How to code a working iCloud iOS App? - ios

Question

With the help of a few tutorials I coded my first iCloud App. It is working well in Xcode simulator and on my iPhone and iPad. But as soon as I upload it for TestFlight testing it isn't working anymore.
Here is the whole code for getting and uploading the data. It is a simple one-ViewController Shopping list App which has two arrays: listItems for the current shopping list and shopItems for all items which are added so far. These arrays are stored as string lists in the iCloud recordZone All data are stored locally on the device and in the cloud.
The App is checking the connectivity, the iCloud availability and the fact, if the shopping list was edited while being offline, before it gets the data from iCloud.
// Init all values
var listItems = [String]()
var shopItems = [String]()
var cloudCheck = true
var onlineCheck = true
// Init the user defaults
let defaults = UserDefaults.standard
let privateDatabase = CKContainer.default().privateCloudDatabase
let recordZone = CKRecordZone(zoneName: "ShopListZone")
let predicate = NSPredicate(value: true)
var editedRecord: CKRecord!
override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
super.viewWillAppear(animated)
if let indexPath = tableView.indexPathForSelectedRow {
tableView.deselectRow(at: indexPath, animated: true)
}
if (reachability?.isReachableViaWiFi)! || (reachability?.isReachableViaWWAN)! {
if isICloudContainerAvailable() && defaults.bool(forKey: "changed") == false {
getCloudData()
}
else if isICloudContainerAvailable() && defaults.bool(forKey: "changed") {
loadOffline()
}
else {
cloudCheck = false
}
} else {
onlineCheck = false
loadOffline()
}
}
// Get the record from iCloud
func getCloudData() {
// Connect to iCloud and fetch the data
let query = CKQuery(recordType: "ShopListData", predicate: predicate)
let operation = CKQueryOperation(query: query)
var myItems = [String]()
var allItems = [String]()
operation.recordFetchedBlock = { record in
myItems = record["ListItems"] as! [String]
allItems = record["ShopItems"] as! [String]
}
operation.queryCompletionBlock = { [unowned self] (cursor, error) in
DispatchQueue.main.async {
if error == nil {
self.listItems = myItems
self.shopItems = allItems
self.tableView.reloadData()
} else {
self.cloudCheck = false
print("iCloud load error: \(String(describing: error?.localizedDescription))")
}
}
}
privateDatabase.add(operation)
cloudCheck = true
}
// Upload and save the record to iCloud
#IBAction func uploadShopListData(_ sender: UIButton) {
// Save the shop list in the user defaults
defaults.set(listItems, forKey: "myItems")
// Set bool if saving while offline
if (reachability?.isReachableViaWiFi)! == false && (reachability?.isReachableViaWWAN)! == false {
defaults.set(true, forKey: "changed")
}
// Save the record
if cloudCheck && onlineCheck {
defaults.set(false, forKey: "changed")
saveRecord()
// Show a short message if records were saved successfully
self.myAlertView(title: "iCloud online", message: NSLocalizedString("Shop list was saved in iCloud.", comment: ""))
} else {
// Show a short message if iCloud isn't available
myAlertView(title: "iCloud offline", message: NSLocalizedString("Shop list was saved on iPhone.", comment: ""))
defaults.set(true, forKey: "changed")
}
}
// Save the shop lists
func saveRecord() {
// Connect to iCloud and start operation
let query = CKQuery(recordType: "ShopListData", predicate: predicate)
privateDatabase.perform(query, inZoneWith: recordZone.zoneID) {
allRecords, error in
if error != nil {
// The query returned an error
OperationQueue.main.addOperation {
print("iCloud save error: \(String(describing: error?.localizedDescription))")
// If there is now record yet, create a new one
self.createRecord()
}
} else {
// The query returned the records
if (allRecords?.count)! > 0 {
let newLists = allRecords?.first
newLists?["ListItems"] = self.listItems as CKRecordValue
newLists?["ShopItems"] = self.shopItems as CKRecordValue
self.privateDatabase.save(newLists!, completionHandler: { returnRecord, error in
if error != nil {
// Print an error message
OperationQueue.main.addOperation {
print("iCloud save error: \(String(describing: error?.localizedDescription))")
}
} else {
// Print a success message
OperationQueue.main.addOperation {
print("Shop list was saved successfully")
}
}
})
}
}
}
}
// Create a new record
func createRecord() {
let myRecord = CKRecord(recordType: "ShopListData", zoneID: (self.recordZone.zoneID))
let operation = CKModifyRecordsOperation(recordsToSave: [myRecord], recordIDsToDelete: nil)
myRecord.setObject(self.listItems as CKRecordValue?, forKey: "ListItems")
myRecord.setObject(self.shopItems as CKRecordValue?, forKey: "ShopItems")
operation.modifyRecordsCompletionBlock = { records, recordIDs, error in
if let error = error {
print("iCloud create error: \(String(describing: error.localizedDescription))")
} else {
DispatchQueue.main.async {
print("Records are saved successfully")
}
self.editedRecord = myRecord
}
}
self.privateDatabase.add(operation)
// Show a short message if icloud save was successfull
self.myAlertView(title: "iCloud online", message: NSLocalizedString("Shop list was saved in iCloud.", comment: ""))
}
Any idea, what did I wrong? I read in another post that I should change the iCloud dashboard from development to production, but others say that this should be done only when the App is already on the way to the App store ..

Answer 1

When you upload your app to TestFlight, it's done using live configuration and app will try to connect to production container.
You have two options to test on device:
1) deploy your iCloud schema to production. As you have nothing released yet, it will not break anything.
2) after you archive your project, export it for 'Development deployment'. You will be asked what iCloud Container Environment should be used. You can select 'Development' and install app locally using Apple Configurator

Answer 2

It was not clear to me that setting iCloud Dashboard to production means, that the record type is used, but the record zone I created during development not.
So I have to create the custom record zone first in the createRecord() method (see above). That's it.