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Building Multiple Apps in One Profile

Depending on the structure of your project(s), at one point there might be a need to produce more than one application from a single codebase.

For this situation, there are two ways to accomplish this goal:

  • Configure your relevant file to produce different outputs.
    • Android -> Build Variants with Product Flavors
    • For iOS -> Creating different Targets with Schemes
  • Do the steps manually via custom scripts.
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For this task, the developer should configure those from Android Studio or Xcode.

A different Application means a different packagename for Android and different bundleId for iOS.

Using Android Product Flavors and Build Variant to Configure Multiple Apps​

The Android Developers document has a detailed guide on how to configure build variants and product flavors:

Configure build variants  |  Android Studio  |  Android Developers
Find out how you can configure build variants to create different versions of your app from a single project.
Configure build variants  |  Android Studio  |  Android Developers favicon https://developer.android.com/studio/build/build-variants
Configure build variants  |  Android Studio  |  Android Developers

The assets that you can directly change with the productFlavor

  • Package Id -> packageName
  • App Name
  • App Icon

For more information, check the Android Developer Document on productFlavor

developer.android.com
developer.android.com favicon https://developer.android.com/reference/tools/gradle-api/4.2/com/android/build/api/dsl/ProductFlavor

How to Change Variant Programmatically on Appcircle​

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This method will not be required in common scenarios. Unless you have a special case, it is advised to stick with configuring build.gradle instead, as specified at the Android Developers document.

For example, the script below will change the variant if the built branch is release .

tip

Put this script before the relevant build step. E.g. for Android, this script should be executed before Android Build step.

Note: This script is in Bash language.

if [ $AC_GIT_BRANCH = 'release' ]; then
    echo "AC_VARIANTS=YOUR_FLAVOR" >> $AC_ENV_FILE_PATH
fi

For more information about environment variables, click here.

Using iOS Schemes to Configure Multiple Apps​

Creating and controlling multiple Schemes on an Xcode project is fairly easy. Check the Apple Help Documentation about how to create & manage schemes.

The assets that you can directly change with the Schemes

  • Bundle ID
  • Plist file
  • App Icon

For more information about iOS Multiple Targets, navigate to the Apple Help Documentation

How to Change Target Programmatically on Appcircle​

info

This method will not be required in common scenarios. Unless you have a special case, it is advised to configure multiple plist files and bundling them into a single scheme.

For example, the script below will change the scheme if the built branch is release .

tip

Put this script before the relevant build step. E.g. for Android, this script should be executed before Android Build step.

Note: This script is in Bash language.

if [ $AC_GIT_BRANCH = 'release' ]; then
    echo "AC_SCHEME=YOUR_FLAVOR" >> $AC_ENV_FILE_PATH
fi

For more information about environment variables, click here

Testing & Downloading Multiple Apps Through Appcircle​

As specified in the Appcircle docs, your multiple outputs will be located on the testing distribution and they will be available for download just like a single application.

Multiple Flavors