Handling Multiple Targets & Environments in iOS

Hey Folks,

Finally writing something that I wanted to do from long time.
Handling multiple targets in an iOS Project that deal with multiple environments.

Lets Start.

1) Create a New Project or you can start with an existing Project.
    I will be using new one named HelloGradle which I will be using in Gradle integration also.

2) So in my Project i was provided with a default target as HelloGradle. I renamed it as "A".

3) Now lets add more Targets.

• Click on Project.
• Right Click on any Target.
• Duplicate.
• Rename it as "B".
• Perform this task to add more Targets. I added 6 in total "A - F".

4) Name still not changed : You will observe that Target names are still not changed at all places

Go to Manage Schemes. It will show all targets. Select a Target press Enter change Name and Press Enter.

5) Now rename the plist files associated with each Target.

• Click on Target.
• Build settings.
• Packaging.
• Rename plist file for all targets as A-Info.plist , B-Info.plist .......... F-Info.plist.

                                                         

6) Build and Run : It will work fine as usual. Currently there are only 2 build Configurations namely "Debug" & "Release"

7) Now I wish to add Multiple Build Configurations or you can say Environments. 

    Remember : Build configurations are project wise not Target wise.

• Project
• Go to Info Tab
• Click Editor
• Add Configuration
• Duplicate Debug Configuration

OR

• Click + below Configurations
• Duplicate Debug Configuration

8) Now we have multiple Targets & multiple Build Configurations 

9) Now the question arises how to store environment specific values. For this do this..

• Create plist for all Environment & for all Targets. 
• Ensure that name of plist file remains same.
• Have a look @ the structure.
• Remember to follow the naming conventions.
• Inside plist file you can add values that are environment specific.
• Remember to add one value in all plists ENVIRONMENT : TARGET_Dev / TARGET_QA / TARGET_Prod depending on Target & environment folder.

10)  Now to establish relation between plist file and build configuration

• Target
• Build Settings
• Click on + next to  ALL | Combined | Levels + 

• Add User defined Settings
• Name it as Build_Env
• Provide values as shown in below image

11) Choose any Build Configuration from Edit Scheme

12) Build & Run your project

13) And you are Done

14) Now from AppDelegate read your environment.plist file and set values accordingly.

Hope you did not find it BORING :P