Building PhoneGap iPhone Apps in Xcode
Central to the process of iOS app distribution is the provisioning profile. This is the file that is used to determine how an app can be distributed from Xcode: directly to a device that is connected to the iMac (developer mode), to the App Store, or to to a specified number of devices that can receive the build without the AppStore (Ad Hoc Distribution).
During development, it is perfectly acceptable to build and deploy an app directly to a connected device; as good as the iOS emulator is, there can be differences between it real devices. But when it comes to performing QA, testers should test the very same build that will be uploaded to the AppStore. This will require 1) archiving the build, and 2) building the various ipa packages with the different provisioning profiles. The idea is to build the archive only once, and then create an Ad Hoc package for the tester devices, and then an AppStore package for upload to the Store.
*** This assumes you already have an Developer ID.
Apple Developer
XCode (5+)
This document will cover the following topics:
- Creating iOS App IDs.
- Creating Certificates.
- Adding devices.
- Creating provisioning profiles.
- Specifying provisioning profiles in Xcode (Build Settings).
- Creating an archive.
- Distributing the archive (creating the ipa package).
