I've followed the instructions at the link below to "Build and simulate a Cordova iOS app in the cloud". https://taco.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/build_ios_cloud/
After completing the instructions I'm able to build and get the iOS simulator working, however, I'm unable to attach a debugger.
The message displayed in remotebuild is:
GET /cordova/build/5655/debug 500 10.865 ms - 28
In Visual Studio I see the following in the Debug window:
Starting launch process C:\Program Files (x86)\nodejs\node.exe "(redacted)\node_modules\vs-tac\emulator.js" --platform ios --action launch --path "(redacted)\buildInfo.json" --serverUrl https://(redacted):3000/cordova --certificateName (redacted) --language en-US --loglevel info --cliVersion 5.4.1 --npmInstallDir "(redacted)" --deployTarget "iPhone 5"
Timed out connecting debugger to remote Apache Cordova app. See Output window for JavaScript console output.
------ Cordova tools 5.4.1 already installed.
Requesting emulate on iOS Simulator for buildNumber 5655 on server https://(redacted):3000/cordova...
Emulated - Successfully sent to ios Simulator
------ Cordova tools 5.4.1 already installed.
Requesting debug on remote iOS device for buildNumber 5655 on server https://(redacted):3000/cordova...
Failed to Debug iOS remote for build (redacted)\buildInfo.json to https://(redacted):3000/cordova :
iPhone 5
My local development machine is using Visual Studio 2015 and Cordova 5.4.1. I have Node v0.12.2 installed locally and v0.12.9 installed on the MacInCloud. Following the instructions in the link above, I am NOT an admin on the Mac machine.
I've also already tried the instructions suggested in this SO answer: Visual Studio Debugger failing to connect to remote Apache Cordova app in iOS simulator
All the suggestions and the links provided by others were helpful but ultimately my assessment of the problem was not being admin/root on the Mac. The Visual Studio Cordova docs linked in my original question would suggest that you can do all that you need on a Mac without having admin/root access but in my experience that is just not the case.
To the credit of the MacInCloud group, they were very helpful in making changes that I requested to permissions and for reinstalling packages such as brew, ios-webkit-debug-proxy, remotebuild, etc... but after a while that back-and-forth kind of approach to fixing the issue proved painful. When I switched from a Managed MacInCloud server to a Dedicated one, everything worked almost immediately.
Looking back I think the initial execution of remotebuild, which executes brew -- without being admin on the box -- caused the whole process to go south. I was warned when I ran remotebuild for the first time that it would install some brew components that might need root access. That should have been a warning sign to me that not being admin on the box was going to be an issue...
Even though I was able to get a Dedicated MacInCloud server working, the lesson I learned about having control over the Mac prompted me to just buy a Mac Mini. That was a little more difficult to setup because I was now doing everything myself, but ultimately I think it will pay off in the end.
For anyone else struggling with similar issues here is a brain dump of some things I learned along the way:
You don't necessarily need to get Visual Studio talking to the Mac to debug Cordova applications. You can use Safari Web Inspector from the Mac. https://blog.nraboy.com/2015/10/debugging-your-apache-cordova-ios-app-with-safari/. Even though I finally got VS working, I actually prefer this because it is more like Chrome's debugger which I prefer to Visual Studio's.
The ios-webkit-debug-proxy NPM package mentioned in other comments and links is basically a proxy which Visual Studio uses to debug the simulator in exactly the same way Safari does as mentioned above. For this proxy to work you must also be allowed to connect to the Mac over ports 9221-9322. https://github.com/google/ios-webkit-debug-proxy. Prior to learning that I thought I only needed port 3000 open for the remotebuild proxy...
The package necessary for launching the iOS simulator from remotebuild is ios-sim and it will occasionally timeout when launching the simulator and cause the debugger not to attach. This is a known limitation. https://github.com/phonegap/ios-sim and https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/visualstudio/2014/11/13/tools-for-apache-cordova-update-ios-debugging-windows-8-1-support/ (see comments).
If you should feel the need to install/uninstall brew it is very easy to do. Just run the install script and if already installed it will give you instructions on how to uninstall. http://brew.sh/ and https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew/blob/master/share/doc/homebrew/Troubleshooting.md#troubleshooting. To uninstall or reinstall a NPM package is equally easy and Google is your friend.
Read and re-read both of these links for setting up a Mac: https://taco.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/ios-guide/ and https://taco.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/build_ios_cloud/. Getting the RemoteBuild.config right is crucial for getting secure connections to work -- especially if you want to access your Mac Mini at home from across the internet.
If you are remoting to a Mac I highly recommend iRAPP or some other VNC alternative. My experience has been that VNC is painfully slow and having a bad connection when you're troubleshooting issues just leads to more aggravation. http://www.coderebel.com/products/irapp/
As mentioned above, the MacInCloud guys were great when I asked for support, but if you do need root access for more than six months the cost of a Mac Mini is less than a Dedicated server plan.
Cheers
Since it is the call to /cordova/[...]/debug that is failing it looks like you might not have ios_webkit_debug_proxy installed. You could try making sure that homebrew is installed (from http://brew.sh) and running brew install ios-webkit-debug-proxy. Afterwards you should be able to run ios_webkit_debug_proxy without an error.
If that runs successfully then you should be able to quit out of ios_webkit_debug_proxy and debugging should work via remotebuild.
I cleaned out my personal library in attempt to fix a Xcode behavior bug.
But now I can't see the available SDKs/schema.
I believe the SDKs are with the Xcode bundle, having just download a fresh Xcode from the App Store.
So now I only see 'device'.
How to I force Xcode to reveal the simulators?
BTW: I can see all the simulators from the SAME Xcode app via my Guest account.
So my own Xcode environment is screwed up. Is there a remedy?
Comparing the Guest to my own account, I noticed that I didn't have any simulated device.
So I did the following:
1) I copied all the installed simulated devices from my Guest account to my account.
$~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices
2) I noticed that this wasn't enough. Xcode still could not 'see' these devices. So I rebooted in Disk Utility and did a general repair of the entire drive.
Disk Utility noticed some unmapped regions (no doubt my 'erroneous' drives) and the repair fixed it.
Now I got my simulators back.
I've updated Xcode from 4.1 to 4.2 in Mac App Store but Xcode is still 4.1.
In Mac App Store now, no update available anymore. Xcode in Mac App Store does not appear like installed application because the button is labeled as "FREE" then "INSTALL APP" not "INSTALLED" as expected. When I clicked "FREE" and then "INSTALL APP", it alerts
"We could not complete you purchase
Xcode is already installed on this computer. Choose Software Update from the Apple menu to check for available updates."
I followed the instruction but there is no available update for Xcode. I also tried to restart my computer for a few times but no effect.
Edited: There is no Install Xcode in my Applications folder as well.
Is there any suggestion? Thank you.
Let me answer my question.
In my case, instead of Applications folder, Install Xcode appears in Launchpad. So if you cannot find Install Xcode in your Application folder, take a look at your Launchpad.
If I recall correctly 4.1 was before the mac app store and they may not have built in an easy way to cleanly update between the two. You could move the 4.1 app to your desktop temporarily and see if the 4.2 install will go through and install itself, or uninstall 4.1 completely (make sure your projects are not saved within). Or also see if in the mac app store it has a check for updates not the same as Software Update.
I have build signed the iPhone application with Adhoc provisioning profile,after installing the application directly through Xcode it launched and then closed. I want to know this is correct behavior or something is wrong in my source code?
I am using Snow Leopard 10.6.6 version of Mac OS.
Please consider the following :
restart xCode
ensure the adHoc provisioning profile is properly installed on the device using the Organizer.
do a clean & build
use the organizer summary panel to add application on your device.
if still failing, please try to restart your device.
if still failing, provide us logs you might have within the console.
Hope this helps.
I'm currently working in web development and my default desktop is Ubuntu and I'm kind of happy with the setup and applications I got going. But I need to test web pages for cross browser compatibility while still being on Ubuntu.
I have gone through hell trying to get IE7 or IE8 (with wine) to run on ubuntu and when they finally worked they were very buggy and the graphics/scrolling was insanely slow.
Of course there is the option of virtual box but again, too much GBytes just to run a small application!
So to all the CSS gurus out there, how can I continue with my beloved Ubuntu and still deliver a good quality (tested) page.
Thank you.
Edit:
Update for freshness:
I now use the paid service from browserstack.com to provide the multitude of different browser testing environments via flash tunnelling. I'm a paid user, but there is an initial free trial period. browserstack has freed me of the need to run the windows os on my machines in any form, virtual image or otherwise. Since it also allows tunnelling, I can host the site on my local machine but still test in browserstack browsers. I consider the monthly fee money very well spent.
End Edit
Various options I have tried, including "the final solution": free downloadable windows testing OSes from microsoft
I've tried a number of the options below, but virtualbox may be your best bet for full & complete testing, especially because in a professional capacity you often have to test ie8, ie7 -and- ie6. Which gets tricky with only a single os installed. So in order of simplest and most shallowly testing to most complex and most fully testing:
browserlab.adobe.com
A newer, interesting online solution is: browserlab.adobe.com. It's actually very specific and fast compared to browsershots. It only gives you screenshots, but it's a great first step. So I do recommend that for purely visual (and thus relatively shallow) testing.
Browsershots.org
And while browsershots.org is also something that you should use for an overview experience of what users might see, you really can't get by without the real browsers for javascript and behavior testing (instead of just display & rendering testing that browsershots provides). The delay before you can see the images is also killer.
Dual booting into windows
Another that I've tried is dual booting, I work 99% of my time in ubuntu, and I have windows installed & available to dual boot into. Not a fast way to test, but if you don't have any other way to access ie, it should work for at least the latest version.
Remote desktop-ing over to a running windows box
Before I mention the "covers-all-the-bases" option, another useful possibility is to set up a windows machine and boot it up and connect to it via remote desktop so that you can work from one machine and test from both.
The final solution, using virtualbox
Finally, the mother of all solutions, using virtualbox:
Luckily (I know you said you didn't like the virtualbox solution, and I know it's an annoying setup process, but...) Microsoft provides available-for-a-year-or-more virtualmachine distros with different versions of ie pre-installed, available without the need for a license for a year or so before you'd have to update the virtualmachine, #
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en
Installing a virtualmachine from microsoft's freely available browser testing images
Because this guide to setup on ubuntu is no longer available in full anywhere else, just in case you or someone else actually need it I feel compelled to include the actual details of the install process that were suggested to me on the ubuntu forums and worked when I went through them. I apologize for their length. Courtesy of the now anonymous original poster on the ubuntu forums:
Free Access to Microsoft Browser Compatibility Virtual OSes, Install Steps for Ubuntu
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1097080 (Ed: I can't find this thread online any more)
HOWTO: run IE6, IE7, IE8 on Linux in
VirtualBox You need: virtualbox, qemu,
wine
Code: apt-get install virtualbox qemu
wine
Download the free(!) Microsoft
Internet Explorer Application
Compatibility Check VPC Images here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en
(Note: you don't have to download the
full pack, you can cherry pick
specific combinations of XP/Vista and
IE6-8)
Extract the VPC image(s) with wine
(double-click). (Note: it might take a
while before the first window shows
up)
Turn the VPC image(s) into (a) VMWare
image(s) (which is/are readable by
VirtualBox): qemu-img convert -f vpc
image.vhd -O vmdk image.vmdk
Setup a new VM in VirtualBox, using
the vmdk image as an existing disk.
Boot it, you will see the Windows boot
progress bar and ... it will BSOD
shortly after.
Fixing the BSOD:
The BSOD is caused because the virtual
Windows tries to load processor
drivers for the wrong processor (it is
not running on VirtualPC proc, but on
VirtualBox proc). Or something like
that... We need to force Windows not
to attempt to load drivers for the
processor (it doesn't need any proc
drivers, because it's all virtual
anyway). Start safe mode by
(frantically) hitting F8 at Windows
boot and choosing safe mode.
Ignore all the 'New hardware' detected
warnings (we will deal with those
later). Start a command box and run
the following command to disable the
loading of processor drivers:
Code: sc config processor start=
disabled (note the space between '='
and 'disabled'!)
Restart the virtual Windows, it should
now boot all the way to the Windows
Desktop.
Now just when you think you can start
browsing the web with IE, you will
find out that the virtual Windows
needs to install the drivers for the
AMD PCnet NIC, which are located on
the Windows install disk. Fortunately
for those without a Windows install
disk, there is another way :)
Download AMD PCnet drivers here:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/ConnectivitySolutions/ProductInformation/0,,50_2330_6629_2452%5E2454%5E2486,00.html
Make an iso file containing the
drivers. I used Brasero for
simplicity. Choose to create a Data
Project, add the zip file (or the
unzipped files, saves you a step in
Windows), create the iso. No need to
burn an actual cd!
Stop the virtual Windows, edit the
settings in VirtualBox: mount your
brand new iso.
Start the virtual Windows, when it
asks to install the drivers for the
PCnet nick, point it to the (unzipped)
drivers. Et voila! You have teh
innernets! (Now you can also try to
install the other drivers it complains
for, but it's not really necessary)
The image README says the image will expire after about a year. In my experience the system gets hobbled against multi-hour use, but is still usable for the kind of short periods that you might want when booting up to test a website. At worst you might have to go through these steps again, so be sure to put them somewhere where you can find them again after a year or so.
I think setting up a virtual machine (Virtualbox or VMWare or...) with a proper Windows will be your only (local) option.
I you don't have one, buy a used Windows XP license. XP is cheap (around 20-30 euros here in Germany, for example) and all relevant versions of IE run on it. Home edition is enough. No need for Windows 7 or anything.
You could install IETester on that to get all the IE versions on one OS. IETester has flaws and is not always 100% reliable in what it renders, but for a general CSS compatibility check it should be okay.
I've never tried IE using Wine, but even trying to imagine the combination gives me goose bumps :D
If you have a copy of Windows you could install it in a virtual machine (Virtualbox is a good, free option). Or if you don't mind a lot of lag time and publicly exposing your web pages you could use a service like BrowserShots.
I have not tried this on Ubuntu or anything but windows - but this seems to be a pretty good testing system over the web.
http://spoon.net/browsers/
however, I think your best result would be to use a VM if possible.
I have to add my voice to those opting for VirtualBox.
VMs are the only way to get an accurate representation of how IE platforms behave. They also allow you to keep your main Linux install free of WINE and IE gunk, which is otherwise always troublesome and fragile. (Especially if you're trying to run multiple IEs, which is unreliable and inaccurate even under Windows).
They're not necessarily that big, if you take care to prune the unneeded features, turn off swap, compact the disc image and so on. My XPSP3 test image is just over 800MB.
I didn't want to install all this stuff as I wanted to move forward quick.
I found public AWS images with pre installed browser that you just can start and use.
http://www.hens-teeth.net/html/products/cross_browser_testing.php
If you already have an AWS account this will take you only 5 min. Make sure that you enable the RDP port on the incoming traffic in your security group.
As I use ubuntu I was looking for a way to connect from it to MS Win.
I'm connection on to them via remote desktop.
The way to go here is rdesktop, a command line utility for Windows Remote Desktop. (sudo apt-get install rdesktop)
If you feel like a GUI use tsclient. It's very close to the windows version.
From a work flow perspective I develop for Chrome in Ubuntu first, then have a look at the other browsers via browserlab.adobe.com.
After that I start my new AWS instance to debug.
The small AWS Windows instance is a $0.12 per hour (http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/#pricing). I can work for a long time on that before it's worth installing all this stuff.
CrossBrowserTesting.com works from Linux. Allows you to access Mac, Windows, and Ubuntu configurations and all the browsers loaded on them via vinagre vnc client.