Programming iOS 6, 3rd Edition

Ad Hoc Distribution

To create and distribute an Ad Hoc distribution build, first switch to the iOS Device destination in the Scheme pop-up menu in the project window toolbar. Until you do this, the Product → Archive menu item will be disabled. You do not have to have a device connected; you are not building to run on a particular device, but to save an archive.

Apple’s docs say that an Ad Hoc distribution build should include an icon that will appear in iTunes, but my experience is that this step is unnecessary. If you want to include this icon, it should be a PNG or JPEG file, 512×512 pixels in size, and its name should be iTunesArtwork, with no file extension. Make sure the icon is included in the build, being present in the Copy Bundle Resources build phase.

Now choose Product → Archive. The build is created and copied into a date folder within ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives; it also appears in the Organizer window in the Archives tab. Locate the archive in the Organizer window. You can add a comment here; you can also change the archive’s name (this won’t affect the name of the app).

Note

If Xcode refuses to build because of a Code Sign error, it may help to close the project window and delete this project’s entire build folder from the DerivedData directory, as described earlier in this chapter. When you reopen the project, after Xcode has finished reindexing it, check the build settings for your Distribution configuration; it may help to set once again the value of Any iOS ...