Project Dependencies

To simplify setup for developers new to the application, as well as having a reliable build system that is also able to run in a reproducible fashion. The creation and set up of a new project will be faster and safer. It will require only the language runtime (Ruby) and dependency manager installed as prerequisites.

The project normally contains:

• Fastlane: is the easiest way to automate beta deployments and releases for the iOS (also Android) applications. 🚀 It handles all tedious tasks, such as generating screenshots, dealing with code signing, and releasing the application.
• Cocoapods: manages dependencies for Xcode projects. Cocoapods aims to improve the engagement with, and discoverability of, third-party open-source Cocoa libraries. Developers only need to specify the dependencies in a file named Podfile. Cocoapods recursively resolves dependencies between libraries, fetches source code for all dependencies, and creates and maintains an Xcode workspace to build the project.
• Swift Package Manager: a tool for managing the distribution of Swift code. It’s integrated with the Swift build system to automate the process of downloading, compiling, and linking dependencies.

Dependencies

Bundler

Bundler is a Ruby package manager, think of it as a Cocoapods for ruby plugins that will be used for the project. Keeping package versions the same on all development machines and Continuous Development machines reduces unnoticed bugs from occurring. Noteworthy packages include Fastlane, Firebase-cli, and Cocoapods.

Cocoapods

Cocoapods manages iOS packages to keep consistency throughout development machines.

Fastlane

Fastlane automates test, build, and most importantly: certificates and profiles which are a core part of the App Store ecosystem.

Firebase

The main usage of Firebase for our team is Firebase Crashlytics and Firebase Distribution. Firebase Crashlytics is used to track, prioritize, and fix stability issues that erode the app quality. Firebase Distribution is the primary method for QA and Client to download applications for testing and presenting purposes. In some projects, Firebase Analytics is being used to track and analyze users' behavior for marketing purposes.

Libraries

Alamofire

Alamofire is a networking library for Swift projects. Alamofire is used as a base for our Networking layer to streamline API calls in all projects, allowing developers to switch between projects without an issue.

SnapKit (pre-SwiftUI)

SnapKit is the tool for layout user interface with ease and easier to establish a team's convention. SnapKit applies Auto Layout using a more concise syntax. This allows the UI to be responsive on different devices.

RxSwift

RxSwift is the library for writing Swift in the reactive programming way. RxSwift added a reactive framework for Swift with syntax closely resembling other Rx frameworks. Although it is possible to implement reactive programming for Swift, RxSwift can bypass problems that arise from maintaining large plugins and allow developers from other platforms to easily understand RxSwift syntax.

IQKeyboardManagerSwift

IQKeyboardManager is a plugin for UIScrollView. IQKeyboardManager will detect when the keyboard is showing and adjust the view so that the view is not blocked by the keyboard. IQKeyboardManager is the go-to solution because of the ease of installation and history of maintenance by the developers.

SwiftLint

SwiftLin is used to enforce our team's code convention. SwiftLint is the perfect tool for this task as it is customizable, lightweight, and automate-able. Our team installs SwiftLint with Ruby to allow Continuous Integration machine capability to replicate local lint. SwiftLint is integrated with Xcode to display a warning and halt build when error.

KeychainAccess

KeychainAccess is a wrapper for Keychain, making storing data with Apple's encryption as convenient as using UserDefault.

Sourcery

Swift code generator running on top of Stencil. Sourcery is used to generate Protocol's Mock for Unit Testing purposes. We include Sourcery in podfile and add a shell script to Xcode Build Phrase ./Pods/Sourcery/bin/sourcery.

SwiftFormat

SwiftFormat is a code formatter for Swift language. The template uses SwiftFormat as a code convention enforcer. When SwiftFormat runs, the source code is reformatted according to the applied rules. This helps with keeping code conventions and reducing the number of warnings.

When the SwiftFormat runs, the code is reformatted, making them lose the ability to undo and redo. This could cause inconvenience to the development, so the current version of the template runs a SwiftFormat command only when starting a Test build.