For up-to-date product documentation, see the IBM MobileFirst Foundation Developer Center.
Importing and building the project (Android, iOS, Windows Phone)
You must import the IBMAppCenter project into MobileFirst Studio and then build the project.
Follow the normal procedure to import a project into MobileFirst Studio.
Application Center requires MobileFirst Studio for importing and building the IBMAppCenter project. MobileFirst Studio is not part of IBM MobileFirst™ Platform Foundation, but if you purchased this product, you are entitled to the full cross-platform version of the product as well.
Note: For V8.0.0, use MobileFirst Studio 7.1. We can download MobileFirst Studio from the Downloads page of the Developer Center website. Click the Previous MobileFirst Platform Foundation releases tab for the download link. For installation instructions, see Install MobileFirst Studio in the IBM® Knowledge Center for 7.1.
Procedure
- Select File > Import.
- Select General > Existing Project into Workspace.
- On the next page, select Select root directory and locate the root of the IBMAppCenter project.
- Select IBMAppCenter project.
- Select Copy projects into workspace. This selection creates a copy of the project in your workspace. On UNIX systems, the IBMAppCenter project is read only at the original location. so copying projects into workspace avoids problems with file permissions.
- Click Finish to import the IBMAppCenter project into MobileFirst Studio.
What to do next
Build the IBMAppCenter project. The MobileFirst project contains a single application named AppCenter. Right-click the application and select Run as > Build All Environments.
- Android
- MobileFirst Studio generates a native Android project in IBMAppCenter/apps/AppCenter/android/native. A native Android development tools (ADT) project is in the android/native folder. We can compile and sign this project by using the ADT tools. This project requires Android SDK level 16 to be installed, so that the resulting APK is compatible with all Android versions 2.3 and later. If you choose a higher level of the Android SDK when you build the project, the resulting APK will not be compatible with Android version 2.3.
See the Android site for developers for more specific Android information that affects the mobile client application.
If we want to enable push notifications for application updates, we must first configure the Application Center client properties. See Configure push notifications for application updates for more information.
- iOS
- MobileFirst Studio generates a native iOS project in IBMAppCenter/apps/AppCenter/iphone/native. The IBMAppCenterAppCenterIphone.xcodeproj file is in the iphone/native folder. This file is the Xcode project that we must compile and sign by using Xcode.
See The Apple developer site to learn more about how to sign the iOS mobile client application. To sign an iOS application, we must change the Bundle Identifier of the application to a bundle identifier that can be used with the provisioning profile that we use. The value is defined in the Xcode project settings as com.your_internet_domain_name.appcenter, where your_internet_domain_name is the name of your internet domain.
If we want to enable push notifications for application updates, we must first configure the Application Center client properties. See Configure push notifications for application updates for more information.
- Windows Phone 8
- MobileFirst Studio generates a native Windows Phone 8 project in IBMAppCenter/apps/AppCenter/windowsphone8/native. The AppCenter.csproj file is in the windowsphone8/native folder. This file is the Visual Studio project that we must compile by using Visual Studio and the Windows Phone 8.0 SDK.
The application is built with the Windows Phone 8.0 SDK so that it can run on Windows Phone 8.0 and 8.1 devices. It is not built with the Windows Phone 8.1 SDK, because the result would not run on earlier Windows Phone 8.0 devices.
The installation of Visual Studio 2013 enables you to select the installation of the Windows Phone 8.0 SDK in addition to the 8.1 SDK. The Windows Phone 8.0 SDK is also available from Windows Phone SDK Archives.
See Windows Phone Dev Center to learn more about how to build and sign the Windows Phone mobile client application.
Parent topic: Preparations for using the mobile client