App submission process. . . And bundle identifier & provisioning profiles

Ok, are provisioning profiles related to you bundle identifier and the app submission process?

When I first went to test a game on my iPod about 4 months ago, I set up a provisioning profile. After that, each game I've tested has just, I assume, run under that provisioning profile. I also have a iOS "team provisioning profile" and I'm honestly not sure when that even happened. I have the team one on my iPad.

Anyway, I'm wondering how it correlates to actually submitting a game to apple.

Also, modifying the Info.plist. It says that's where I define which devices my game can run on (ie, iPhone 4 but not 3G.) is this something I don't do until I get to iTunes connect to submit my app? Or is it done in Xcode somewhere?

Any other useful info before I submit? I'll be going through this either tomorrow or Friday and I'll be detailing the process and posting a write up here when I'm done. Thanks!

The team provisioning profile can be used to test anything, you don't need to get a provisioning profile for development if you have one of those.

Info.plist is in Xcode in the resources.

You need to get yourself a distribution provisioning profile now, and re-sign the app with that. Set it to release mode, then create a clone of the 'release' model and call it 'distribution'. Create your app ID and add the app to iTunes Connect, get a distribution provisioning profile for that app ID from the iOS provisioning portal, set your app to 'Ready to Upload Binary' in iTC, alter your Xcode project to be signed with your distribution provisioning profile, then build for archiving, archive, and validate and submit from within the manager.

Apple should make this process so much easier imo

Apple should also provide half decent documentation instead of making its users hunt through YouTube videos of varying quality.

But when all is said and done I swear I will have an easy to follow guide to repeating this ridiculous process. Well. . .somewhat easy to follow.

But here's what I've got so far anyway (note, I've got so much conflicting info at this point I don't guarantee anything yet)

Obtain certificate. You should have already done this for device testing.
Create app ID. Go into the provisioning portal. Choose app IDs, it's on the left. Click "new app ID"? Enter the description. Like "marioworld". Bundle seed Id: select "use team Id"? Enter bundle identifier, "com.yourcompany.marioworld".

Create your distribution provisioning profile. Click provisioning tab on the left. Then click the Distribution tab on top.Click the "new profile" button. Select app store for distribution method. Give it a profile name like "marioworlddistributionpro"? Select the app I'd you created in the above step. DON'T select any devices. Click submit. It should create the profile then give you a download button. Download and open it.

And. . . That's as much as I've got worked out so far.

Yes, it is slightly... comical that Apple has a reputation for being the easy choice, looking at all this. I actually wrote down the steps I went through as I did them, so I might be able to have a look if I can find the right notepad when I'm at home... from what I remember, your steps look OK so far, and you've got the all-important distribution provisioning profile.

From the rest of what I can remember:

- Once you've downloaded the distribution provisioning profile, drag it into the XCode Organizer window (I can't remember exactly where... it's one of the leaves of the tree on the left).
- As DistantJ mentioned, go into Targets and create a clone of the "Release" target, calling it "Distribution" (this may be an unnecessary step - nobody knows yet)
- There's a section somewhere in the XCode project's properties called "Code Signing" - under Distribution, set this to your distribution provisioning profile. (There's a section up at the top of the context menu here - if you just select "Distribution" there, it should be intelligent enough to select the correct one automatically.)
- Set up your [application]Info.plist file however you need to (it's in the project, under the Resources folder)
- Set the whole application up in iTunes Connect, agree to all the contracts and so on, and say that you're ready to upload. This could honestly be a whole post in itself, but to bring up the pitfalls that caught me... "SKU" is a unique identifier for your application that you just make up (I used "RUNNINGFREE0001"), and make sure that your bundle identifier matches the one that you use in XCode.
- "Edit scheme" in XCode (I think it's in the Project menu) and make sure that the "Archive" action at the bottom of the list is set to "Distribution".
- Archive the project (also in the Project menu), and it'll put together a package containing the game and all necessary features.
- To submit it, use the "Validate" and "Submit" buttons in the window it gives you after archiving is successful, and ignore the gubbins about App-whatsit Manager that they give you in the developer instructions.

I don't actually know what validating does - I would hope that it checks the bundle identifier and state of the distribution profile, but I'm not sure.

DavidN thanks for those steps to the difficult process that requires Apple to upload an App One question, what is the procedure for an update? Apart from changing the bundle identifier to 1.1, for example.

Now I have to upload the 1.1 version of my game Color Machine and I can not remember the steps.

It's easier to create games that upload to the App Store, lol

I know that iTunes Connect has a space to "Add a version" on the page with your app details... after that, I've no idea! I had assumed the process was much the same except you submitted it as a new version - perhaps someone else can say.

I'd actually meant to ask about that, and what happens to any INI files that you have inside the bundle - if they're overwritten with any new copies, stay the same...

The only good thing about some bugs is the fact that I can wait some more time before dealing with the resubmission X)

About the Ini, I'd expect they are overwritten when delivered with the bundle. Which is good, because they'll typically contain new data required for the new version to work properly. Inis created at runtime to save user data are not overwritten as far as I remember. So, using different Inis for delivering program data and saving files should be a good solution.

Haven't tried this, but I think it makes sense.

DavidN and Joka, Thanks for your response and hopefully someone who has sent an update of your game as you tell us what the profiles.

As for the INI, in my original version, I add the file to the resources, now this version does not add anything but reading it and if there is writing on the existing one. This should work and I think that is the way!

The submission process, the problem is how many times it got updated to make it easier vs. how many tutorials remain online, in books etc. for the older methods... It's not as difficult to do now at all but so many tutorials point to the old methods. A lot of stuff is just done automatically now as long as you know where to get your profiles and certificates from.

I can't help but think Apple are trying to filter out dumb people with this process though, lol, ya know, if people want a quick buck for crap and aren't determined programmers, this part of the process will scare them away! XD Submitting to the Android Market is similarly confusing though.

Of course, with this filter to many novices, but we did it and we have our apps in the store.

BTW, you did an update of Awesome Land, right? Can you tell us how the process with updates. :)

Ok, I still don't get this resources/info.plist thing. When I have my project open in xcode, I click on the project to the left, then the next column to the right shows Project and Targets. If I click on "TARGETS" it opens a section with summary, info, build settings, build phases, and build rules. Summary shows my bundle identifier, version number, icons, launch images, etc. Next to that is info. Is this Info.plist? There is a section that says "application requires iphone environment" but nothing to change what devices it can run on. If I go over to the "build settings" tab there's a section that shows "Supported Platforms". This shows "iphonesimulator" and if I double click it, it shows a list including "iphonesimulator" and "iphoneos"

The Info.plist should be in your project folders - in XCode, make sure the folder icon at the top left is clicked (the row of icons just above the name of your .xcodeproj file with the blue icon), to show the folders and files in your project. Then, click the arrows to expand the tree, and go down to the Resources folder - there should be a file called "[your application name]Info.plist" in there. Click it to open the property/value editor.

I actually did a search and came across it, but now I know how to find that damn resources folder in xcode! I'm still not seeing how I can add anything to this list to limit the device generations it will run on though. If I right click I can add another line from a bunch of preset options, but none of them seem to be what I'm looking for. A tutorial I read earlier said I'd be able to limit the devices once I got into itunes connect, but another tutorial I've found is saying the submission gets done in xcode now.

See here:

http://www.idev101.com/code/Distribution/checklist.html

"Starting with Xcode 4, apps are now submitted from within Xcode. You should build a release build of your app, and be sure it appears in the Archived list in the Organizer (Window -> Organizer)."

Yes, that checklist looks good. The submission is done in XCode like it says, but the device limiting is done before you submit... what kind of limits do you want to put on? (No iPad, only certain versions or above?)

Does the last answer on this thread help? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5...ements-listing

I did see that discussion, one of the few things I could find. What I would like to do is limit to 256mb devices only (iphone 3GS and later, ipod touch 3rd gen and later, any ipad)

You need to add the field UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities and set it to arm7 (3GS and later use arm7 processors).

No one has responded on the rise of a new version of an app! Please a chek list for this, i appreciate. :)

Ok, that arm7 thing is what had me confused. I have it set to Arm7 only in mmf2, but came across some information that suggested that arm7 was 4th gen and up only. Of course I can't find that info again now. . .

Did awesome land have the same arm7 limitation? And should I remove "Arm6" from the "valid architectures" setting in "Build Settings" too?

UIRequiredDeviceCapabilities doesn't show up for me either, I just add row and type it in? I did that and the title changed (a good sign I'd guess). Should it look like this?

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3...20311at217.png

DavidN:

Are you suggesting that in that checklist site I posted, it just sort of ends after it tells you to submit, when in fact clicking on submit will take you to itunes connect to finishthe process?

K. . . Pretty sure I need to make it say armv7 not arm7.

Game has been submitted to Apple for review! Jesus christ that was a process. Come to think of it, Jesus had it easier then we do.

Anyway, I'm going to create a writeup of some sort. The most annoying thing is that there's so many steps and so much back and forth, I'm not even sure what order to put it in. But I'll attempt.

It's good to know you got it working :) One more person to compare notes with will be good...

AWESOME Land isn't arm7 only, it works on older devices, just slowly. For some reason whenever I don't include arm6 in the targets/valid architectures it gives me an error that it should be included, but if you use the limit in info.plist it might stop giving that error.

Yeah, just add a row and type it in, once you've done that it'll change to "Required device capabilities".

You have to make sure everything is set up in iTunes Connect, and the status is 'waiting to upload' (having clicked 'ready to upload binary'), then you build your product for archiving and archive it, once you have archived it the archive manager window opens from which you can submit it. There's a 'validate' button in there you can use to check everything validates before submitting - submitting validates first as well but it's just a little quicker to keep hitting 'validate' after fixing each issue (there usually will be some kind of issue, every time I get something I forgot or need to amend, don't worry, we can help you with whatever pops up).

Out of interest, DistantJ, what kind of issues does the validator find? I've been lucky enough for it never to have come up with a problem (twice in a row, now!)

I saw mention of INI in previous post and it got me thinking - if I do an update will it overwrite the INI, and therefore the players local highscores?

I've been struggling with this for several days now, but everyday I seem to get closer to actually creating a build that will actually upload to apple.

The images/instructions in the apple help pages must be archaic, because I can't find half of those options in xcode at all.

I remember they changed the interface significantly in XCode 4 to make it resemble iTunes (which is a bit like attaching glowsticks to a haddock to improve its mountaineering ability) - there are a lot of outdated instructions lying around... the checklist that jregork posted, http://www.idev101.com/code/Distribution/checklist.html , is a good guide (perhaps because it stays quite high-level without getting into the interface...)

I later noticed that "required device capabilities" is on the dropdown list already.

The only issues i ran into with the validate button were related to the itunes connect process. I hadn't finished it the first time. Then i got an error again, but cant remember what it was. Some quick research and an adjustment in itunes connect resolved it.

The apple documentation covers a ton, unfortunately its terribly unorganized and hard to find what you need. It also doesnt really walk you through anything, just gives you some information once you know the steps.

Search for app submission process videos on youtube and look at the most recent ones. Id skip anything older than january 2011.

Ok well now I'm trying to update Clash Force and it's not working. I can barely find any information on doing updates either. I output a new xcode final project. Is this wrong?

I'm getting the following error during validation:

"Application failed codesign verification. The signature was invalid, contains disallowed entitlements, or it was not signed with an iPhone Distribution Certificate."

I am using the same Bundle Identifier. I've tried giving it the same Bundle Name as well. I'm using the same distribution certificate as for the original release.

From memory, it's exactly the same as initial release except:
change the version number of the game in xcode before archiving.
Add a new version of the game in itunes connect using the new version number.

Ok, it has passed and been uploaded. From what I can tell, the main problem was in Build Settings under "Packaging > Product Name". I believe that name needed to match the one in version 1.0. Unless you change it, it will match whatever the name is of the xcode file. In my situation this pretty much always has to be changed, since even the final build of my game was called "Clash Force Final" which obviously is not what I wanted in the app store. Although I honestly don't know if "Product Name" is something that shows up to customers. As far as I know, "Bundle display name" is what you have to worry about.