Distribution with Ad Hoc doesn't work

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

Hi

i just built an App, which i now want to give some people for testing.
I now have a distribution provisioning profile with the 2 other IDs (for iPhone 3G and 4) in it.
The first person with the 3G says that he can load the app into iTunes but as soon as he wants to sync the process stops. The other person (iPhone 4, maybe iOS 5) says that nothing works (after draging the .app folder into iTunes).
I’m not 100% sure if this is supposed to work anyway. So i built the .app folder with corona with the Ad Hoc distribution profile. Than the person loaded the profile from me and the app and dragged both into iTunes. The docs imply that this should work like so, but it is never explicitly stated.

On my device (iPhone 4) everything works fine, but that’s maybe because i connected it and Xcode somehow handles this device in a different way.

Any ideas how to get this working?
I’m also confused how to get the .ipa package (this is needed i suppose to upload to iTunes connect, isn’t it?), but i only get the .app package from corona… [import]uid: 68079 topic_id: 17801 reply_id: 317801[/import]

#2

an .ipa package is just a bit -modified- version of compressed .app folder. To create an ipa package do the following:

  1. create a folder named Payload
  2. move your application.app into this folder
  3. compress (ie create a zip archive) Payload folder
  4. change compressed file extension to ipa (ie: application.zip to application.ipa)

Do you know the awesome free service called testflightapp.com? I strongly recommend using it for distributing test builds

http://testflightapp.com

cheers, deniz. [import]uid: 11686 topic_id: 17801 reply_id: 67960[/import]

#3

Thanks for help!

Ah, that clearifys it. And yes, i heard about testflight, but i thought it should work that way too (because at the moment i don’t have to many testers and i don’t need any reporting, so i thought i can just distribute it normally).
So, a few further questions:

  • Is the way i described above correct to distribute it for testing?
  • Shouldn’t it work also with the .app folder and the distribution file or do i really have to make the .ipa? (than the distribution file still has to be downloaded and installed seperately, right?)
  • Why is there a need for downloading the provisioning profile anyway? - There is one (embedded.mobileprovision) in the .app folder and in any case the correct provisioning profile could theoretically be placed inside this folder anyway (or is there a reason that they are seperated?)
  • To clearify this for me: If I add a device to the provisioning, i have to rebuild the app (i.e use corona to build here)? - Or could i just edit the mobileprovision and distribute it?

Thanks for help [import]uid: 68079 topic_id: 17801 reply_id: 67973[/import]

#4

I do not have any experience in distributing apps using iTunes… As far as I know you should rebuild your app with new mobile provisioning profile… The package should be somehow -signed- with the new profile i guess… anyway, you can try and see it yourself :slight_smile: [import]uid: 11686 topic_id: 17801 reply_id: 68137[/import]

#5

I got it working somehow. I again rebuilt the application with the distribution provisioning profile, created the .ipa and then uploaded to testflight. Strangely this worked for one person. For the other person i had to remove the already (from previously try) installed distribution profile and than it worked.

In both cased i didn’t had to let them import the .mobileprovision file. So i’m confused why this is said everywhere… :S [import]uid: 68079 topic_id: 17801 reply_id: 68229[/import]

#6

A much better option to iTunnes is iPhone Configuration Utility. [import]uid: 50425 topic_id: 17801 reply_id: 68929[/import]

#7

I have been searching the forums and am trying to find a way to use over the air distribution without test flight. anyone have any suggestions? I know I need an ipa on a website but all the tutorials I see say I need to link to a Plist file. If anyone could help I would appreciate it. [import]uid: 39370 topic_id: 17801 reply_id: 82056[/import]

#8

Also, Corona apps no longer support iPhone 3G and older devices (or iPod touch 2G and older). [import]uid: 52430 topic_id: 17801 reply_id: 82074[/import]

#9

iOS Over the Air with Corona SDK

Just this morning I have been able to get iOS over the air disturbution working for an app built with the Corona SDK. There are several postings covering over the air distribution and they range from fairly general to somewhat specific - but non specific to Corona that I found (google “over the air distribution”). These were very helpful but I kept running into problems, including the dreaded “Unable to install” error (gee thanks for the clarify of that message) and the super dreaded disappearing icon situation (ok, so things could be less clear than “Unable to install”).

Here is what worked for me:

  • Build your app using an App Id sepcific (e.g., app id seed.com.domain.appname) Development Provisioning Profile referring to a specific App Id. I tried one with a generic profile/generic app id (e.g., app id seed.*) and I got the disappearing icon no matter what I used in the manifest file

  • I tried using a provisiong profile but there seemed to be extra steps (Corona created upload to App Store output not .ipa ready output) and no matter what I did I was getting “Unable to install” errors

  • Make sure your manifest file is correct. I had a typo that killed me for a while - I have not found a manifest file checker yet.

  • For your bundle identifier, do NOT include the app id seed, just use the com.domain.appname

  • A good template manifest file is available on this page and also on this page. I copied and pasted them into my file but messed up when editing in my information (typo referred to above) and missed one spot where I needed to fill in information. I do not know if there is a required filename, but I used appname.plist.

  • Make sure that the version number you put into the manifest file matches the version number you do your Corona build with. I do not know if it matters, but one of the things I corrected between failing and working was to get the version number correct!

After several mistakes along the way I was almost shocked when it actually worked correctly… but I am also very excited to be away from the whole iTunes thing and having to explain that to our beta testers.

Good luck - I hope it works as well for you!
Ken
[import]uid: 117477 topic_id: 17801 reply_id: 91756[/import]

#10

I actually got it working a week or so ago-I have been trying to find time to post back-I used the same method as you just described and yes it is so nice to be able to just have testers download the file and not use itunes or any 3rd party service. [import]uid: 39370 topic_id: 17801 reply_id: 91758[/import]