Lets say I have an iOS App for let's say, Football news, now I want to create an other version for Basketball news that will be based mostly on the Football App but with a freedom to create a different behaviour in some aspects of each app + adding more apps in the future for other news subjects.
An other condition is that they will have a separate CoreData model, assets, icon etc.
As I understand I have few options:
Manage the apps separately, place them in the same directory and point to the shared files in the first (Football app).
Create a different target for each app in the same project
Create a Workspace with one project that will hold the common code and a project for each project.
What are the pros / cons for each option and what are the best practices in this situation ?
Just to clarify - the apps I mention are an example, the App is not for news, and it must be a different app for each concept.
Thanks
I work in an enterprise environment, and we have a mobile app that's a product of the company I work for. We sell licenses of that software to our costumers, which are always huge companies. Our app doesn't go through the App Store.
Each of our clients have some sort of customization on the app, either by simply changing their logos or even adding some specific features for one of them. What I mean by this is: we have to deal everyday with a situation very close to what you are describing, and here's my two cents.
In advance: sorry if I'm too honest sometimes, I don't mean to offend anyone.
1. Manage the apps separately, place them in the same directory and point to the shared files in the first (Football app).
Well... That's a weird solution, but it sure could work. It might be hard to maintain locally and even harder when using SVN/Git (specially when working on a team).
I had some issues before related to symbolic links before, but I'm not sure if that's what you are referring to in this option. If you explain a little bit better, I can edit this and try to give you a better opinion.
2. Create a different target for each app in the same project
That's a better start, in my opinion.
We use this approach mostly to handle various possible backend servers. For example, one of our targets uses our development backend server, while another target uses the production server. This helps us ensure that we can use the development-targetted app without risking serious costs to our team (due to a mistakenly placed order, for instance).
In your case, you could for example configure preprocessor macros on the targets to enable/disable some target-specific feature that's called by code. You could also use different storyboards for each target.
The downside of this option is that the code will be messy, because every piece of code will be on the same project. This is the main reason why I'd go with option #3.
3. Create a Workspace with one project that will hold the common code and a project for each project.
Again, I'd go for this. To be honest, we're not using this at our company YET, but that's due to internal reasons. I'm trying to get this going for our projects as soon as possible.
I wouldn't call it easy to set up, but if done properly it can help you save some time because of maintenance reasons. You'll be able to reuse any code that's possible to reuse, and still be able to keep your target-specific images, classes and views to their own "container"(project).
This way you'll get a default project (the app itself), multiple targets for it, and a "framework" to keep the code for each one of the targets. In other words, you'll be able to share code between the multiple targets/apps, and at the same time you'll be able to separate what belongs to each one of them. No messy project :)
I'm not sure about how CoreData is compiled by Xcode, as we're not using it. But check out the answer I just did for another question. It's not Swift, but that shouldn't make much difference as almost all of the answer is about configuring the workspace to achieve this solution. Unfortunately I think it too big, that's the reason why I'm linking the answer instead of pasting it here.
If you need any help setting that up, let me know and I'll do my best to help you.
This may be overkill for you, but this solution is scalable. We had to build ~15 apps from one codebase
The problem we had to solve was branding. Application design and flow was basically the same, along with the structure of the data we received.
A lot of the heavy lifting was done by our CI server.
We had a core application with all of the UI and some common business logic. this was known as the White-app.
We then had a specific project (frameworks didn't exist then) for each of the different endpoints & data models and mappers into the White-app's view models. Those applications were private pods and managed by cocoa pods.
Our CI was configured in a way that it would compile all 'Branded' app's by copying, compiling, signing all the varying plist, assets, string files into each application along with each of the specific data models for each application. So when a end-to-end build was triggered, it would build all the different branded apps.
The advantage of this is the target layout within Xcode is not cluttered, we had a release, test and development target which applied to each application built. This meant our project was succinct with no risk of accidentally editing a branded apps build settings.
This solution will also provide you with an .xcworkspace (mostly utilised by cocoa pods) which contains reference to the the different model pod's
This solution because it is work to setup i.e when building in Xcode we created a special scheme which installed a pod and copied in all the correct assets (as CI would)
This is a question that many developers were thinking about many times, and they came up with different solutions specific to their needs. Here's my thoughts on this.
Putting the common parts, which you could see as the core, into something separate is a good thing. Besides supporting reusability, it often improves code quality by the clear separation and clean interfaces. From my experience, this makes testing also easier. How you package this is determined by what you put in there. A static library is a pretty good start for core business logic, but lacks support for Swift, and resources are painful to include. Frameworks are great, but raise the bar on the minimum iOS development target. Of course, if you're just using very few files, just adding the folder to your app projects might work as well - keeping the project structure up to date can be automated (the dropbox/djinni thing does this), but it's a non-trivial approach.
Then there are the actual products to build, which must include the core module, and the individual parts. This could be a project with several targets, or a workspace with several projects, or a mix of both. In the given context, I make my decision based on how close the apps relate. If one is just a minor change from the other, like changing a sports team, or configuring some features out as in light vs. pro, this would be different targets in the same project. On the other hand, I'd use different projects (maybe arranged within a common workspace) if the apps are clearly different, like a Facebook client and a Twitter client, a board game app for offline play and an online gaming app etc.
Of course, there are many more things to consider. For example, if you build your app for clients and ship the sources, separate projects are probably needed
.
It's better to create a framework that will contain the most shared code you need in all 3 options. Also, the first option is bad in any case. For better control it is better to have 2 or 3 option. The workspace is more preferable, imho, since it will not harm to other sub-projects if you, for example, will decide to use cocoapods. The workspace also allows you to have a different set of localizations in each project. Plus, only targets that related to a specific project will appear in targets list, which is better than a bunch of target in one pile (if you have, for example, a share extension in all products - it will be frustrating to find one you need). What you choose depends on your needs, but both second and third options are good enough.
I think that the best way to do that is something that encloses all the 3.
First I would create a configurable framework, that shares with all targets everything that they have in common, from UI (elements such as custom alerts etc) to business logic.
Then I will create different bundles or folders for each target checking the membership target (in these way you guarantee only to import the exact resources), then using preprocessor macro you can create a path builder specific to the right bundle or directory where your resources reside.
During the years I've collected some interesting links about best practice.
Here they are:
Use asset catalog with multiple targets
Use multiple tagets XCode 6
XCode groups vs Folders
Create libraries with resources
Create lite and pro version of an app
I know that in SWIFT they made some changes about preprocessor macros, so some article are still valid but little bit outdated.
We all face this kind of situation. But here are the things I do and maybe you can pick something here that can help you. (I hope).
have a project that contains the core features
have modular projects that can be used by other variants of the product
manage the project under version control or git flow that will help keep the main source / project under the main branch accessible through branches / features
create new branch / feature for the project variant if necessary or just enable / disable or use project modules needed for that variant (whatever is most appropriate on the current setup).
if the app has a web service that it connects to, provide a licensing stage where the mobile app will do it's first ever request to a common (to all variants or even all mobile apps) web service URL. This web service interprets the request and respond with the given information to what the app's settings will be (e.g. web service to connect to for the given license number, modules to be enabled, client's logo, etc).
the main projects and modules created can be converted to frameworks, libraries or even bundles for resources & assets depending on the level or frequency of changes done to these items. If these items are constantly changing or updated by others, then don't compress it; have a workspace with targets that link the whole project / module to the current project variant so that the changes to these modules reflect immediately (with consideration of version control of course).
I'm having a class with stuff that changes per build. For the debug build some network calls are different because of another server, release and mock too.
In Android I use flavors and put in each flavor a file with the same name but the code is different.
I'm searching for the same possibility in xCode. I've seen tutorials like this but thats doing it via plists. But it's not working for classes.
There are so many ways to do this.
My personal favorite is to use multiple Targets. I won't go into real detail here as a simple google search should reveal plenty of information on how to create and work with multiple targets.
I prefer targets because it is so simple to switch between them depending upon your needs and the fact that you can have each of the targets on one device as needed. For example you can have a current production version of your app on the device along with your latest dev and QA versions as well.
An alternative would be to use "Categories" - again google should get you plenty of information to implement.
Use the category to extend your class with the specific information you need for each environment. Create multiple iterations of your category (one for each group of settings) and use a pre-build script to copy the desired instance into your project.
The XCode documentation on the concepts of Targets and Projects are helpful, but still I am not certain on the best practices to use in my situation.
I have an existing codebase (used for Windows as well as iOS) in a single SVN repository, which has just been refactored from one single test application into a central library and an application. The idea is more applications will use this central library over time.
An XCode project maps one set of source files to one or more targets, so I could have a single project for my whole codebase and one target for the library and one for each app. However each app will obviously have its own code, so it seems a bit clunky to throw all the source into a single project this way.
Alternatively I could have a workspace with multiple projects, each having a single target. This is much more how I have things set up for the Windows build, where a Visual Studio solution corresponds to the Xcode workspace, and a VC++ project would map neatly against how XCode projects are organised.
But are there 'normal' / expected ways to do things in this kind of situation, some unofficial standards I should try to follow so other developers don't get confused?
Targets nowadays are used to build dependencies and separate builds within a project. You'll see it being used mainly for unit testing. Occasionally, you might have different binaries available to different processors or operating systems, but this is a rarity in today's app store world.
Generally, you'd have one project for each executable. This allows it to be worked on independently and compiled separately without interfering with each other.
You can include projects within projects, which allows you to work on them independently and set up dependencies for them. You can set up a project to build a sub-project and deposit it's executable in a location for your project to link to.
I would say for your situation, make a library project with executable and testing targets. Then include that project in other projects and you can link to or move the files to your other project's location. Here's the gist of how to do it.
I know you don't mention them, but workspaces were basically added to allow you to have multiple projects open in a single window. You can have all your test applications and reference code available without them compiling in the background as well. I find it super handy.
The key difference is that each target is in exactly one project, but one project can be a part of many workspaces. This lets you have projects Lib, AppA, and AppB, and then WorkspaceA = [AppA, Lib] and WorkspaceB = [AppB, Lib], so that developers working on AppA don't have to load stuff related to AppB. As a general recommendation it's a good idea to create projects for things that you might want to share independently.
When I share code between one or more projects (be it Xcode or another IDE), I typically compile the shared parts into a binary and then link it to the code specific projects.
In your setup, something like an Xcode project just to compile a dylib from shared C++ files, and then a main Xcode project that links with this dylib.
Suppose that I have similar apps that share a lot of code. Paid and free versions, whitelabeled apps for different client companies, that sort of thing. In general, the differences between apps would be relatively minor; some images would be different, some text would be different, some kind of flag values would be different--the shared code would check for those values and change behavior accordingly.
A nice bonus, but not essential, would be for each app to be able to add code to extend/override some of the shared code.
I have read of several different approaches--there may be more I haven't considered.
one .framework file used in many repositories
I don't know much about this, but I gather it would be like making a JAR in Java; compiling code to be used as-is by other programs. This might work well for a general-purpose library to be used by many different kinds of apps, but as far as I know it is not suitable for the above purpose (correct me if I am wrong).
one repository, one project, multiple targets
From what I understand, this is most popular for the "one app with paid and free versions" situation, where there is only a very tiny difference between the apps produced--they are essentially the same app.
However, I don't know how flexible this is in terms of changes between the different targets. I gather it's possible to set a different .plist file for each target, and that can result in different text, flags or (through some kind of awkward workaround) different images for the apps, and that is it, correct?
I also feel uncomfortable with using one repository for multiple projects, but when they are this closely related, perhaps it doesn't matter.
one repository, one workspace, multiple projects
Although this seems to be a cleaner division among the projects, I'm not sure if there's a good way to separate resources for the different projects. The most logical solution would be to have different folders for resources for different projects, and include them in the workspace with only one target each--but I can't seem to do that. Apart from that, there seems to be little difference between this and the previous option.
So, what is the right way to make shared code for multiple projects that only have a few differences from one another? Is it one of the above methods (and if so, how do you do it?) or is it something different?
I prefer to have separate projects and a separate folder for each project.
You then bring each shared unit into the project as you need it. Shared features (most features) go in the shared units.
If you want to upgrade one project with the latest Rest.h and Rest.m, you bring it into the project folder. Maybe on the next project, you're not ready to upgrade to the latest.
You will have duplicate files (one for each project), but it allows you to update, test, and finely control each project atomically.
One repository or not, it doesn't matter, since the projects will have different folders and the shared files will be duplicated (possibly different versions in each, with the trunk having the latest shared files).
On a side note, I hope these many similar apps don't all end up in the App Store.
I am developing an iOS app. Right now it is one app and two targets (app and tests).
Getting closer to publishing I want to split this app into three apps with lots of shared code and shared tests. (Think of free version and full version for App Store and prototyping app that will not be published).
Would you set up multiple projects in Xcode (1 library project and 3 app projects) or keep all in one project and only set up multiple targets?
I think you have at least 3 options here:
Separate projects. It is more difficult to share code across projects, but with Xcode workspaces this is quite feasible. If you have a lot of customization for each project, this might make sense.
Same project, more targets. This is the usual way this is done. It is very easy because you have a very neat overview of what files go into which target. If you have around, say, a dozen or so targets, it is really quite easy to handle.
Separate git branches. I have worked with this in the past. The differences between the apps (Info.plist, configuration files, data files) are just swapped in the corresponding git branch. This is practical if you have a lot of data and don't need to have all of it available at all times. However, the complexity of git is considerable if you are not familiar with it. You can create git submodules to change the shared code parts in one go.
I would suggest you a hybrid approach depends on your needs
If you need several applications - create Target, that is exactly what they are for. You can handle sharing files using Target Membership[About]
If you have source code which can be separated into module - create additional Project (for shared source) inside Workspace. This technic is used by CocoaPods
[Xcode Workspace vs Project]
[Xcode components]