Installing an Application on a Mobile Device or Simulator (Magic xpa 3.x)

You can install the RIA application on your device or simulator as follows:

Note:

You should not rely on the generic client available on the Google Play store or the Apple App Store for testing or production. These clients are for Magic internal purposes, and are not updated frequently.

Android

There are several ways to deploy the application on Android:

• Upload your application to the Android market.

• Open the application in the Android Studio and run it from there.

• Run the APK file on your device (for example, by receiving the APK file as an email attachment and clicking on it).

• Over-the-Air – Click the Browse icon and browse to a server where the APK file exists, for example: http://192.168.13.1/PublishedApplications/myapp/my.apk. Then, click the Downloads icon and download your application.
  
  For this to work, you need to put the APK file on an exposed folder on the web server. If the application does not run, configure the web server to support download of the APK file as follows:
  
  Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) manager, navigate to the Default Web Sites, open the Mime Types and add a new one as follows:

• Extension=.apk

• MIME type=application/vnd.android.package-archive

• Using the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) utility – when installing on a simulator or on a device using a cable or over WiFi.
  
  To install your APK, run the following command: adb install –r my.apk.
  
  For further information regarding the ADB utility, refer to Using the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) Utility.

To see a video demonstration about customizing and deploying your Android application, click here.

iOS

There are several ways to deploy the application on iOS:

• Upload your application to the Apple market.

• Open the application in Xcode and run it from there.

• Double click on the IPA file to add it to iTunes. Once in iTunes, simply synchronize it to your device.

• Over-the-Air (require compilation with an Enterprise account) – Browse to a URL page.

Over-the-Air installation on iOS

Over-the-Air installation requires having the following files on an exposed folder on the web server:

• A web page (.html) file with the following line in it: <a href="itms-services://?action=download-manifest&url=https://example.com/manifest.plist">Install App</a>

• The application (.ipa) file

• The manifest (.plist) file – Any information written in the manifest file, such as app name and version, overrides the application information written in the customization step. The manifest.plist file refers to the application's IPA file.

Note:

• A sample file, install.html, containing the web page file's line, and a sample manifest.plist file are located in the %EngineDir%\RIAModules\iOS folder, so you can simply edit them.

• The Rich Client Deployment Builder also generates these files.

• With the launch of iOS 7.1, Apple requires all enterprise apps' manifest files to be served over HTTPS. Attempts to install through HTTP show the following message: “Cannot install applications because the certificate is not valid”. You can use Dropbox to resolve this issue. For more information, see How Do I Expose the iOS Enterprise Installation Files Using Dropbox?.

• Spaces are not allowed in the IPA file name and the PLIST file name.

• You also need to configure the web server to support the download of the IPA and PLIST files as follows:
  
  Open the Internet Information Services (IIS) manager, navigate to the Default Web Sites, open the Mime Types and add two new items as follows:

Extension=.ipa

MIME type= application/octet-stream

Extension=.plist

MIME type= text/xml

Windows 10 Mobile

There are several ways to deploy the application on Windows 10 Mobile:

• Upload your application to the Windows store.

• Open the application in Visual Studio and run it from there.

• Using the device portal. Refer to: https://msdn.microsoft.com/windows/uwp/debug-test-perf/device-portal-mobile.

• Using the WinAppDeployCmd.exe utility – when installing on a simulator or on a device using a cable.
  
  Note that you first need to enable development mode in your device as detailed at: https://msdn.microsoft.com/windows/uwp/get-started/enable-your-device-for-development
  
  To install your appx file, run the following command: C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x86\WinAppDeployCmd.exe install -file C:\Magicxpa32\PublishedApplications\myapp\Win10Mobile\MagicApp_1.0.0.0_arm_Test\MagicApp_1.0.0.0_arm.appx -ip 127.0.0.1
  
  Where:
  
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\x86 – is the location of the WinAppDeployCmd utility.
  
  C:\Magicxpa32\PublishedApplications\myapp\Win10Mobile\MagicApp_1.0.0.0_arm_Test\MagicApp_1.0.0.0_arm.appx – is the location of the appx file. Make sure you select the file suitable for your platform, such as the ARM for ARM-based devices.
  
  127.0.0.1 – is the IP of your device.
  
  For further information regarding the WinAppDeployCmd utility, refer to: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/packaging/install-universal-windows-apps-with-the-winappdeploycmd-tool or https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/mt203806.aspx.

Note:

After deploying the application client, there is no need to redeploy it after every application change. The application itself is not packaged as part of the client. All application changes are downloaded and updated automatically, just like any other Magic RIA application. A change is only required when you want to upgrade the core client version, that is, for a newer Magic release.