Application descriptor of native API applications for iOS

In the application descriptor, you define various aspects of the native API application for iOS.

The application descriptor file is a metadata file in which you define various aspects of the application. It is in the application root directory and its name is application-descriptor.xml.

The following example shows the format of the application descriptor file of native API applications for iOS:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<nativeIOSApp 
  id="ios"
  platformVersion="6.0.0"
  version="1.0"
  securityTest="security test name"
  bundleId="com.ios"
  xmlns="http://www.worklight.com/native-ios-descriptor">
  <displayName>application display name</displayName>
  <description>application description</description>
  <pushSender password="${push.apns.senderpassword}"/>
</nativeIOSApp>

The content of the application descriptor file is as follows.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<nativeIOSApp 
  id="ios"
  platformVersion="6.0.0"
  version="1.0"
  securityTest="security test name"
  bundleId="com.ios"
  xmlns="http://www.worklight.com/native-ios-descriptor">

The <nativeIOSApp> element is the root element of the descriptor. It takes three mandatory attributes and two optional attributes:

id

This attribute specifies the ID of the application. The ID must be identical to the application folder name. It must be an alphanumeric string that starts with a letter. It can contain underscore ("_") characters. It must not be a reserved word in JavaScript.

platformVersion

Contains the version of MPF on which the app was developed.

version

This attribute specifies the version of the application. This version is a string of the form x.y, where x and y are numbers. It is visible to users who download the app from the app store or market.

securityTest

This optional attribute specifies a security configuration defined in authenticationConfig.xml. When a client attempts to access a protected resource, IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation checks whether the client is already authenticated according to the security test. If the client is not yet authenticated, IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation starts the process to obtain the client credentials and to verify them.

bundleId

This optional attribute specifies the bundle ID of the application.

<displayName>

This element contains the application name. This name is visible in the operations console and is copied to the descriptor files of various web and desktop environments.

<displayName>application display name</displayName>

<description>

This element contains the application description. This description is visible in the operations console and is copied to the descriptor files of various web and desktop environments.

<description>application description</description>

<pushSender>

This element defines the password to the SSL certificate that encrypts the communication link with the Apple Push Notification Service (APNS).

<pushSender password="${push.apns.senderpassword}"/>

</nativeIOSApp>

This tag closes the content of the application descriptor file.

</nativeIOSApp>

Parent topic: Develop native applications for iOS