application loader inapp purchase import disappeared - ios

Until last week, we could import text files with several in-app purchases in application loader on MacOS. Now, we can only submit application binaries.
I try to find another solution to import several in-app at one time but with no success.
How to import in-app at one time now?

I stumbled upon the same issue, and the new way of doing this is through XML Delivery using a command-line app called Transporter.
Data should be prepared in a specific format specified here:
http://help.apple.com/itc/appsspec/#/itc5b4d94692
Transporter tool user guide:
https://help.apple.com/itc/transporteruserguide/#/itc0d5b535bf

With version 3.7 of Application Loader, Apple no longer supports in-app delivery:
Application Loader 3.7 no longer supports in-app purchase delivery. You can create in-app purchases, add metadata, and set pricing using iTunes Connect. XML Delivery is also available to create in-app purchases and add metadata and pricing, as well as uploading hosted content associated with your non-consumable in-app purchases.
Source: http://help.apple.com/itc/apploader/#/apdS73193199
Besides manually adding each product individually through iTunesConnect, I don't know if there's a way now to bulk upload products. Has anyone had any luck another way?

Related

Application Loader not showing option to import inAppPurchase

I have a weird case, I have application loader 3.7 and I want to use to upload a mass of in-app Purchase items to iTunes. But to my astonishment the the button for import and the one for in-app purchase no longer shows on the application loader as shown in the screenshot.
I tried loading previous version 3.1, but same problem occurred.
What could be wrong with the program, and is there any alternative for submitting the items?
I'm sorry but unfortunately the only solution is for Apple to roll out a fix.
It's a bug on the iTunes end.
After contacting the Apple team they have assured that there is no current way to upload a bulk of in-app purchase on iTunes but instead they have suggested that we create a set of items based on their price.
For example, we sell eBooks so we have created items like eBook1 that stands for all books that cost 1$ and eBook2 for all books that cost 2$...

Why does Application Loader need to be used to upload an app if it uses IAP?

From this documentation on iTunes connect, in the section on uploading builds it says:
Use Application Loader if your app includes in-app purchase products
that need to be configured for the app
https://help.apple.com/itunes-connect/developer/#/dev82a6a9d79
Why does Application Loader need to be used if the app has IAP?
So if the app needs to be tested internally and externally first, does that mean it gets submitted to TestFlight for testing, but then cannot be submitted from TestFlight and Application Loader has to be used?
Seems bonkers, is the documentation inaccurate?
The documentation is saying that you need to use Application Loader if you need to configure products for in app purchase. Some types of in app purchases have artifacts that Apple hosts for you and downloads to your app when the user purchases them. I believe that is what the documentation is talking about. Those items get uploaded with the Application Loader.

Adding new In-app purchases through Application Loader

I am using Application Loader to add 3 new In-App Purchases. I have 14 currently for sale.
When I add the new 3 (with hosted content), validate, then press Deliver.
I get this error
The archive for In-App Purchase 'com.xxx.xxx' is invalid.
The 'ContentVersion' in the ContentInfo.plist must have a higher value
than the current version.
Where com.xxx.xxx is an old, live hosted content In-app Purchase...
If I change the ContentVersion of com.xxx.xxx will it affect users who have bought it? Why would I need to change it anyway?
The number of In-App Purchases won't play a factor: Apple Quote: "Application Loader supports a maximum of 1,000 In-App Purchases per application." from Using Application Loader.
Make sure all the Product IDs you've set in the In-App Purchase summary are identical to the ones associated with the ones located in your app's .plist file. According to Apple's: In-App Purchase Programming Guide, changes to the plist identifiers may cause issues with the users' previous purchases in the app:
Checkout Ray Wenderlich's tutorial on In-App Purchases. It's pretty straightforward and regularly updated.
All you need to do is change the ContentVersion string in your ContentInfo.plist from ver 1.0 to 2.0 before submitting to iTunes connect. If your IAP was not approved by apple then it would just overwrite version 1.0 but if your updating an approved IAP you have to incremnet the version.
Turns out this was an Apple error and it's fixed itself. Didn't have to change anything. Just waited for them to fix it.

How can I use Application Loader to mass input In-App Purchases to iTunes Connect?

I have 120+ IAP's to add. All very similar in a way. I've been told an application called Application Loader works off of JSON, and you can just enter 1 IAP, and then write a script to create all the remaining IAP's via JSON.
How can I do this? I've only opened Application Loader today and poked around a little bit.
Can anyone give a step-by-step detailed process?
There are four steps to add multiple IAPs to iTunes Connect using the Application Loader (Version 3.0 at the time of writing):
Open the Application Loader and access the template via the menu "File" --> "Open App Import Template". Copy the template somewhere else and open it with Excel or something similar.
Add all your IAP Information and save the file as a .txt. (Leave the screenshot column empty.)
Create a directory where you add screenshots for each IAP. The filename should match the product id of the IAP item. Example: "com.companyname.appname.productId.png".
Use the import function of the Application Loader, where you will provide the .txt and will be asked for the screenshots.
If everything goes well your IAPs are now added and you can open iTunes Connect to submit them for review.
References:
Stackoverflow similar question
iOS How I can load multiple in-app items
Instructions for adding multiple IAPs by Paperlit http://support.paperlit.com/entries/21684663-How-to-submit-multiple-iOS-In-App-Purchases
"In-App Purchase Configuration Guide for iTunes Connect" by Apple
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/iTunesConnectInAppPurchase_Guide/iTunesConnectInAppPurchase_Guide.pdf
"Using Application Loader" by Apple https://itunesconnect.apple.com/docs/UsingApplicationLoader.pdf

Testing in app purchase on iOS

I want to add an in-app purchase mechanishm to my application. As I understand from Apple documents, I have to send my binary before I add some in-app purchasing code.
I'm not sure about something. If I send my binary with the 1.0 version, will I able to publish my application with the 1.0 version in future? Because I will add some in-app purchase after my app is reviewed and accepted by Apple and send it (or update it) again.
How this mechanishm works in Apple? How can I handle this?
You have to upload the binary and then Apple will hopefully will approve you application.
When Apple have approved your application you can either choose to release it to app-store or wait and add more code.
You are confused, you need to add the in-app purchase code with your 1.0 binary. Also submit any existing in-app purchases to be reviewed along with your binary.
If you need to add more in-app purchases in the future, you can either submit a new binary with the new in-app purchases. Or, if you don't need code changes to add new IAPs, you can simply create them on itunes connect and submit them for review without updating the binary.
In conclusion, there is NO version of the binary that needs to be submittied WITHOUT the IAP-related code.

Resources