Monday, October 22, 2012

How To: Create a Screencast Demo of iPhone App For FREE!

Hi all. Today I'd like to share how you could create a good quality video screencast of your iPhone App / iPad App in your Mac, without using any other applications.

 I am not really sure about old iMacs and Macbooks but all you need is QuickTime! My iMac (which runs Lion) has QuickTime version 10.1 and it is able to do this.

 Here's how:

 1. Run the QuickTime application. The application icon looks like this:







2. Go to its Menu, and simply click "New Screen Recording"










3. After you click this, and click on the Record button on the panel, you can either "Drag" with your mouse to specify an area, or you can click on the button to start recording the whole desktop. If you drag an area, there will be a button appearing at the center of the defined area "Start Recording".
The quality if good and enough for a youtube screencast demo of your app.

Here's an example of one I made just now (just 5MB) showing one of my app (AppliFX) demo.
(Note: this video is compressed by Blogger - captured one is a lot bigger and higher quality that this!)


Friday, September 7, 2012

How To: Facebook Upload Photo and Update Status Using SSO - Easiest Way (2012 Facebook SDK)

Hiya. Another tutorial with sample project for noobs! YAY!

Facebook SDK for iOS. Scary isn't it. Oooooo.... brrrrrr...... You will be if you go through their iOS integration tutorials. I have never used FB SDK directly before this. I used a FB wrapper FacebookAgent from a fellow dev, Aman. But I think he no longer support updates on it. And recently Facebook updated their SDK to use a magic thingy called SSO.


Anyway if you try to implement FB SDK and read how to upload a photo from your iOS apps,  you'd be like, "WTF are all these things??!? I just want to upload a friggin photo to my wall!" Graph API? SSO? FBSession?


XCodeNoobies to the rescue! Yay!

It is pretty easy to upload, but the "setting up" can be a pain because there are quite a lot of things to do.

First, let me outline the process that FB introduced in iOS FB integration. It is called SSO. Basically, it means Single Sign On. What this means is that you only need to Sign in once in a particular device USING FACEBOOK APP OR USING SAFARI, and after that that account CAN BE USED INSTANTLY for all other apps that implements SSO. So your app needs to open FB App (or Safari on facebook.com) request to Sign On, and upon Signed On,  request a permission(s) for your app to upload a photo (or post status update or other things), and then returns back to your app and complete the upload request.

Secondly, FB SDK provides a few ways to upload photos to a wall. There is a simple photo upload method (which is going to be discussed here) and also there are others like using Graph API (which is a bit more complicated, and I won't be covering that here).

Ready?

First of all, obviously you need to download and install the Facebook SDK. At this moment, FB SDK is automatically installed into your Documents folder of your Mac when you download and run the installer. Open that folder and there is another folder named FacebookSDK.framework. Drag this folder into your project to add it (you can choose to copy to your project folder, or not, entirely up to you). Next, add also Accounts.framework from XCode's Build Phases -> Link Binary with Libraries.

NOTE: This tutorial is based on Facebook SDK 3.0. If you have different version, please check at the Facebook SDK, what are the framework requirements.


Next, open your appname-Prefix.pch file inside the Supporting Files group of XCode project and add the following line:



#import <Availability.h>

#ifndef __IPHONE_4_0
#warning "This project uses features only available in iOS SDK 4.0 and later."
#endif

#ifdef __OBJC__
    #import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
    #import <Foundation/Foundation.h>
#endif

#import <FacebookSDK/FacebookSDK.h> // -- ADD THIS

Next go to your Info.plist file and Add 2 new rows as follows. The number is your Facebook App ID (in Facebook - goto developers.facebook.com/apps.php to get this - I assume you have already added a Facebook App to integrate with your iPhone app).


Below's a screenshot of a dummy Facebook app I created for you to test in this sample project. This screenshot if from http://developers.facebook.com/ website. You need a developer account on Facebook to create new FB apps to integrate with your iPhone app. (I won't be covering this topic though).


That is the App ID to be entered in the info.plist entries above. The URL Scheme entry needs a prefix of "fb" at the front of the number. Do not miss this!


Remember to change the row's name "URL identifier" (that appears automatically) into "URL Schemes".


Now, open up the AppDelegate.m and import the FacebookSDK.

#import <FacebookSDK/FacebookSDK.h>


Then, add the following code in the implementation section:
 
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application 
            openURL:(NSURL *)url
  sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication
         annotation:(id)annotation {
    // attempt to extract a token from the url
    return [FBSession.activeSession handleOpenURL:url]; 
}



- (void)applicationWillTerminate:(UIApplication *)application
{
    // Called when the application is about to terminate. Save data if appropriate. See also applicationDidEnterBackground:.
    
    [FBSession.activeSession close];
}


The application:openURL:sourceApplication method is called when the app returns from another app, in this case either Facebook App or Safari App. We return the url to handleOpenURL method of the FBSession in our app.

Next, we go to the project's Target's Build Settings and add "-lsqlite3.0" in the "Other Linker Flags" row. See below for example:


Now we're pretty much done on the "Setting up" part, so lets go ahead and create User interface and apply methods to them.

To make it simple, I will show just 2 example codes -

1. to post a Status update
2. to upload a photo.


So, lets add 1 UIImageView, 1 label and 2 buttons (1 to upload the photo from that UIImageView and another to post a status from the label). We also add 1 UIActivityIndicatorView so that we can show to user when the app is doing something (busy), and set it to be hidden in IB. Here's what it will look like:




Next, declare these objects and methods (when buttons are tapped) in ViewController.h (header file) as below:

 
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

@interface ViewController : UIViewController {
    IBOutlet UIImageView *myImg;
    IBOutlet UILabel *myStatus;
    IBOutlet UIActivityIndicatorView *activity;
    IBOutlet UIButton *btnUploadImg, *btnUpdateStatus;
}

@property (nonatomic, retain) UIImageView *myImg;
@property (nonatomic, retain)  UILabel *myStatus;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIActivityIndicatorView *activity;
@property (nonatomic, retain) UIButton *btnUploadImg, *btnUpdateStatus;

-(IBAction)uploadPhoto:(id)sender;
-(IBAction)updateStatus:(id)sender;

@end


Then, synthesize them in your ViewController.m file. It is a good idea to add the dealloc immediately at this point so you won't forget about it later. The CONNECT the objects to its IBOutlets and IBActions in Interface Builder (in your XIB file).

 
@synthesize myImg, myStatus, activity, btnUploadImg, btnUpdateStatus;


-(void)dealloc {
    [super dealloc];
    [myImg release]; [myStatus release];[activity release];
    [btnUploadImg release]; [btnUpdateStatus release];
}


Lets make one more custom method to set user interface status. When we use the app, there are times where the app is going to be busy contacting Facebook server, or busy uploading or downloading data, so it is good practise to manage the objects in your screen properly. Lets do this by creating a method called controlStatusUsable:(BOOL)usable.


-(void)controlStatusUsable:(BOOL)usable {
    if (usable) {
        btnUploadImg.userInteractionEnabled = YES;
        btnUpdateStatus.userInteractionEnabled = YES;
        self.activity.hidden = YES;
        [self.activity stopAnimating];
    } else {
        btnUploadImg.userInteractionEnabled = NO;
        btnUpdateStatus.userInteractionEnabled = NO;
        self.activity.hidden = NO;
        [self.activity startAnimating];
    }
    
}


What this does is just disable the buttons, show the "busy" sign when usable= NO and enable back the buttons and remove the "busy" sign when usable = YES.

To be able to upload photo (and to update status) intelligently, we need to ask the user for permission to do so (this is a requirement by Facebook), AND we need to reconfirm with the user which FB account that we are uploading the photo to (or update status to).


To accomplish this, upon user tapping the upload button (or update status button), we need to check for FB login details from Facebook app (or Safari on facebook.com) and then request a permission from there, then return that permission back to our app, and the show the user the FB account name, and upon confirmation, we do the action (upload photo or update status).

The code to do all this is as follows (see the comments for details):


// First, check whether the Facebook Session is open or not 

    if (FBSession.activeSession.isOpen) {

        // Yes, we are open, so lets make a request for user details so we can get the user name.

        [self promptUserWithAccountName];// a custom method - see below:
        
        
        
    } else {
        
        // We don't have an active session in this app, so lets open a new
        // facebook session with the appropriate permissions!

        // Firstly, construct a permission array.
        // you can find more "permissions strings" at http://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/permissions/
        // In this example, we will just request a publish_stream which is required to publish status or photos.

         NSArray *permissions = [[NSArray alloc] initWithObjects:
                                @"publish_stream",
                                nil];
        
        // OPEN Session!
        [self controlStatusUsable:NO];
        [FBSession openActiveSessionWithPermissions:permissions
                                       allowLoginUI:YES
                                  completionHandler:^(FBSession *session, 
                                                      FBSessionState status, 
                                                      NSError *error) {
                                      // if login fails for any reason, we alert
                                      if (error) {
                                          
                                          // show error to user.

                                      } else if (FB_ISSESSIONOPENWITHSTATE(status)) {
                                          
                                          // no error, so we proceed with requesting user details of current facebook session.
                                          
                                         [self promptUserWithAccountName];   // a custom method - see below:                              
                                      }
                                      [self controlStatusUsable:YES];
                                  }];
    }

The method promptUserWithAccountName is a custom method we create to optimize code, because we are using the same exact lines of code twice in the uploadPhoto method. See the comments for details below:

 

-(void)promptUserWithAccountName {
[self controlStatusUsable:NO];
    [[FBRequest requestForMe] startWithCompletionHandler:
     ^(FBRequestConnection *connection, NSDictionary<FBGraphUser> *user, NSError *error) {
         if (!error) {
             
             UIAlertView *tmp = [[UIAlertView alloc] 
                                 initWithTitle:@"Upload to FB?" 
                                 message:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"Upload to ""%@"" Account?", user.name]
                                 delegate:self 
                                 cancelButtonTitle:nil
                                 otherButtonTitles:@"No",@"Yes", nil];
             tmp.tag = 100; // We are also setting the tag to this alert so we can identify it in delegate method later
             [tmp show];
             [tmp release];
             
         }
         [self controlStatusUsable:YES]; // whether error occur or not, enable back the UI
     }];  
}

To those who are not familiar with Block Methods, the one in promptUserWithAccountname method is an example of Block Method. I think it was introduced by Apple in iOS 3.2 or 4.0, I can't remember. But it is a cool method that diminishes delegates.

So what the heck is it?

Simple. It is just a "execute this, and when you're done, do this" method.


[[class method] startUponCompletion: ^(stuffs to carry around) {
   // write in here what you want your app to do after the start method is completed.
}];


Get it right? Normally in delegates type method, we call a method, and we need to write a delegate method to do something when it is done. So block method is neater and cooler.

Talking about delegates, we are using it now in alertView. We prompt user with alertViews so we need to take those inputs and process them. Here is the alertView delegates:


-(void)alertView:(UIAlertView *)alertView clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex {
    
    if (buttonIndex==1) { // yes answer

        // did the alert responded to is the one prompting about user name? if so, upload!
        if (alertView.tag==100) {
            // then upload
            [self controlStatusUsable:NO];

             // Here is where the UPLOADING HAPPENS!
            [FBRequestConnection startForUploadPhoto:myImg.image 
                                   completionHandler:^(FBRequestConnection *connection, id result, NSError *error) {
                                        if (!error) {
                                           UIAlertView *tmp = [[UIAlertView alloc] 
                                                               initWithTitle:@"Success" 
                                                               message:@"Photo Uploaded"
                                                               delegate:self 
                                                               cancelButtonTitle:nil
                                                               otherButtonTitles:@"Ok", nil];
                                        
                                           [tmp show];
                                           [tmp release];
                                       } else {
                                           UIAlertView *tmp = [[UIAlertView alloc] 
                                                               initWithTitle:@"Error" 
                                                               message:@"Some error happened"
                                                               delegate:self 
                                                               cancelButtonTitle:nil
                                                               otherButtonTitles:@"Ok", nil];
                                           
                                           [tmp show];
                                           [tmp release];
                                       }
                                       
                                    [self controlStatusUsable:YES];
                                   }];
            
        }
        
    }
    
}


As for posting a status, it also uses the similar process, but a little different methods. I won't be explaining about it here, but the codes are all included in the sample project. Below is the screenshots of the app in action using SSO.



Here in simulator there is no Facebook App, so Safari will launch and request you to login, and if you are already logged in, it will show the App page and user must tap Log In button.

Then Facebook will request permission to user, where user should tap the Allow All button.
Upon tapping that, Safari will go away and returns your app to the screen.

Your app "uponCompletion" is called and retrieve user info directly and show a prompt.

Do the upload and upon finish, show an alert. DONE! BOOM!

Proof that it works!

There are certain things I've left out in this project - like you have to check whether or not you have internet connection before making any FBSession requests. Look up Reachability Sample Code over at Apple website for that.

Ok Good luck and have fun!


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

How to Pass Data Between UIViewControllers: The Global Variable & The Singleton Class

Say what now?

Global? Singleton? Isn't that the one who married Prince William? No. That would be Ms Middleton.


Noobies like us tend to get intimidated by these names because they sound so complicated.  But the truth is, it is quite simple. When you create an app, often they will have more than 1 ViewControllers - for example a ViewController, where all the main thingy happens. Then there is a Settings button that will bring you to another view, say SecondViewController that changes some of the state of the component in ViewController.

So how do you pass that state back to the ViewController?



GLOBAL VARIABLES

The simple, but crude way is to use Global Variables. Global Variables can get messy because once you use a certain name as global variable, you can not use it again at ANY OTHER PLACES. And this can get confusing when you have many lines of codes and more than one class.

A quick example of Global Variable Declaration is as follows:

In your header (.h) file, input the "allocation" of the variable.




#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>;

extern BOOL MYGlobalVariable;

@interface BattleGameViewController : UIViewController 

@end;



"extern" does not declare it. What it does is just "allocate" a memory for that particular variable. Therefore to declare it, one need to declare in the implementation file (*.m) as follows:



#import "MyAppHeader.h"

@implementation BattleGameViewController

BOOL MYGlobalVariable = NO;


So to use this variable in another class, all you need to do is import "MyAppHeader.h" and MYGlobalVariable should be ready to be used.

It works well, in fact, I also used it in some of my early apps. That is until I learn about Singleton.

SINGLETON

Believe it or not, MOST of us NOOBIES already used Singleton. The most common Singleton we use is.... *drumroll*... NSUserDefaults!

Do you like NSUserDefaults? I do. It is so easy and simple. And that is why you also should use Singleton in variable aspects of your app. It will make your coding very nice and easy to maintain.

How to implement a Singleton? I am no ObjC Guru, that much I can tell you, but hey, why reinvent the wheel, when some gurus have created the Singleton class for you? There are loadsssss of ways to write a Singleton Class, and you can find them here:

StackOverflow: Samples of Singletons

Anyway, here is MY singleton class. I used this Singleton class in one of my latest app - Clock Stand for iPad. I stripped off all the other variables and leave just 1 for example so that it is clear for you to see how to implement it.


//
//  MySingletonCenter.h
//  ClockForiPad
//
//  Created by Emir Fithri Samsuddin on 6/20/12.
//  Copyright (c) 2012 __MyCompanyName__. All rights reserved.
//

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@interface MySingletonCenter : NSObject {
    
// Your variables go here
// here's one example:
  BOOL is24Hour;
}

// Your property settings for your variables go here
// here's one example:
@property (nonatomic, assign) BOOL is24Hour;

// This is the method to access this Singleton class
+ (MySingletonCenter *)sharedSingleton;

@end

And the implementation file (*.m)


//
//  MySingletonCenter.m
//  ClockForiPad
//
//  Created by Emir Fithri Samsuddin on 6/20/12.
//  Copyright (c) 2012 __MyCompanyName__. All rights reserved.
//

#import "MySingletonCenter.h"


@implementation MySingletonCenter

static MySingletonCenter *shared = NULL;

@synthesize is24Hour;

- (id)init
{
    if ( self = [super init] )
    {
       // init values 
       // here you assign initial values to your variable.
       // in my case, I save all these values into NSUserDefaults as users preference.
       // so i do the necessary things to ensure that happens.
       
        NSUserDefaults *def = [NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults];
        if ([def objectForKey:@"is24Hour"]==nil) {
        
            is24Hour = NO;
            [def setBool:self.is24Hour forKey:@"is24Hour"];
            [def synchronize];
            
        } else {
  
            // read from NSUserDefaults
            self.is24Hour = [def boolForKey:@"is24Hour"];
        }
    }
    return self;
    
}

+ (MySingletonCenter *)sharedSingleton
{
    @synchronized(shared)
    {
        if ( !shared || shared == NULL )
        {
            // allocate the shared instance, because it hasn't been done yet
            shared = [[MySingletonCenter alloc] init];
        }
        
        return shared;
    }
}

- (void)dealloc
{
    NSLog(@"Deallocating singleton...");

    
    [super dealloc];
}



@end

Now, to create the Singleton Class, all you need to do is Right Click on the left panel of XCode and Choose Add File... and Choose Objective-C Class. Give a proper name (for eg, MySingletonCenter.h and MySingletonCenter.m) to it, select NSObject as its class and add to project. After that just copy and paste the above Singleton code into the corresponding .h and .m. And you're set to go.

To use Singleton in another class is easy.. in fact super easy just like NSUserDefaults.

1. #import "MySingletonCenter.h"

2. Everytime you want to read or write to it:

MySingletonCenter *tmp = [MySingletonCenter sharedSingleton];

// write
tmp.is24Hour = YES;

// read
BOOL new = tmp.is24Hour;


SUPER EASY! WHAT UP! Note: There is no sample project for this tutorial because it is just too easy. Do shout in the comments box if you need a sample project though. Note: Due to requests, I made a downloadable sample project for this tutorial! Thank you so much for your interest and comments!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

How To: Setup Linkshare for iOS Developer

What is Linkshare for iOS Developers?
Linkshare is a way for you to make some EXTRA money from your app sales!
As you know, for each app sold, Apple will take 30% and you will take 70%.
With Linkshare, you will get an extra 4-5%! Want that extra 4-5%? Read on!


I was trying to find a step by step tutorial for joining the affiliate program of iTunes/App Store via LinkShare.com, but couldn't find any (most of them are dead links and some requires you to buy their e-book). I have successfully registered with them, activated the account with email confirmation (just click a link in the email that they sent after completing the registration forms). Then I was stuck. Not sure where to begin. Took me a few hours to figure things out, so I'd like to share this tutorial, especially for international developers who would like to implement Affiliate program with LinkShare.

I will assume you have already successfully registered with LinkShare.com, and that you have completed the online registration forms, submitted it, and activated the account through your email. So next, login to your account and then:

1. Apply For the iTunes / App Store Program within LinkShare.com.
a) At the top menu bar, there is a PROGRAM button. Click on it.


b) A list of Categories will show up. At the right hand corner, there is a search field. Search for "iTunes".

c) The iTunes/App Store Program will show up and click Apply button at the end column.


d) Wait for 1-2 weeks for the application process by LinkShare/Apple. They will review your website and so on.

*continue.

e) It just took me about 3 days to be approved by Apple/LinkShare. Awesome. So next, what we do is click on the My Advertisers tab under the Programs section. Then go ahead and click the iTunes & App Store link listed there.


f) Then you will be shown the iTunes Create Links page. Spot the Link Maker Tool, and click that (see below)


g) This will bring you to the iTunes Link Maker tool (hosted by Apple). Use the BULK function, whereby you can paste multi links of your apps into the text area and all will be converted to the Affiliate links at once.
Follow the steps indicated below:

h) As you will notice, the affiliate link is a very long one. You can just use it like that, or you can also use shortening URL services such as http://bit.ly. Bit.ly is some sort of a redirect service. It keeps your URL short.

For example is this link to my app iHueSplash.

There you go. That is all there is to it. Pretty simple really. But wait, how to use these URLS/iTunes Affiliate Links?

As for me, I put it in my signature of forums post, I use it in my website too. Also, I even use it in my apps (where user tap the links to get a Pro version and so on). You can also put it in Links that you post to promote your app in iPhone Apps Review sites/forums.

BUT (here is a big BUT), do not ever use these URLs posted in your Press Release. PRMac, specifically are against this, and I believe so does other press release. Redirects are not good for Press Releases.

You will be getting somewhere around 4-5% of your app sales from this affiliate. Not much really. But hey, it's still money isn't it? If you have any questions, just shout in the comments box.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

How To: Implement In App Purchase The Easy Way, Ever.

There are plenty of IAP (In App Purchase) tutorials in the internet. BUT, all of them are damn complicated. None of the tutorials (that I found anyway) that shows the easiest way to implement IAP. If that is how you feel, read on....

For example, over at Ray Wenderlich (this tutorial), you can try read it, unless you are very familiar with classes and what nots, you'd end up like me - giving up to make IAP in your app. Don't get me wrong, Ray Wenderlich provides one of the TOP NOTCH tuts, but sometimes they just speak a different language than us, noobies and amateur coders.

So I thought, since it is my first time to implement IAP in one of my apps, (I never had an IAP app before), might as well I try find my own way of putting an IAP which is EASY, STRAIGHTFORWARD, and FAST TO IMPLEMENT.



Lets get started.

Firstly, for this tutorial, I am going to assume a few things:

1. that you want to implement IAP by way of "feature" buttons.
2. that you do not have too many items to be purchased (if you do have many IAP items,
then it is probably best to use UITableView as in Ray Wenderlich's sample)
3. that all IAP items/features are built in into your app bundle (ie, you do not have a downloadable IAP items, etc)

If these assumptions are what you are doing, then read on! For this tutorial example project, I'll just put 2 buttons on a single view app. One button is an example of a readily available feature and another button is another feature that requires an IAP to use.

So, as normal, go to your XCode, create a project and goto the XIB file and put 2 buttons on it. For the 2nd button, you need to put an "indicator" that the feature is kinda locked. Here, I use a padlock icon as the background image to illustrate this. If you use button of the type Custom, then you could set the button's Image property as the padlock icon and the background property as your button appearance. When the app is ran, here's what it looks like:

I also added a UILabel at the bottom just to do something when you press the feature button. For this example, I am going to make the label say "Feature 1" when you press button 1 and say "Feature 2" when you press button 2.

But since Feature 2 is a IAP item, we need to check if user has purchased the feature before showing "Feature 2". Anyway, lets make the basic functions first.

Declare 2 IBActions for the 2 buttons. And also declare IBOutlets for the IAP Feature button and for the UILabel in .h. Also declare a UIAlertView so that we can check for the user response in this alert later. Remember to synthesize both objects in your .m file.

Your .h should look something like this:


#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
#import <StoreKit/StoreKit.h>

@interface ViewController : UIViewController {
    IBOutlet UIButton *feature2Btn;
    IBOutlet UILabel *featureLabel;
    UIAlertView *askToPurchase;
}

@property (nonatomic, retain)  UIButton *feature2Btn;
@property (nonatomic, retain)  UILabel *featureLabel;

-(IBAction)doFeature1:(id)sender;
-(IBAction)doFeature2:(id)sender;


@end

 Now open XIB file and connect all the necessary links. Connect IBActions to Touch Up Inside of File Owner, and both IBOutlets. Note that we need IBOutlet of Feature 2 button because we are going to change the Lock icon condition later on. Having the button declared will make things easier later.

Next, open .m file and write the methods for the button taps.


 
-(IBAction)doFeature1:(id)sender {

    featureLabel.text = @"Feature 1";

}

-(IBAction)doFeature2:(id)sender {

    featureLabel.text = @"Feature 2";

}

Now run the app, both buttons should be working now when you tap it, the UILabel below will change according to which button you tap! Congratulations. No, you are not done. We want to lock Feature 2 now, so tapping button "2" should check for IAP first before allowing user to use it.

For this purpose, we will create another method to check for IAP item somewhere.... Earlier, when I was learning how to implement IAP, I thought of using NSUserDefaultsto store some values (like a BOOL) so that we can set that flag if user completed an IAP. However, there is a problem with this, while it is simple, if user deleted the app, and redownload it later, the IAP flag will be gone forever - NSUserDefaults is stored as .plist file in the APP BUNDLE folder.... means user who already bought the IAP, needs to purchase the IAP again = angry users. Grr..

A better way to handle this is to make use of the KEYCHAIN. Now, we can learn to implement Keychain, but why reinvent the wheel? Head over HERE to download the KeyChain wrapper. After you downloaded it copy and include both SFHFKeychainUtils.h and .m into your project. (I've already included the files in the Sample project of this tutorial, but do download the latest version for your app).

What is Keychain?Keychain is something like Registry in Windows. It is a more secure place to store sensitive information in the iDevice and it is not tied to the app bundle. 

In your .m file, remember to #import  "SFHFKeychainUtils.h". We also need to add the "Security.framework" to our project. After that, lets create the method to check the IAP item in the keychain.



-(BOOL)IAPItemPurchased {

      

    NSError *error = nil;

    NSString *password = [SFHFKeychainUtils getPasswordForUsername:@"IAPNoob01" andServiceName:kStoredData error:&error];

   

    if ([password isEqualToString:@"whatever"]) return YES; else return NO;

   

}
We are just simply using the username/password saving feature of KeyChain utility to save our IAP item data. Nothing fancy. Also notice we are declaring this function as a BOOL, so it returns a YES or NO immediately when we call for it. Note that all 3 data here: username, password and ServiceName are developer defined. You choose what you want for those keys (they are all NSStrings). It does not matter what they are, as long as we can check for the "password".

Now, lets implement the lock feature of Feature 2. Modify the doFeature2 method as below:

-(IBAction)doFeature2:(id)sender {

   

    if ([self IAPItemPurchased]) {

   

        featureLabel.text = @"Feature 2";

    } else {

        // not purchased so show a view to prompt for purchase

        askToPurchase = [[UIAlertView alloc]

                            initWithTitle:@"Feature 2 Locked"

                            message:@"Purchase Feature 2?"

                            delegate:self

                            cancelButtonTitle:nil

                            otherButtonTitles:@"Yes", @"No", nil];

        askToPurchase.delegate = self;

        [askToPurchase show];

        [askToPurchase release];

    }

}

What we do here is check if the IAP item flag is available in the keychain, if it exist then user has purchased Feature 2 before, so we proceed with it's function. If not, prompt user to buy Feature 2. In this example, I just use a simple AlertView. You can code a pretty UIView with colorful images and so on - entirely up to you.

Now lets handle the alertview feedbacks. If user chose to purchase, then we start the IAP request.
Before we go on to that, lets create an IAP item in iTunesConnect first.

Creating/Registering IAP Items in iTunesConnect.
 Logon to your iTC account and click Manage Applications. Then click your app icon, and at the top right hand corner, click "Manage In-App Purchases". On the top left side, there is a Create New button. Click it. Click on Non Consumable. (Non consumable is a purchase type where user only needs to pay for a feature just one time.) Key In Ref Names and other details as shown in the pic below:



As for the screenshot, just upload a Dummy image of size 960x640 and you'll be able to save the IAP item. But you have to remember to update this screenshot prior to submission. The key info in this form is the Product ID. In this case com.emirbytes.IAPNoob.01 , this is what we will be calling from our app later. Once we are done we can then create Test Accounts to test the IAP later. In the main page of iTunesConnect, go to Manage Users, and click on Test User and add a test user. Once you are done, you can logoff and return to coding.

Implementing StoreKit
The API that will help us implement the IAP is called StoreKit. So obviously we need to add the StoreKit.framework to our project. Next we need to import StoreKit.h and implement the related delegates, so modify the .h file as below:



#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>

#import <StoreKit/StoreKit.h>

@interface ViewController : UIViewController <SKProductsRequestDelegate, SKPaymentTransactionObserver> {

    IBOutlet UIButton *feature2Btn;

    IBOutlet UILabel *featureLabel;

    UIAlertView *askToPurchase;
}

@property (nonatomic, retain)  UIButton *feature2Btn;

@property (nonatomic, retain)  UILabel *featureLabel;

-(IBAction)doFeature1:(id)sender;

-(IBAction)doFeature2:(id)sender;

@end

Since we use AlertView to prompt the user, we need to input the AlertView delegate as well, so add the UIAlertViewDelegate in .h file and implement the delegate function as below:



-(void)alertView:(UIAlertView *)alertView clickedButtonAtIndex:(NSInteger)buttonIndex {



    if (alertView==askToPurchase) {

        if (buttonIndex==0) {

            // user tapped YES, but we need to check if IAP is enabled or not.

            if ([SKPaymentQueue canMakePayments]) {

               

                SKProductsRequest *request = [[SKProductsRequest alloc] initWithProductIdentifiers:[NSSet setWithObject:@"com.emirbytes.IAPNoob.01"]]; 

               

                request.delegate = self; 

                [request start]; 

               

               

            } else {

                UIAlertView *tmp = [[UIAlertView alloc]

                                    initWithTitle:@"Prohibited"

                                    message:@"Parental Control is enabled, cannot make a purchase!"

                                    delegate:self

                                    cancelButtonTitle:nil

                                    otherButtonTitles:@"Ok", nil];

                [tmp show];

                [tmp release];

            }

        }

    }

   

}

 First we check if the alertview is the IAP prompt alertview, if it is then we check if Yes button was pressed, and if it is, then we check "canMakePayments". This function will return YES or NO depending on whether the In-App Purchases Settings in the device is set to On or Off (Settings App -> General -> Restrictions). This way, the payment is allowable only if this restriction is not set (to prevent childrens from simply buying your IAPs unintentionally). And, if we can make IAP request, initiate the request with the Product ID that we specified earlier in iTC.

Since IAP requires internet connection and takes some time (a few seconds) to be processed, at this point it is a good idea to check for internet connection availability and to display a Wait View (I do not include it for the sake of simplicity). For easier demo, I put another UILabel to show the status of purchase.

Once we request this IAP to the IAP server, the app will then wait for a reply from the IAP server and fires off the StoreKit delegates:


-(void)paymentQueue:(SKPaymentQueue *)queue updatedTransactions:(NSArray *)transactions {    

-(void)productsRequest:(SKProductsRequest *)request didReceiveResponse:(SKProductsResponse *)response  

-(void)requestDidFinish:(SKRequest *)request

-(void)request:(SKRequest *)request didFailWithError:(NSError *)error  

The important delegates are the first two that are in bold.  Right after we request a product via SKProductRequest in alertView delegate above, the first delegate that is going to respond is the didReceiveResponse delegate. Here, it will check whether the Product ID we requested is available or not, and if available, do the payment (Ka Ching!)...


 -(void)productsRequest:(SKProductsRequest *)request didReceiveResponse:(SKProductsResponse *)response 

{ 

   

    // remove wait view here

   

    SKProduct *validProduct = nil;

    int count = [response.products count];

   

    if (count>0) {

        validProduct = [response.products objectAtIndex:0];

       

        SKPayment *payment = [SKPayment paymentWithProductIdentifier:@"com.emirbytes.IAPNoob.01"];

        [[SKPaymentQueue defaultQueue] addTransactionObserver:self];

       
[[SKPaymentQueue defaultQueue] addPayment:payment]; // <-- KA CHING!

       

       

    } else {

        UIAlertView *tmp = [[UIAlertView alloc]

                            initWithTitle:@"Not Available"

                            message:@"No products to purchase"

                            delegate:self

                            cancelButtonTitle:nil

                            otherButtonTitles:@"Ok", nil];

        [tmp show];

        [tmp release];

    }

   

   

}  

After we request a payment, the next delegate that is going to respond is the updatedTransactions delegate, where we check for transactions type: there are 4 types that must be handled properly.


SKPaymentTransactionStatePurchasing - indicates still processing the purchasing - display a wait view.

SKPaymentTransactionStatePurchased - indicates purchase completed - unlock features by code

SKPaymentTransactionStateRestored - purchase restored from an interrupt (phone call etc)

SKPaymentTransactionStateFailed - purchase failed - show alert

I will explain the code in StatePurchased condition:

 
case SKPaymentTransactionStatePurchased:

           

                [[SKPaymentQueue defaultQueue] finishTransaction:transaction];

                // remove wait view and unlock feature 2

               

                UIAlertView *tmp = [[UIAlertView alloc]

                                    initWithTitle:@"Complete"

                                    message:@"You have unlocked Feature 2!"

                                    delegate:self

                                    cancelButtonTitle:nil

                                    otherButtonTitles:@"Ok", nil];

                [tmp show];

                [tmp release];

               

               

                NSError *error = nil;

                [SFHFKeychainUtils storeUsername:@"IAPNoob01" andPassword:@"whatever" forServiceName:kStoredData updateExisting:YES error:&error];

               

                // apply purchase action  - hide lock overlay and

                [feature2Btn setBackgroundImage:nil forState:UIControlStateNormal];

                // do other thing to enable the features

               

                break;


First, in above case, we tell the server to finish the transaction, then we show to user that the Feature has been unlocked. Then, we register a flag in Keychain with the specific username, password and servicename (remember they are case sensitive). Finally we remove any Padlock icon and other visual settings.

IMPORTANT: YOU CAN ONLY TEST IN-APP PURCHASE IN YOUR DEVICE, AND NOT IN SIMULATOR. USE THE DEVELOPMENT PROVISION TO TEST IT. AND MAKE SURE YOU LOG OFF YOUR OWN APPLE ID and USE THE TEST USER ID TO DO TEST THE IAP IN SANDBOX ENVIRONMENT! see additional notes.
We are almost done. Finally we need to re-check the purchase in the Keychain everytime the user activate the app. In this case I put it in viewDidLoad - here we call the checking function we created earlier - see how it is useful to have?:


 
 if ([self IAPItemPurchased]) {

        [feature2Btn setBackgroundImage:nil forState:UIControlStateNormal];

    } else {

        [feature2Btn setBackgroundImage:[UIImage imageNamed:@"Locked.png"] forState:UIControlStateNormal];

    }

Here are some screenshots sequence of the IAP in action:







____________________________________

Oops! I forgot one more thing!

Since you will be testing this in your device, you might want to test the IAP a few times. So we need to add another button (which will be hidden or just deleted when you submit the app) to reset the Keychain value.

Just add a button... and implement IBAction for it as below:



-(IBAction)deleteKeyChain:(id)sender {

    NSError *error = nil;

    [SFHFKeychainUtils deleteItemForUsername:@"IAPNoob01" andServiceName:kStoredData error:&error];

}


To test the IAP process again, just tap the button and delete the app in your device, and then rerun it. The app's Feature 2 should be Locked again.

Ok, now we're Done! Yay!


ADDITIONAL NOTES:

Some readers have given me some feedback about how they get a "No Products" alert when running it on the device. Please check that you have assigned Code Signing to the certificates correctly (both development and Release provision profiles). Things you can try:

Reset your app - delete the app in sim, do Clean All in XCode, double check your provisioning profiles (reinstall them if necessary). Remember that bundle ID are case sensitive. Ensure to logout your iTunes Store account in Sim/Device and make sure you login with a test account to test the IAP. Check everything in detail.

Also, I have verified that you can test the IAP in Simulator as well (I tested it using XCode 4.3.1 and Simulator 5.1). Thanks all for your feedbacks!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

How To: Prepare App For Submission and Submit To AppStore In 10 Steps

App completed. So now what?

The Apple documentation will help you a lot in preparing and submitting the app to the App Store. But, as I have experienced it myself long time ago, it could be a confusing and unclear steps to do this because there are no pictures to guide you through it and, some of the terms maybe totally new to some of you, noobs.

So, this tutorial will hopefully help you to submit an app to the appstore using XCode 4.3.1.

1. After you completed your app, tested it in the simulators, the first thing you need is app icons. Create 6 app icons as follows in your image editor (MAKE SURE THEY ARE NAMED EXACTLY AS BELOW - Their names are case sensitive! icon.png and icon.PNG and Icon.png are all different!)

1. Icon.png - 57 x 57 pixels
2. Icon-Small.png - 29 x 29 pixels
3. Icon@2x.png - 114 x 114 pixels
4. Icon-Small@2x.png - 58 x 58 pixels
5. Icon-72.png - 72 x 72 pixels (for iPad) - optional
6. Icon-Small-50.png - 50 x 50 pixels (for iPad) - optional

Once you are done, copy these icons into your project folder and drag and drop them to your Projects' Resources Folder to include them in your project.


 Then open the project's plist file (App-Info.plist, or info.plist) and add a row of "Icon files" (right click and select Add Row), then type Icon files in the field. Press return and you will see the line becoming an expandable list. Click on the triangle to expand it and then you can start adding the Items and icon file names such as below:


2. Next make sure you have included the "Loading" image called Default.png and Default@2x.png into your project. You do not need to specify these anywhere because the SDK will recognize them through their names. The loading image is the image that shows at the beginning of an app execution.


3. Next choose your own custom Bundle Identifier. What the heck is a bundle identifier? Exactly my question when I was trying to submit my first app too! LOL

A bundle identifier is basically some sort of signature of your application binary. It can be any kind of string. But typically, it is of the type com.yourcompany.yourappname. For example, if your app is a flashlight app named myFlash, and your name is David Beckham, your Bundle identifier could be com.beckham.myflash. For another example, Apple's bundle ID is com.apple.iphoto for the iPhoto app. So now you get what a Bundle Identifier is, go on and open your app-info.plist again and enter your bundle identifier in the Bundle Identifier row.

4. Next is to put a version number to your app. Normally, you can put 1.0. Some people use 1.0.0. Some people even just have 1. It is entirely up to you how to do the numbering for the version as long as it is easily manageable to you. Again, to enter version number, open up app-info.plist again and enter it for both  "Bundle versions string, short" and "Bundle version". If any one of these do not exist, add them manually by right clicking and choosing Add Row, and type it in. XCode has an auto complete feature that surely will help you to key in the correct name for it. For my case, I put my app version 2.0 because I was doing an update.


5. At this point your app is just half way from submitting to app store. Next we need to go to the developer's portal and
a) create an App ID and assign Bundle Identifier to it,
b) create Development Provisioning Profile, (so you can test your app in your device) and
c) create Distribution Provisioning Profile (so you can submit your binary to appstore).

By this time, you should know that there are 2 MAIN WEB TOOLS for Developers that Apple provides: 1) iTunesConnect. 2) Apple Developer Portal. 

To create an App ID, you need to enter the Apple Developer Portal (http://developer.apple.com). Then choose iOS. From there, you have to login using the same username and password as your iTunesconnect webtool. This tutorial concentrates on the XCode side, so I'll just briefly explain how to do the above a), b) and c).

a) To create an App ID, once you are logged on to Developer Portal, click the iOS Provisioning Portal link. In the left column, there are Home, Certificates, Devices, App ID, Provisioning, Distribution. To create App ID, click App ID link. At the right top side, there is a button App ID. Click on that and fill in all the necessary info in the form. 

Description: enter whatever name you want for your app ID. This is what will appear in your XCode later. I normally use "<AppName> AppID".

Bundle Seed ID: just leave it as it is. (Default is Use Team ID)

Bundle Identifier: type the identifier you chose in step 3 above. After that just click Submit. Now your app ID is ready.

b) To create Development Provisioning Profile, now in the same page, click "Provisioning" link on the left column. In here, you will see a few tabs, Development, Distribution , History, and How To. Note that How To contains a very good info with detailed step by step on how to do provisioning. In fact, each of the sections (Certificates, Devices, App ID, Provisioning and Distribution) has a How To tab. So if you are stuck, read the info in there. 

Under Development tab, click New Profile. Then enter the info in the form.

Profile Name: Enter a name (something like the app ID description). I normally enter "<AppName> Dev" to make it clear that the profile is a development profile so I can select the correct profile in XCode later on.

Certificates: Tick your company certificate. (If you don't tick, your provision will not be able to sign)

App ID: Select the app id you just created in step a.

Devices: Tick the device you want this profile to link to (i.e only devices you tick will be able to run your app during development and testing). (Adding Devices tutorial is not included here, but you can easily add it by clicking the Devices link and follow the info in How To tab.

Then click Submit and wait for a while and REFRESH the window and you'd be able to download the profile into your mac (Click on the button Download on the right side of the Provision list).

c) To create Distribution Provisioning Profile is EXACTLY the same steps as b) except that you do not need to choose the Devices (the devices options should be disabled).

Once you have created all the necessary provisions (normally just these 2 profiles = 2 files), 2 files should be already downloaded to your mac. To install, just drag and drop them onto your XCode icon in Dock. The Organizer will automatically opened and your profiles should be listed there.

6. Next is for you to choose a product name for your binary. Product name will appear in the user's device right under your app's icon. There is a limit as to how long the name can be, because if it is too long, then it will show as "MyApp...ion". Something like that. So choose the name carefully, and you can test it in your simulator. To input a Product name to your app, select your Project in the left pane of XCode and select the Build Settings of the TARGET in the right pane as shown below. Make sure you select All button and Levels button under Build Settings:


Then, In the search box, type "Product Name" and return. An entry will be shown, so you just enter your app name in there. Here is an example of my app called Everlight. 

7. In the latest XCode, we need to add Architecture info correctly otherwise iPod Touch or older iPhone will not be able to run your app. While in the same page of XCode as in step 6, Search for Architectures (or you can just scroll up to find the Architectures entry. Click on the up-down arrow and select Others...
A window will pop up. Here $(ARCH_STANDARD_32_BIT) means armv7 (i.e the chip that iPhone4 and 4S uses). However iPhone, iPhone 3G, 3GS and iPod all uses armv6. So you need to add it by clicking the + button at the bottom and key in armv6. The order which is first is not important.

8. Now scroll a bit down, and find Code Signing entry. Here you must select the proper profiles. Make sure you select for ALL EIGHT entries like in the screenshot below.

Every single entry should be in BOLD indicating they are correctly selected. If any one of it is not in BOLD, you can try select "Don't Code Sign" for all EIGHT ENTRIES, and then select your profile again for all eight entries. Here is where your Profile Name is useful because when you click the up/down icon on the right of each entry, a list will pop up with all of your available profiles. For Debug row, choose your Development Profile. And for the Release row, choose your Distribution Profile. We are almost done!

9. Next, Click the Summary page of your project's Target as screenshot below:


Here you can verify your Bundle Identifier. Make sure they are matched case per case to the Bundle Identifier you chose earlier. Bundle Identifiers are case sensitive. Here you can also see your Version number. For Devices, select iPhone, unless you just made a universal app or an only iPad app.

Deployment Target  - This is a very important settings. Deployment Target indicates what is the minimum iOS version that a user needs to run your app. A common practice is to allow a support to the lowest possible version, for example, iOS3.2. or 4.0. If you set to 4.0, a user with version 3.2, will not be able to download/buy your app. But a user with iOS4.0, 4.1, 4.3, 5.0 and above will be able to do so.

Supported Device Orientations - Select which orientations that your app support.

App Icons: Should show you your icons properly. And Prerendered option is if you do not want that gloss effect to be added to your icon.

Launch Images: Default.png and Default@2x.png should appear here. If not check back your file name properly.

10. Now you're ready to Submit to App Store. Well, not just yet. You need to add a new application in iTunesConnect Dashboard first! Logon to iTunesConnect and goto Manage Applications and click Add New App button on the top left. Next select the Default Language (English normally for me), and key in your the following:

App Name: App name must be unique, and not a duplicate of those already existed in AppStore. 
App name cannot be changed once your app is approved so choose carefully. However you can change the app name at an app update later on.

SKU Number: This is for your own personal use in the Sales report that Apple will produce. For example, my photo app SKU is called PH-0001. You must decide this for yourself because you will be using the SKU to identify your app in the Sales Report.

Bundle Identifier: You should know this by now. If not, read back from start of this tutorial :P

Click Next and enter the following info:

Availability Date: Don't change it if you want it to be available right after it has been approved.

Price Tier: Select a Price for your app. Tier 1 is 99cents. Tier 2 is 1.99 cents and so on. After you select the Tier, you'd be able to see in a table how much does the Tier represent (if not, click View Pricing Matrix)

Discount For Educational Institution: Tick this if you want educational institution (like university or school) to be able to bulk purchase your app at a 50% discount. For example if your app is 99cent, then if the school purchased 100 copies of your app, they'd just pay $49.50, which is a motivation for them to bulk purchase more.

Click Next, then you can enter your typical app data: Version Number, copyright, Primary and Secondary Categories, App Rating, MetaData, iTunes Artwork Icon and Screenshots. I'm sure you are already familiar with this. But a little important notes:

1. Enter the version number correctly. If the version number entered here does not match to the one entered in XCode, you won't be able to upload your app. 
2. If you haven't prepared Metadata, iTunes Artwork Icon and Screenshots, you can just prepare a "Dummy" images first (iTunes Artwork Icon = size 512x512px , 1 dummy screenshot of 960x640) and upload them, and just type some dummy words in the Description section (like "will add later") at this point because otherwise you won't be able to finish adding a new app data to iTunesConnect!

Finally Click Save and your app data in iTunesConnect is ready and you can now upload your app via XCode. Go back to XCode, open your project , go to XCode menu Product -> Archive.


When you click Archive, Organizer will be fired again showing archives of apps. Select your app name and click Validate. You will need to login with your iTunesConnect account and XCode will analyze your binary for any possible errors or missed items. Once validation is a success, XCode will tell you and you can submit by clicking the Distribute.. button and select "Distribute to AppStore". The similar process will happen again and just wait for the upload to finish.

DONE!

Easy steps? Not really. Worth it? DEFINITELY!

GOOD LUCK!