LiveCode for FM Guide Ben Lui

Install Xcode

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Before you can deploy to iOS, you must have Xcode installed on your Mac. LCFM Native will then automatically detect your Xcode installation and use the necessary tools from it to do the compile step for your iOS app.

Please note that you cannot deploy for iOS from Windows, you must have a Mac to do this. Apple do not offer an SDK to deploy from Windows.

Software Requirements

The iOS SDKs come as part of the Xcode app bundle. LCFM Native requires a minimum of MacOS 14.x (Mojave) to run. You can determine what operating system you have installed and the hardware platform you are using by selecting Apple > About This Mac from the top of your screen. If you need to update your Mac, this should be your first step before installing Xcode.

Joining the iOS Developer Program

Before you can continue with the installation, you need to join Apples iOS Developer Program. You can join by following this link: https://developer.apple.com/ios/ . It is free to sign up if you are testing via the iOS simulator but is subscription based if you plan on testing your applications on physical devices.

Once you have signed up to the Apple iOS Developer Program, you can go to the iOS Developer Portal and set up the required certificates (link is on the top-right of the page). Follow this guide for information on the process: Maintain Signing Identities and Certificates

Downloading and installing Xcode

Now you're ready to download XCode from the Mac App store. Or alternatively you can log in to your Apple Developer account and go to the "More Downloads" page, which is here. There you will find older versions of XCode should you ever need them.

LCFM Native will be able to detect your Xcode installation when you build for iOS. You are now ready to move on to creating a development profile for use with your app.

Troubleshooting - Command line tools not found

So you're trying to build your app for iOS but are receiving this error message. This can happen for a number of reasons. The first thing you should check is that XCode and its relevant components are definitely installed correctly and in the right location.

If the problem persists after doing this then it is likely that LiveCode for FM is looking for the XCode tools in the wrong location. You can check the path to the XCode tools installed on your mac by opening terminal and putting in the command xcode-select -p . This will show the path to your tools bundle. For example mine shows: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer.

If the location of yours doesn't look quite right then this will be the reason for the error. You can change the location in the terminal by using the command sudo xcode-select -s. This is how it should look altogether:

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcodes/Xcode.app

After this the issue should be resolved and you can open LiveCode for FM and give iOS deployment another try. If you continue to face issues please get in touch via our support email.

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