README.md

Whispeer Messenger

This is the whispeer mobile messenger based on Ionic 2. The instructions below were written for macOS, but should apply to other systems as well.

The Quick Start guide will get you up and running on a development machine with a browser. This can be sufficient for some development work. If running the application on simulators or actual hardware is desired, consult the second part Deploying to Hardware.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

Make sure node is installed and corresponding to the version specified in .nvmrc, as well as yarn. Yarn can be installed using npm i -g yarn, when npm is available.

$ node -v && yarn -v && npm -v
v7.10.1
1.1.0
4.2.0

Installation

To install some of the required whispeer dependencies run

$ git submodule update --init

ionic and cordova have to be installed globally and need to be somewhere around these versions:

$ cordova -v && ionic -v
7.0.1
3.9.2

To install all other dependencies, run

$ yarn

This code repository is using a yarn.lock to ensure deterministic dependency resolution on all workstations and deployments. Please commit your yarn.lock after adding new dependencies or if it changed.

Running the Application

To run the messanger locally, execute

$ yarn start

This wraps yarn run ionic:serve. All of the yarn scripts wrap app-scripts, which this project is depending upon. These are the ionic tasks available to you directly:

$ yarn run ionic:clean   # removes the build files
$ yarn run ionic:build   # builds anew
$ yarn run ionic:serve   # runs the dev environment

Deploying to Hardware

To install ionic and all other dependencies for running the application on actual hardware, run

$ yarn global add cordova ionic && yarn

Updating Resources

There is a resources folder with an icon.png as well as a splash.png. Those images can be transformed to their respectively resized counterparts in the resources/ios and resources/android folders with the following two commands:

$ ionic resources --icon
$ ionic resources --splash

Make sure to review the results before commiting. Please also note that this uploads the images to a web service and therefore needs internet access to be performed, and also note that this will not warn you about changing the config.xml of the project, replacing all previous icon and splash screen configuration.

Deploying to iOS

There's a comprehensive documentation on the deployment pipeline in cordova. To get up and running quickly, run these commands:

$ xcode-select --install
$ yarn global add ios-deploy ios-sim

In addition to that, you will need to install Cocoapods and make sure it is available in your project:

$ pod --version
1.2.0

When pod is installed, run pod setup at least once.

There should be an Apple ID in the accounts tab of your Xcode preferences. Once that is done, run a production build of the messenger application:

$ ionic platform add ios
$ ionic build ios --prod

When those commands succeed, open the generated Xcode project and compile for the simulator or a physical device that is connected.

$ open ./platforms/ios/whispeer\ Messenger.xcodeproj

Make sure that Push Notifications in the Tab Capabilities are switched on.

Publishing to App Store

Click on Product -> Archive. XCode will start building the project. After finishing the Organizer will open, showing you all your Archives. The Archive that was just created is marked per default. Click on "Upload to App Store..." in the right panel. If you are asked to select a team, select "mindpost GmbH" and click choose. Now just click proceed until XCode uploads your Archive to iTunes Connect.

After a successful upload you will get an e-mail that your build is being processed and after succeeding this automatic check you can enable the build for Testflight or the live Store.