Deploy iOS

Generating key store and certificate

You need to have openssl installed in your computer.

If you use Mac OS, this should be installed as default
If you use Linux, we recomend to install your distro binaries
If you use Windows, you should install OpenSSL for Windows
If you use Windows, you may install a git-bash (like the one embedded within SourceTree)

First, you need to create your RSA 2048 key-pair with the following command:

openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout request.key -out request.csr

You will be prompted with some questions, which you need to supply the answers. You may want to configure the openssl req with predefined data. To do so, create a config file like the template below:

[ req ]
distinguished_name = req_distinguished_name
prompt = no
[ req_distinguished_name ]
emailAddress = john@webmail.com
commonName = John Doe
countryName = BR
stateOrProvinceName = Rio de Janeiro
localityName = Rio de Janeiro
organizationName = John’s Company

Then pass it to the openssl req command like the follow:

openssl req -config config -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout request.key -out request.csr

Optionally, you can call openssl without passing a config file using the interactive mode.

openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout request.key -out request.csr

request.key is the private key
request.csr is the public key

Never share your private key request.key in a non-secure media. If you must transfer it from your trusted computer to another, do it safely. Some suggestions are:

use scp to copy this file over ssh encryption to your other trusted computer;
zip it with a password, forward the file with a pen-drive or in a email, and tell the destinatary the password through another media;
upload it with https to a trusted server of your own.

If somehow you have shared your private key request.key in a unsecure way, please, BURN IT WITH FIRE BEFORE IT LAYS EGGS OF SECURITY BREACHNESS. You are warned. You should take your security seriously. Pretty pretty seriously.

Your public key is meant to be shared with the wind. There is no worry about this as long asP≠NPP \neq NPP̸=NP.

Now go to the Apple Developer Page and request a new certificate. Choose accordingly to your needs.

Creating your certificate

You should now see this screen:

As I need a production certificate for an Enterprise account, I choosed the In-House and Ad-Hoc.

And then finally to the screen where I now shall upload the generated .csrfile (it is the public key, so therefore no worry):

Now you can download the certificate at any time. This file is commonly named as ios_distribution.cer.

iOS App ID

To generate the provisioning profile, one must have before-hand to register new Apple ID in Register a new Identifier:

In the sample above, I have choosen to go with the Explicit App ID, com.totalcross.tcguide.

You cannot enable Push Notification service using Wildcard Apple ID.

You shall not use Wildcard Apple ID if you want to distribute your application with Enterprise Distribution. This may leads to trouble when your client tries to upgrade the app you have provided.

Provisioning profile

Now we must generate the provisioning profile:

As I want an enterprise distribution, I must choose the In-House provisioning profile:

If you want to test your app in specific iOS devices, you must create a Development provisioning file. To do so follow the tutorial: Using Development certificate to test your application.

Now the system will ask you about the App ID, then the certificate, and finally you are prompted with a Profile Name. It can be arbitrary:

You end this step downloading a .mobileprovision file.

Recalling

You have created in your own machine this files:

config (optional), so that it will be easy to create your public/private keys
request.key, your private key
request.csr, your public key
ios_distribution.cer, your Apple certificate
.mobileprovision, one of the most important files so that you can indeed embed this in your app to distribute

Finishing the basis to compile to iOS with TotalCross

So far, so good. Now we need to create a Publc-Key Cryptography Standard 12 .p12 file. To create it, we need the intermediary container for public key .pem file.

This question in ServerFault gives you more details about the files format. Also it was where I got that information above.

To create the .pem file, just give this command:

openssl x509 -in ios_distribution.cer -inform DER -out ios_distribution.pem -outform PEM

Where:

x509 is the cryptography standard
-in ios_distribution.cer indicates that the input certificate file is named ios_distribution.cer
-inform DER indicates that the format of the input file is DER, so that OpenSSL can do its conversion AKA translate from DER
-out ios_distribution.pem indicates that the output file name is named ios_distribution.pem
-outform PEM indicates that the output format is PEM AKA translate to PEM

With the .pem file created, we just need to create the .p12 file:

openssl pkcs12 -export -inkey request.key -in ios_distribution.pem -out ios_distribution.p12

Where:

pkcs12 is the cryptography standard
-export
-inkey request.key which file is the private key? It is request.key
-in ios_distribution.pem which file is the container for your certificate? ios_distribution.pem
-out ios_distribution.p12 which file I want to save as my PKCS 12 file? ios_distribution.p12

For TotalCross SDK 4.4.1 or earlier and 5.1.3 or earlier:

You must create two .p12 files. The first one with password to be added in your keychain (you can name it ios_distribution_with_password.p12). The second one without password to be used in your tc.Deploy through the /m parameter.

For later versions:

You can create just one .p12 file with password to be added in your keychain. For later versions, we no longer require parameter /m (Deprecated) to build your TotalCross ipa.

Adding your certificate to your Keychain in your macOS

Requires a p12 file with password.

Click twice in p12 file. A box with password field will be shown, type your p12 file password in the field password and your certificate will be added to your macOS Keychain.

iOS deployments

GENERATING YOUR IPA FILE BY USING TOTALCROSS DEPLOYER

For TotalCross SDK 4.4.1 or earlier and 5.1.3 or earlier:

Before executing the following steps, copy your certificate file, ios_certificate.p12, and your mobileprovision file, profile.mobileprovision, to a separate folder inside workspace directory.

Maven

Execute command mvn package using the following pom.xml as example:

<properties>
		<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
		<totalcross.activation_key>place holder</totalcross.activation_key>
</properties>
	
<build>
		<finalName>${project.artifactId}</finalName>
		<plugins>
			<plugin>
				<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
				<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
				<version>3.1</version>
				<configuration>
					<source>1.8</source>
					<target>1.8</target>
				</configuration>
			</plugin>
			<plugin>
				<groupId>net.orfjackal.retrolambda</groupId>
				<artifactId>retrolambda-maven-plugin</artifactId>
				<version>2.5.6</version>
				<executions>
					<execution>
						<goals>
							<goal>process-main</goal>
							<goal>process-test</goal>
						</goals>
					</execution>
				</executions>
			</plugin>
			<plugin>
				<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
				<artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
				<version>1.1.1</version>
				<executions>
					<execution>
						<phase>package</phase>
						<goals>
							<goal>java</goal>
						</goals>
						<configuration>
							<mainClass>tc.Deploy</mainClass>
							<arguments>
								<argument>${project.build.directory}/${project.build.finalName}.${project.packaging}</argument>
								<argument>-ios</argument>
								<argument>/p</argument>
								<argument>/r</argument>
								<argument>${totalcross.activation_key}</argument>
								<!-- 
									Parameter /m is just required for versions 4.4.1 or ealier
									and 5.1.3 or ealier.
								 -->
								<argument>/m</argument>
								<argument>{put ios certificate path here}</argument>
							</arguments>
						</configuration>
					</execution>
				</executions>
			</plugin>
		</plugins>
	</build>

Old style command line

If you rather the old style way of deploying:

java -cp "%TOTALCROSS3_HOME%"/dist/totalcross-sdk.jar tc.Deploy HelloTC.jar -iphone /m ./ios_certs /p /r YOUR_KEY_HERE

"%TOTALCROSS3_HOME%" = is the folder where the TC SDK

HelloTC.jar = is the jar of project

ios_certs = path to certificate

RESIGNING YOUR APPLICATION

Requirements:

having XCode updated to version >=10.0
having Imagemagick installed
having Totalcross SDK >=4.2.1 installed
having your certificate shown in the list of valid identities returned by executing security find-identity:

$ security find-identity

Policy: X.509 Basic
  Matching identities
  1) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "iPhone Distribution: Your Company"
  2) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "iPhone Distribution: Your Company 2"
  3) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "iPhone Developer: Your Name"
  4) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "iPhone Distribution: Your Company 3"

  Valid identities only
  1) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "iPhone Developer: Your Name"
  2) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX "iPhone Distribution: Your Company 3"
     2 valid identities found

Preparing environment

Install Imagemagick by entering command (if you don't have brew installed visit this page and install it. Its pretty easy!):

brew install imagemagick

Switch Command Line Developer Tools to CLT XCode directory by executing

sudo xcode-select --switch /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer

Give execution permission to the sh scripts inside path/to/your/totalcross_sdk_home/etc/tools/iOSCodesign

sudo chmod +x tccodesign.sh xcassetsGenerator.sh

Resigning your app.ipa

Artifacts needed for this step:
the TotalCross generated .ipa
your provisioning profile
your Certificate name (iPhone Distribution: Your Company)
Method, which can be: app-store, ad-hoc, enterprise or development. (It must match your .mobileprovision type)
Your Application Icon
a Mac OS X computer

Having all of those parameters, you will be able to run the following command:

./tccodesign --ipa path/to/to-be-signed.ipa --icon path/to/icon.png --provision-file path/to/provision-file.mobileprovision --certificate 'iPhone Distribution: XXXX Company YYYYY' -m [ad-hoc | app-store | enterprise | development]

Parameters

Description

--ipa, -i

Represents the path to your ipa file generated by the tc.Deployer that you want to be resigned.

--icon

Represents the path to your application icon. If you ommit it, the totalcross icon will be placed.

--provision-file, -prov

Represents the path your mobileprovision file.

--certificate, -c

Represents the name of your certificate as shown in your mac keychain (you may copy this name from the keychain or from the command security find-identity in the list of valid certificates.

--method, -m

Represents the method which you want to distribute your app. They are:

ad-hoc;
app-store;
enterprise;
development.

--output, -o (optional)

Represents the path in which your resigned ipa file will be placed. If you ommit this parameters, your resgined ipa file will be generated inside[tccodesign.sh directory]/build

Now you're ready to properly install or upload to the apple store your application.

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Last updated 5 years ago