Best Approach for maintaining configuration safely - ios

Overview:
I have an iOS project which contains the server configurations in a Plist. I have different plists for different targets (Dev / Stage etc)
Problem:
This plist gets copied to the main bundle, so I feel it is not so safe as one can get it from the ipa file. I would like it not be accessible.
Question:
What would be the best approach to maintain server configurations for different targets ?
Can plists be used if so how to make it not accessible via the ipa file and yet be readable through code ?
Is there a better approach to solve this problem ?

You can avoid using plists by hardcoding the config. This way it is compiled into the app and not easily accessible via the ipa file. It's not entirely secure, but less accessible than a plist.
Create a file MyConfigDev.swift
// this file is added to the Dev target
class Config {
private init() {}
static let shared = Config()
let myParam = "valueForDev"
}
And another file MyConfigStaging.swift
// this file is added to the Staging target
class Config {
private init() {}
static let shared = Config()
let myParam = "valueForStaging"
}
If you build the Dev target the file MyConfigDev.swiftis used, if you build the Staging target the file MyConfigStaging.swiftis used.
In your code you can access the config:
let p = Config.shared.myParam
To get access to your configuration hackers will now need to decompile your ipa.

Related

Storing css an graphics outside .asar

I have an Electron App that - when used - needs to be packed as asar. On the other Hand CSS and graphics sometimes need to be changed while in use. Therefore I need to exclude some of the Files from packaging via --ignoreparameter and copy the unpacked Files manually into the Folder so I can change them easily. For that all of the Paths to my CSS need to be rewritten of course.
But then the App does not work in my development environment because those paths do not exist if not packed.
Does anybody know a Solution where I can access my CSS and graphic files in both environments - packed and unpacked?
You could use electron-is-dev to check if the app is running in a development environment or if it's in production. You would then use the file path that corresponds.
Something along the lines of:
const isDev = require('electron-is-dev')
if (isDev) {
//use development path (unpacked)
} else {
// use production path (packed)
}

Client configuration in Electron

I am quite new to Electron and I have two questions regarding configuration of my app.
1) Looking for a way to store client configuration (similar to app.config of .Net Apps).
Why I need this:
I am working on a desktop electron app. This app will be distributed to a number of machines and each of them need to have different configuration values.
2) Need a way to package electron app with predefined configuration for a specific machine.
Example:
Machine 1's config: MachineID='M01', MachineType='A'
Machine 2's config: MachineID='M02', MachineType='B'
Appreciate the support!
For me it was the same but I needed to save settings about the window so I made a settings.js file and stored my settings in there.
For you your settings file would contain something like this:
exports.machineType = 'A';
And you would get it in your app like this:
var settings = require('./settings.js');
var machineType = settings.machineType;
if (machineType == 'A') {
// Do things for machine type A.
} else {
// Do things for machine type B.
}

Xcode Localizable.string multiple targets issue

I have a project with multiple targets, which represent the same app just with different styling and translations.
Since almost whole project looks the same for each target, I need to have just few strings in Localizable.strings file, that I need to be different. And I don't want to copy whole huge Localizable.strings file to each project just because of the fact it has few lines different.
It is required for me to have just 1 strings file because of third-party libraries/SDK that are included in project. So I cannot use tableName for localizedString.
The problem is - I need to have a flexible possibility to override just few lines from Localizable.strings for each target separately. And I don't like the idea just to copy whole file to each target, cause it will lead to annoying flow in the future, in case I will have 10 targets and I need to add 1 string to all of them.
The goal is to have 1 huge Localizable.strings file with all strings included, that would be common for all targets, and have small configuration for each target for the strings that should tell different. So target's file should kinda merge and override the one that is common.
AFAIK it is not natively supported by Xcode, so I'm probably looking for a script that would make it works.
So, script should look into common and target's Localizable files, merge them, and in case some keys are defined in both, then it should use the one from target's file.
Can anyone help me with such script?
P.S. Similar issue exists with .xcassets, and CocoaPods solves it by merging multiple assets into 1, and it works as expected - if some targets has an asset containing the image with the same name that is already included into a common asset, then the one from target will replace it.
P.S.2. Similar feature is natively supported for Android devs - each image, each translations can be overridden by "child" flawor, or whatever it is called :)
TL;DR:
Example project: https://github.com/JakubMazur/SO45279964
OK, the easier thing to do would be shell/python script, because it will work for every build server. I assume that you have a different scheme for each target (otherwise it will make no sense). So what you can do is:
Let's say your target is named:
target1
target2
target3
1) Create separate files contains all the strings that should be different (i will put it under Localizable directory.
Your Localizable.strings file may look like this:
"someGeneralString" = "General string 1";
"AppName" = "This is a string that you probably need to change";
"someOtherGeneralString" = "General string 2";
And any of your targetX.strings file may look like this:
"AppName" = "target[x]"
And here is how it should look like in your project:
Note that your target localizable files should has target membership set only to one target, but your Localizable.strings should be for all targets!
That's all for project configuration. Let's go to scripting (I will use python for that):
#!/usr/bin/python
import sys
supportedLanguages = ["en","pl"]
commonPath = ".lproj/Localizable.strings"
keys = ["AppName"]
class CopyLocalizable():
target = ""
def __init__(self,arg):
self.target = arg
self.perform()
def perform(self):
for lang in supportedLanguages:
pathToLocalizable = lang+commonPath
textToFile = ""
with open(pathToLocalizable,"r") as languageFile:
for line in languageFile.readlines():
for key in keys:
if key in line:
textToFile += self.foundAndReplace(key,lang)
else:
textToFile += line
self.saveInFile(pathToLocalizable,textToFile)
def foundAndReplace(self,key,lang):
pathToTargetFile = "Localizable/"+lang+".lproj/"+self.target+".strings"
with open(pathToTargetFile,"r") as targetFile:
for targetLine in targetFile.readlines():
if key in targetLine:
return targetLine
def saveInFile(self,file,stringToSave):
with open(file,"w+") as languageFile:
languageFile.write(stringToSave)
You can optimize it yourself. It's easier script i can think about to get a job done.
And in the end let's automate it a bit:
- Go to your target
- add a new build phase
- Add a new script:
export PATH="/usr/local/bin:$PATH"
cd SO45279964/
python localize.py target[x]
and watch a magic happen ;)
http://www.giphy.com/gifs/26n6NKgiwYvuQk7WU
Here you can find example project that I've created to run this example:
https://github.com/JakubMazur/SO45279964
To keep it simple, Have a Macro defined for each target in Build Settings & define target specific strings within macro section like
#ifdef __TARGET__
//key values in localizable file
#endif

How to access Build Settings in Xcode 6?

There seems to be a lot of variations of how to access the Build Settings variables (i.e. to define the base URL of a web service for different Debug vs. Release environments).
I created a User-Defined variable in Project -> Building Settings, one for each environment. Let's call it WEB_SERVICE_BASE_URL.
How do I access it in the code? I'm using XCode 6 and Swift.
I've tried this but it doesn't work
let api_key = ${WEB_SERVICE_BASE_URL}
I've also tried this and it also doesn't work
let api_key = NSUserDefaults.standardUserDefaults().stringForKey("WEB_SERVICE_BASE_URL")
Any suggestions? This seems to be a often needed solution, it's so easy in Rails, but not so in iOS development.
Here's how to set it up:
Add a User-Defined setting to your target's Build Settings (which you did with WEB_SERVICE_BASE_URL)
Add a new row to your target's Info.plist file with key: WEB_SERVICE_BASE_URL, type: String, value: ${WEB_SERVICE_BASE_URL}
Here's how get the value:
let api_key = Bundle.main.object(forInfoDictionaryKey: "WEB_SERVICE_BASE_URL") as? String
Note: These keys/values can be extracted from the package, so be sure to avoid storing sensitive data in there.

How do I derive physical path of a relative directory inside Config.groovy?

I am trying to set up Weceem using the source from GitHub. It requires a physical path definition for the uploads directory, and for a directory for appears to be used for writing searchable indexes. The default setting for uploads is:
weceem.upload.dir = 'file:/var/www/weceem.org/uploads/'
I would like to define those using relative paths like WEB-INF/resources/uploads. I tried a methodology I have used previously for accessing directories with relative path like this:
File uploadDirectory = ApplicationHolder.application.parentContext.getResource("WEB-INF/resources/uploads").file
def absoluteUploadDirectory = uploadDirectory.absolutePath
weceem.upload.dir = 'file:'+absoluteUploadDirectory
However, 'parentContext' under ApplicationHolder.application is NULL. Can anyone offer a solution to this that would allow me to use relative paths?
look at your Config.groovy you should have (maybe it is commented)
// locations to search for config files that get merged into the main config
// config files can either be Java properties files or ConfigSlurper scripts
// "classpath:${appName}-config.properties", "classpath:${appName}-config.groovy",
grails.config.locations = [
"file:${userHome}/.grails/${appName}-config.properties",
"file:${userHome}/.grails/${appName}-config.groovy"
]
Create Conig file in deployment server
"${userHome}/.grails/${appName}-config.properties"
And define your prop (even not relative path) in that config file.
To add to Aram Arabyan's response, which is correct, but lacks an explanation:
Grails apps don't have a "local" directory, like a PHP app would have. They should be (for production) deployed in a servlet container. The location of that content is should not be considered writable, as it can get wiped out on the next deployment.
In short: think of your deployed application as a compiled binary.
Instead, choose a specific location somewhere on your server for the uploads to live, preferably outside the web server's path, so they can't be accessed directly. That's why Weceem defaults to a custom folder under /var/www/weceem.org/.
If you configure a path using the externalized configuration technique, you can then have a path specific to the server, and include a different path on your development machine.
In both cases, however, you should use absolute paths, or at least paths relative to known directories.
i.e.
String base = System.properties['base.dir']
println "config: ${base}/web-app/config/HookConfig.grooy"
String str = new File("${base}/web-app/config/HookConfig.groovy").text
return new ConfigSlurper().parse(str)
or
def grailsApplication
private getConfig() {
String str = grailsApplication.parentContext.getResource("config/HookConfig.groovy").file.text
return new ConfigSlurper().parse(str)
}

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