiments, I had to restart Xcode a few times before getting it to read the updated defaults.
Oh just open up the Simulator and click (and hold) on the app icon. Then it'll shake and you click the 'x' in the corner to delete the app and its data.
I'm using OSX's Notification Center APIs for the first time and can't seem to figure out how to make my app's icon to show up in the Notification badge.
The default "your app doesn't have an icon" icon keeps showing up:
Here's what I've done so far
I have created an icns file that includes 512, 256, 128, 32 & 16px versions
dragged the icon into the "App Icon" section of the target's summary
I made to sure to check the box to copy the icon into the project
the plist's "Icon file" section references the correct icon name (minus the .icns) part
Any ideas? The icon doesn't show up when I run the app thru Xcode or when I export an archive either.
I also have extracted the Sparrow.icns file from Sparrow.app and tried using that one instead of the one I made. That didn't work either.
I was able to fix this issue by incrementing the Build number in the General section for the build Target.
You can force the Notification Center to refresh all of the icons by deleting the Notification Center database file (~/Library/Application Support/NotificationCenter/SOME_UUID.db) and then killing the Notification Center process (e.g., from Activity Monitor).
Unfortunately this has the side effect of deleting your notification history, but this wasn't too much of an issue for me.
There's actually an ongoing debate on Apple's developer forums (link, link for people with access) about this. As far as I know, there's currently no real solution, but you can try the following:
Change your app's bundle ID and try it again. If you change it, clean your app, and change back, some people have reported success with seeing their icon show up.
Log in as another user. The caching Notification Center uses may be per-user, so you might be able to get the properly-iconned notifications as a different person.
The folder location has been moved for OSX 10.10+.
Following command takes to you to its new location:
$ cd `getconf DARWIN_USER_DIR`/com.apple.notificationcenter/db
and then
$ open .
Easiest way that I managed to get the icon to show up is change the Bundle Identifier in your project. This works on OSX 10.10.5 and XCode 7.2
(Once notification center picks up the change, you can change it back to your original bundle identifier if you already have a provisioning profile associated with it)
I have solved the issue by archiving my app and adding a copy to my applications folder. When the app is in Application folder, the icon is always visible even you run the app from XCode...
I tried all of the above suggestions but the only thing that worked for me on 10.14 was to delete DerivedData:
rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData
If anyone still having this issue, and none of the methods above worked, here is how I solved it:
open Notifications from the System Preference (easiest is to open Alfred or spotlight and type Notifications)
find your application and remove it (press backspace/delete button)
NOTE: this may remove all notifications
I am using Xcode 11.5 and I had the same problem. In my case tough, it was sufficient to clean build output, close and reopen the project. Then do a fresh build and let it run again. The icon was there afterwards.
Side note: I've placed the app icon for every size in the assets.xcassets file, except 1024 x 1024 pixels. Don't know if this is relevant or not. Hope that helps.
iPhone Apps built for the simulator are stored here:
/Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/User/Applications
Is it possible to copy the <GUID>.sb and <GUID> directory and install them on a different computer (with Development tools installed)?
This would be very useful for testing/demoing with out having to buy iPhones for all the managers and external clients.
I found a way that requires just a little more setup, but is much easier for non-developers:
Instructions for your users/testers:
Install Xcode following Apple's instructions
Double-click the attached application - the iPhone simulator will launch, install the app and start it automatically.
How to set it up:
Download and unzip (to a folder on your desktop or wherever) 'Simulator Bundler' from: http://github.com/landonf/simlaunch/downloads
Set your XCode build target to the required Simulator configuration (iPad/iPhone/which iOS version)
Do a 'Build and archive'
Find it: select 'Archived applications' in the Organizer, right click the relevant build, select "Reveal archived application in Finder"
Drag the application (yourAppName, no extension) onto the Simulator Bundler app
Done. This will create a self-contained Mac OS X yourAppDisplayName.app file in the same folder (with your app's icon as the icon) that you can stick up on an FTP server or email to your users/testers.
--
I think it's much neater/slicker than having to explain where to copy files, how to launch the simulator and so on.. And if anything gets messed up they can just uninstall via the familiar tap-and-hold + (x) gesture in the simulator UI, then double-click the app you sent them again.
You can also produce several of these packages changing the bundle identifier between builds, allowing them to be installed side by side in your testers' simulators; say for getting some user feedback on different UI designs, or configure one for Production and one for Staging/QA servers, so your content editors can check their changes before they go live or whatever..
The ability to reinstall the app from a desktop icon is also very convenient for localisation testing: launch the simulator, uninstall the app if present, set the required region format and language, double click the icon on your desktop, test; repeat for each required locale. (guarantees a fresh install each time, I've found that switching language with the app installed can result in all sorts of strange behaviour)
Yes, if you send those files to another person, and they put them into that directory, they can test the applications in the iPhone Simulator as well :)