I am just starting iOS/iPhone development and I would like to start using XCode 4 instead of XCode 3.2. Is XCode 4 stable/feature complete enough for beginning iPhone development or should I stick with XCode 3.2?
I have run into far too many problems using beta versions of XCode, especially since you can't really have two versions of XCode one the same system. Apple already has a history of releasing things to developers before they are truly ready (just look at iAds for the iPad which were released months ago and have yet to deliver a single ad). So, if even Apple isn't ready to label XCode 4 as ready-to-go then you can rest assured its not really ready to go.
I recommend sticking with 3.2. That's what I'm doing until XCode 4 is officially supported.
Using XCode 4 calls everything you do into question. Having a problem with an API? Maybe it's XCode, maybe its your code, maybe its a bug in the API. You just don't know.
I would say no, it's not ready. I tried using it as my main development environment for about a week, and eventually switched back to 3.2. For one thing it crashed fairly regularly, but I could get passed that.
The big thing that caused me to switch back was a bug where the iOS simulator would think that certain resources existed in my app that didn't. Deleting the app from the simulator didn't work, cleaning the project didn't work, and deleting the derived data folder didn't work. Since it's not officially released, finding help for problems like this is a pain as well.
This is just one instance of the kind of problems you'll run into while using it, so I'd recommend avoiding it for now.
You can use Xcode 4 if you do not plan on using the current version (Preview 6) for submitting apps to the App Store.
iOS Dev Center:
Xcode 4 Developer Preview 6 includes
iOS SDK 4.2, bug fixes, and additional
features. To compile submissions for
the App Store, continue to use Xcode
3.2.5 and iOS SDK 4.2.
Related
I started using Xamarin.UITest for cross-platform testing (IOS & Android).
With Android it worked instantly without any problem and it keeps forking even after any SDK update or JDK.. name it!
But for iOS there was so many issue encountered with the device agent that didn't want to start, the wrong Xcode commande one, the wrong Xcode. Some time it worked, but out of no where it crashes.. then you must clean, rebuild, retry, cross your fingers it doesn't crash or at least that it will launch..
But now April 19 2019, I had an iOS update, combine with an Xcode update and sadly, it doesn't work anymore. I made a lot of research and attempt to recover my test case:
Downgrade Xcode to 10.1
Downgrade Xcode commande line tool to 10.1
downgraded the OS!
To finally rethink it. It's not a good solid testing tool if it breaks at every updates.
On the AppCenter it still works for both platform. But to create your test, you have to run them locally.. You can't anymore with iOS and if you find how to make it work, let me tell you : "See you for the next update!"
So the question is:
What are the alternative to do some automated UI test for iOS & Android using Xamarin?
Xamarin.UITest Xcode 10.2 support
Sorry to hear about your difficulty with the Xcode update.
Unfortunately Xcode minor updates for the last several releases have tended to break local iOS simulator testing, and occasionally device testing. I've seen this be an issue since at least as early as Xcode 9.x versions.
For context, Xcode 10.2 support was added in this package: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Xamarin.UITest/2.2.7.2002-dev
If you or future readers of this discussion still do end up using Xamarin.UITest, I recommend checking the release notes when new minor versions of Xcode come out to see if that support has been confirmed. Typically the support has been added in the 1st Xamarin.UITest package released after a new minor version of Xcode has been released.
(I generally haven't seen this issue with patch versions though, for example Xcode 10.2.1 didn't seem to cause any issues when it came out if it was run against a test suite that was working for Xcode 10.2)
Other testing frameworks
As for other testing frameworks, if you're using App Center itself; then Appium (JUnit) or Calabash are both able to be used with App Center Test and can be used cross-platform to run against your IPA/APK, generally regardless of what was used to write the apps in the first place, like Xamarin.UITest. (Though each framework has slightly different set up requirements and limitations.)
Outside of App Center Test, there may be other testing frameworks you can use; but that gets more into individual developer opinion which strictly speaking is out-of-scope for Stack Overflow answers.
Appium Studio which holds all the pros of native Appium. It also supports parallel execution with built-in test reporting mechanism. They also provide cloud devices with which you can check whether it is feasible for your project. Check out their documentation for more features.
i'm getting the Warning when i upload my application through xcode 8.x.
Xcode for future app deliveries." WARNING ITMS-90725: "SDK Version
Issue. In July 2018, iOS app updates submitted to the App Store will
need to be built with the iOS '11.0' SDK or later, included in Xcode
[9.0] or later. Make sure to update Xcode for future app deliveries."
My project was developed in old swift 2.X language and some of the module in objective-c..
should i convert whole project to the latest swift 4.x and update all sdks?
Starting in July, all app updates and all new apps submitted to the App Store must be created with a Base SDK of iOS 11.0 or later. This requires Xcode 9.0 or later. This means your app must be in Swift 4 or later. You may still support earlier versions of iOS (either 8 or 9) in your app.
Swift 2 has been obsolete for a few years already.
So yes, you need to convert to Swift 4 and update any libraries you may be using accordingly. Use Xcode 8 to first convert your Swift 2 code to Swift 3 (huge change). Then use Xcode 9 to convert the Swift 3 code to Swift 4 (minor changes).
Apple wants you using the latest tools. You need to keep up. It's best to avoid waiting until cutoffs like this, it just makes updating your app that much harder.
Yes you update your code to swift 4.
First, they said April, and how that deadline absolutely positively included updates. Then the general lever wasn't actually pulled until right after May 1. Now they say July for updates...
Seems to be a moving target. That, and how the left hand is out walking the dog while the right hand is texting about the new red phone.
I am new to Xcode and iOS coding. I updated my app to iOS 9, and I would like to submit it to the app store. Is this possible? Or will they not accept an iOS 9 build?
It works fine on both iOS 9 and iOS 8 devices.
PetahChristian is right. Apple does not allow you to submit beta build with beta version of Xcode, which is indeed suboptimal thing, as you won't be able to test your app until final version of Xcode comes out (this is all just in case you switched to Swift 2.0, otherwise just use Xcode 6.4 to submit the build).
Let's just hope that our users will be willing to accept possibly buggy apps when iOS 9 kicks in, as developers simply can't test them properly :).
You can't submit an app using a beta version of Xcode.
As long as you did not update your project to Swift 2.0, you should be able to submit it using the released version of Xcode.
If you upgraded your project and it won't compile with Swift 1.2, you'll have to wait until Xcode 7 is released.
Update:
The beta has several purposes:
To test Apple's code and report bugs to Apple.
To gain early access to new features and functionality of the SDK. You beta test your new or upgraded app on iOS 9 and fix bugs. When Xcode is released, you test against the release, then submit it.
To test existing apps to make sure they still work properly on (a prerelease of) iOS 9. You fix any bugs that may have turned up, but keep your code compatible with Swift 1.2 and Xcode 6. You submit using Xcode 6, and are able to submit any bug fixes in advance of Xcode 7 being released.
Ideally, you get to do all three things, but updating your app generally involves maintaining and working on different branches of your project.
This allows you to both support and fix issues for your released version, and add new features to an upcoming version.
If I only have xcode 3 what am I missing? Should I hold off my project until I get xcode 4?
This would be for ios programming.
Thanks.
You'll be missing the ability to ship software in the App Store. Building for iOS 5 (which is required for App Store acceptance) requires Xcode 4.2. That's probably the single biggest thing. If you're just looking to try things out a bit, Xcode 3 will work. But if you're planning on shipping iOS software, you'll need to have Xcode 4.
Other than that, it's mostly just feature updates. Xcode 4 has a number of features intended to speed up development. By sticking with Xcode 3, you'll be missing out on:
Automatic Reference Counting
Storyboards
The ability to drag directly from Interface Builder to your code
A much faster compiler
Various bug fixes
The ability to follow along with any of the recent tutorials referencing Xcode 4.
By sticking with Xcode 3, you get this:
The ability to follow along with some of the older tutorials referencing Xcode 3.
The ability to whine about "the good ol' days" when you finally switch to Xcode 4.
I have iPhone application in the App Store. Do I have to compile my app with iOS 4.2 SDK in order to allow it run on iOS 4.2 devices? Or compiling using iOS 4.2 is required only to allow using new features of new iOS?
I will appreciate if you can clarify this issue...
Thanks!
Yoash
Do I have to compile my app with iOS
4.2 SDK in order to allow it run on iOS 4.2 devices?
No, it will run on the new firmare just fine. At least if the new firmare does not reveal some bugs in your code (which happens).
You don't need to recompile it to let it run on newer OS versions, but like you already guessed, you need to recompile it when you want to use the newer features (eg. AirPlay, "Multitasking" etc).
The old version should still run.
The app might not play well with new features like multitasking on iPad, so it is worthwhile trying to get some testing and feedback done as soon as you can in case there are issues.
If you download the XCode 4 pre-release from the developer portal, you can use the new static analyser to look for problems in the code: this is not just for SDK issues but also things like memory leaks.
Apple recommends that you always compile with the latest SDK, even if you are targeting older versions.
Unless you run into a specific issue that is causing incompatibilities, it is wise to take this advice. A lot of small bugs and performance issues are fixed with each new iteration of the SDK.
That being said - you can continue to use the older SDK's, and Apple will still accept the apps you build. For mature apps that are only going through minor tweaks, this is probably the safest course to avoid introducing new bugs.