White Label iOS Application Installation and Customization Guide

Background

Background

§  Application built for civic agencies to bring voting information to the public

§  Code written to make deployment easy, without extensive iOS development experience

Background

https://developers.google.com/civic-information/

Background

This is your data that Google is serving!

Background - API

Background - API

Response includes: §  Contest and Referendum §  Candidate information §  Polling locations §  Local voting information

Background – White Label

§  App not in the App Store, but ready to deploy

§  Customizable text and images §  Feature complete and ready to go

Background – Open Source

§  BSD 3-Clause License §  https://github.com/votinginfoproject/ ios7-white-label-app

Basic Requirements

§  Macintosh computer with a recent version of OSX

§  Xcode 5+ (for iOS 7 apps) §  Xcode command line tools installed §  Technical proficiency on a Mac

Setup – before you start

First, get your API keys: §  Google Civic Information API Key §  Google Maps iOS SDK API Key §  Google Directions API Key §  Google Analytics Tracking ID

Setup – before you start

Google makes this really easy: https://console.developers.google.com

Setup – before you start

Google makes this really easy: https://console.developers.google.com

Setup – before you start

Google makes this really easy: https://console.developers.google.com

Setup – before you start

Google makes this really easy: https://www.google.com/analytics/web

Setup – Dependencies

Xcode – required for iOS development, in the App Store Git – should be installed on the Mac with Xcode $ git --help

CocoaPods – a dependency manager for Objective C projects $ sudo gem install cocoapods

Setup – get the code

Go to https://github.com/votinginfoproject/ios7-white-label-app

Copy the HTTPS clone URL In Terminal, clone the repo:

$ git clone https://github.com/votinginfoproject/ios7-white-label-app.git

Setup – install dependencies

Navigate to the app’s working directory:

$ cd ios7-white-label-app/objc/VotingInformationProject/

Install dependencies with CocoaPods $ pod install

Setup – Settings

Navigate one more level in: $ cd VotingInformationProject

Copy the settings template files $ cp CivicAPIKey.plist.template CivicAPIKey.plist$ cp settings.plist.template settings.plist

Setup – Settings

Open the VotingInformationProject.xcworkspace file…

Setup – Settings

In Xcode, in the left sidebar, find and click on VotingInformationProject/ Resources/ settings.plist

Setup – Settings Get your API keys together and update the .plist file. You can also do this with a plain text editor. Update the GoogleMapsAPIKey, GoogleAnalyticsTrackingID, and GoogleDirectionsAPIKey Also, update the BrandNameText with what you want the app to be called.

Setup – Settings

In Xcode, in the left sidebar, find and click on VotingInformationProject/ Resources/ CivicAPIKey.plist

Setup – Settings

Update your GoogleCivicInfoAPIKey

Setup – Build the project

Click the “Play” button in the top left of the Xcode window: If everything works, you should get a success message:

Run – Build the project

And the app should start in the Simulator

Run – Additional Configurations

There are a few more things to consider before packaging the app for submittal to the App Store §  About, Terms, and Privacy Policy content §  Customized images §  Additional language support

Run – Additional Configurations

About, Terms, and Privacy Policy content are in Resources/Localizable.strings

Run – Additional Configurations

Edit, save, and rebuild You can change any of the text in Xcode or a plain text editor that supports UTF-16 character encoding.

Run – Additional Configurations

Translations are also in Resources/Localizable.strings

Spanish translations are not available yet, but are in progress

Run – Additional Configurations

Additional languages can be added by navigating to the project settings… and adding a new language. A new strings file will be created automatically

Run – Additional Configurations

Customize the app’s images by updating files in the Resources/Images directory Tips: §  Use the same name §  Keep the same pixel

dimensions

Run – Additional Configurations

Customize the AppIcons, Background, and LaunchScreen images for a complete visual rebranding. You don’t need to change these, though.

Publish

That’s everything for setup and configuration! The next step is to package the app and submit it to the App Store. Apple has lots of documentation on this process.

Publish

The publishing process requires completing several steps.

Publish

The documentation is extensive, but comprehensive. There’s a quick start guide…

Publish

As well as the complete distribution guide…

Publish

The process takes some time to work through, but isn’t particularly difficult. Many of the issues you may encounter are not new, and resolutions can likely be found with a quick Google search. If additional technical support is needed, contact: Jared Marcotte at jmarcotte@pewtrusts.org

Good luck!

White Label iOS Application Installation and Customization Guide