Problem with new icon sizes for iOS 7 while submiting to App-Store

[Guest]

Hi,

I have compiled my AIR app which includes the new icon sizes required for iOS 7 (76x76, 120x120, 152x152 and the Spotlight search result icons 40x40 and 80x80) from the command line using AIR 3.9. Here's the icon section from my app descriptor XML:

<icon>

        <image29x29>icons/icon29x29.png</image29x29>

        <image48x48>icons/icon48x48.png</image48x48>

        <image57x57>icons/icon57x57.png</image57x57>

        <image72x72>icons/icon72x72.png</image72x72>

        <image114x114>icons/icon114x114.png</image114x114>

        <image512x512>icons/icon512x512.png</image512x512>

        <image58x58>icons/icon58x58.png</image58x58>

        <image144x144>icons/icon144x144.png</image144x144>

        <!-- Additional app icons for iOS 7 -->

        <image40x40>icons/icon40x40.png</image40x40>

        <image76x76>icons/icon76x76.png</image76x76>

        <image80x80>icons/icon80x80.png</image80x80>

        <image120x120>icons/icon120x120.png</image120x120>

        <image152x152>icons/icon152x152.png</image152x152>

  </icon>

App(.ipa) is installed and running fine in all the all the devices(Ipad,IPhone).While submiting the same app to Apple-App-Store with app-store provision profile, I got three warnings.Those are as follows:

1) WARNING ITMS-9000: "Missing recommended icon file. The bundle does not contain an app icon for iPhone / iPod Touch of exactly '120x120' pixels, in .png format." at SoftwareAssets/SoftwareAsset (MZItmspSoftwareAssetPackage).

2) WARNING ITMS-9000: "Missing recommended icon file. The bundle does not contain an app icon for iPhone / iPod Touch of exactly '76x76' pixels, in .png format." at SoftwareAssets/SoftwareAsset (MZItmspSoftwareAssetPackage).

3) WARNING ITMS-9000: "Missing recommended icon file. The bundle does not contain an app icon for iPhone / iPod Touch of exactly '152x152' pixels, in .png format." at SoftwareAssets/SoftwareAsset (MZItmspSoftwareAssetPackage).

Can someone help me?

[spinlight]

Thanks. If I add any new icon sizes to the xml I get "Usage error (Incorrect Arguments)" . As soon as I remove them from the XML it exports fine. I feel like I'm missing some simple step here. Any suggestions?

[Colin Holgate]

You must be editing the XML in a way that corrupts it. The way I would add the other icon sizes would be to select the whole of one of the other sizes of icons (triple click on that line), then copy, and paste four times, without doing a click (that way the first paste just replaces the original line). You now have the original size and three new copies of it. Now carefully edit the number (for example, 48), and in the first line make the 48s be 76, the second copy would become 120, and the third copy would be 152. Make sure to change the number in the tags as well as the file name.

Doing it that way should leave the XML still intact.

[spinlight]

Colin, thanks for your time on this. I think I've got it. I edited the XML as suggested with BBedit, but it may have been something even simpler.

I was including the new sizes in the General > Included Files panel. I thought I read that was necessary. Apparently removing them solves the problem. No need to have the XML set to read only either. I looked into the final package and confirmed the icon files are indeed being included. The are now listed on info.plist with the others.

BBedit for XML changes

Flash Pro CC version 13.1.0.226

AIR SDK 4.0.0.1390

I'll submit this to Apple for final confirmation, but looks like it's good to go. Thanks again.

[Colin Holgate]

Right, those two steps are only needed for CS6, if you have the recent CC update you don’t have to do those. But you do have to add the icons to the XML, and now Flash won’t delete them.

[CitySickness]

Spinlight: could you run me through a brief step-by-step on how you did this? I've got the same setup as you, but no matter what I do, I keep getting the "Unexpected or unknown element or attribute in the the application descriptor file" error.

As an aside, It's utterly ridiculous that Adobe still haven't gotten around to fixing this within Flash Pro - how many updates have they been through since we started talking about this and still nothing?

Update: figured it out! It was, as usual, something really dumb: I'd included the 72x72 icon twice. Sorry!

[spinlight]

Sure. Here are the version I have on the tools:

BBedit for XML changes

Flash Pro CC version 13.1.0.226

AIR SDK 4.0.0.1390

The key for me was to NOT include the additional icons in the General > Include Files panel.

I added these three icons sizes into the XML this way, right after the original sizes Flash added automatically:

<image76x76>icons/Icon-76.png</image76x76>

<image120x120>icons/Icon-120.png</image120x120>

<image152x152>icons/Icon-152.png</image152x152>

That's it really. Flash doens't overwrite this anymore in the XML, and there was no need to set the XML to read-only.

Hope that helps.

[CitySickness]

Brilliant, thanks spinlight. All working now after I realised that I'd repeated the 72x72 icon twice.

[BenjaminParis]

Hello and thank you, I didn't know it was that simple.

I submitted my application a few days ago and I received the warning about "missing recommended icon files". If I had known it was so easy to add them, I would have done immediately. But at the time, I thought it best to wait for Apple to review the application in the hope they validate it anyway.

I am facing a dilemma: wait to see if the application is approved by Apple (normally during the week ),  OR reject now the binary myself to recompile a new one with the missing icons, but I would be back to beginning of the queue.

My question is: do you know if Apple rejects applications that do not include these three icons? I know they didn't a few months ago, but maybe they are less tolerant now? Important detail: the warning I received clearly indicates that the missing icons are "recommended" and not "required".

Thank you and sorry for my english. 🙂

[spinlight]

Apple has been approving apps with this warning. For now, I think it's optional. I'm sure it will eventually be required.

[BenjaminParis]

Hello and thank you,

My app was approved without any problem and is now very downloaded in my country 🙂

You can find it here: https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/petites-choses/id843835438?l=fr&ls=1&mt=8 and use one of these promocodes if you want:

N9WHYKKWP7NR

J9TN9EPEHLWJ

7TNT6W7YYRWA

7X9NT3MKK6YX

Enjoy 😉

[OMA2k]

Sorry, I can't help you with that, since I always use command line scripts to compile. That read-only stuff was just a kludge anyway. If you're still having problems, you might as well learn how to use the command line method. You're supposed to be a developer, so it should be a piece of cake for you

[spinlight]

OMA2K, yes I'm a developer and can figure out the command line.   There is always a way around every obstacle. But wanting to use Flash Pro CC for this is pretty reasonable. It's supposed to work and one of the promises of CC was more iterative/current tools. This shouldn't be an issue or too much to ask. I'm sure it'll get fixed through an update at some point.

Maybe they'll shoudld remove the packaging interface from Flash Pro altogether and just have everyone on the command line. Flash Pro is always a few steps behind in this area anyway.

I just really enjoy working in Flash Pro CC I guess.

[OMA2k]

spinlight escribió:

OMA2K, yes I'm a developer and can figure out the command line.  

That's good . I mentioned it because earlier in this thread there was someone who said that he "really didn't have the skills to use the command line", as if it were something really hard, and insisted in doing it from CS6. I think if someone can code, there shouldn't be any problem to type a few lines in a CLI.

Well, in your case you're trying to use CC, but unfortunately, as far as I know, even the very latest version of Flash Pro CC (13.1.0.226) still does not support iOS 7 icons. Not sure why; they should at least have added those icons in the latest December 2013 update.

Anyway, I don't think they should remove packaging functionality from Flash CC, but maybe make it more transparent and customizable, so you can change the ADT command line as needed (maybe in an "Advanced settings" tab, or something like that), so if new command line arguments are added, you can still use them from Flash. IIRC, you can add arguments like that in Flash Builder and FDT, which is the best way to code an AIR project.

[Colin Holgate]

You can’t add them in the publishing settings, but you can add them in the XML. You don’t have to use the command line.

As for ADT itself, even if you fully understand it there are so many parts to it, especially when you have external media in your app, that there is such a lot that could go wrong. I like not having to use ADT directly.

[OMA2k]

You can’t add them in the publishing settings, but you can add them in the XML. You don’t have to use the command line.

For icons, yes, but for other things (for example the new faster iOS packaging engine) you have to add an extra argument (-useLegacyAOT no). It could be useful to have the ability to add extra custom arguments.

As for ADT itself, even if you fully understand it there are so many parts to it, especially when you have external media in your app, that there is such a lot that could go wrong. I like not having to use ADT directly.

I usually use either batch files or ANT scripts so I only have to care to get the command line right once.

[Dan Zen]

I am using Flash CS6 and AIR 18.  I was trying to add extra icon sizes to the app xml and Flash CS6 was overwriting them.  So I did have to resort to setting the app xml file to read only.  Then I had the problem of actually including the icon files which CS6 did not automatically read in (I checked the IPA as a ZIP and the new icons were not there).  So I tried adding the icon folder to the included files in the general tab of the AIR Settings in Flash.  When I did that, I got a conflict message when building the IPA.  I tried deleting the built in icons - but no... another error.  So I scratched my head and it came to me.  Store the new icons in an icons2 folder and keep the built in icon sizes in an icons folder.  Then point the read only XML to the appropriate folders.  This built the IPA successfully and all files are there and the xml pointing to them.  Yay.  I have not submitted yet, but hopefully all will be well.  I usually use FlashBuilder but this is updating an app from 2008. 😉

[Colin Holgate]

That was a good idea. When I've had to use CS6 to build an app that included the iOS 7 icons, I would copy the ADT line, add in the missing sizes, and build using Terminal. I got the ADT line from Console, which saved a lot of typing, and chances of getting it wrong!