trouble uploading mobile app built with Adobe AIR to the Apple Store

[BirgitteRasine]

We have built our mobile app using Adobe's AIR platform, not Apple's XCode.  Everything has been going along just fine, we were able to create all the required certificates and provisioning profiles for development and test the app on actual iPhones (3GS and 4), and go through the entire iTunes Connect process of entering the meta data, but now, when we are trying to upload the binary through the Application Loader, we keep getting this error when we try uploading:

"Application failed codesign verification.  The signature was invalid, or it was not signed with an Apple submission certificate."

Would appreciate insight into how to resolve this... 

Many thanks,

Birgitte

[Guest]

Make sure you are using your distribution certificate when you are creating the ipa file for the app store instead of your developer certificate.  You have to create a new .p12 file for your distribution build.

In the privsioning portal, under certificates, click on the distribution tab.  That is where you submit a request for the distro certificate.  The whole apple process is a huge pain in the butt, let me know if this is what you needed

[BirgitteRasine]

Hi,

Tx so much for responding... we actually did exactly that, we created a distribution provisioning profile and created a new p12 file.  It seems there are two distribution certification, one is an intermediate one called AppleWWDRCA.cer and the other is called distribution_identity.cer. 

Do we do both of these or just one?

Also, could it have anything to do with the Apple ID?  We have a basic one that ends in an asterisk, so maybe we need to create one with the specific Bundle ID suffix string to match the one in our app?

Kind regards

Birgitte

[Guest]

I can't say for certain if having the app id with an * will work, but I  know I always give my distribution apps a unique id.  You should only  need your distribution certificate as well.

Are you using Flash CS5, Flash CS5.5, Flex, or Flash Builder?  And have you made sure to make the p12 file passworded?

[BirgitteRasine]

OK, I created a new ID with a unique bundle ID suffix.  I also created a new distribution provisioning profile but am not sure what to do with it, when I doubleclick on it, it says there is no application to open it.

I did also download the two distribution certificates: one is called distribution_identity.cer and the other is AppleWWDRCA.cer.  Do I install both of these?

When I doubleclick on them, a window pops up and asks if I want to add the certificate from the file (for example AppleWWDRCA.cer) to a keychain, and then it gives me a drop-down menu of choices:

login

PrivateEncryptedDatak

Microsoft_Intermediate_Certificates

System

I asked our developer which version he's using, will post that as soon as he replies.

Yes I did password the p12 file...

[Guest]

What program are you using to develop your application?

You do not need to open your distribution certificate either, by the way.  That is purely something that is packaged with your app for app to verify you are a valid developer.  Also, you only need your distribution_certificate and not the applewwdr one.  Let me know what application you use to develop your app so i can assist further.

[BirgitteRasine]

OK, our developer responded, we're using Flash CS5.5.  Does that make a difference in this process?

[BirgitteRasine]

oh and also wanted to confirm, whether we're supposed to do anything with the provisioning distribution profile?   it's a file that's called [name]_distribution_profile.mobileprovision.  I downloaded it but don't know what else to do with this particular element.

Sorry if I sound lost, this is our first time and most forums focus on XCode.

[Colin Holgate]

The distribution provisioning file should be selected in the Flash CS5.5 iOS settings, instead of the developer one that was used so far. Also, the app should be published as App Store. The certificate in the settings should also be the distribution one.

[BirgitteRasine]

we actually did that, set the settings to the distrib provisioning profile, and also selected "app store" when we generated the profile.

still no luck... any other factors or variable we may be overlooking?  For example does it matter that the developer profile had my personal name on it whereas the distribution one got assigned our company name?

[Colin Holgate]

Can you try working through this thread?:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/3655910#3655910

If you don't see the same problem, can you report what you see why you try codesign -dvvv nameofapp.app.

[BirgitteRasine]

Hi guys ok so what finally worked was this: we had to generate everything from scratch, INCLUDING the signing certificate.  Then we applied only the Bundle ID suffix to the settings in Flash CS5.5, NOT the long version of the BundleID which is typically [10-character string].com.[companyname].[appname].

That worked. 

Thanks for all your help!

Birgitte

[Colin Holgate · Accepted solution]

Did you keep the com.company part? It's normal to not use the numbers at the start, but I'm surprised if you got away without using the com.company bit.

[BirgitteRasine]

Hi Colin,

Not sure if you saw my latest post, but yes, that's what I was saying.  We kept the Bundle ID suffix which includes the "com.[companyname]"

For others reading this, the right way to do this is:

com.[companyname].[appname]

Cheers

Birgitte

[Colin Holgate]

The way you had referred to suffix made it sound like just the last part, that is the ID for the app on its own, so I'm happy to hear it included the other two bits.

For completeness, here's your options:

You can make an App ID on Apple's iOS Portal that is one of these (the numbers would be whatever random set of digits were generated at the time):

646193846218.com.company.appname

646193846218.com.company.*

646193846218.*

For developing purposes I just use the random numbers and the asterisk, that way I can make the Flash setting be just the last part, like "GreatGameApp", or whatever. Then when it comes to actually shipping, and you use a distribution certificate and profile, use ones that had the full id. So "646193846218.com.company.appname" from the Portal, and "com.company.appname" in the FLA.

The advantage of working the asterisk way is that you can use the same provisioning file and certificate every time. If you were more organized, and used a com.company. prefix to match the client you're doing this FLA for, you would have to be switching those settings a lot.