Accessing in Xcode

[philihp]

How can these be accessed in Xcode?

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• ID: 97f3af3f-ef07-8896-4b3c-05cef163b51a
• Version Independent ID: b4b1f6a4-5975-358b-1cf4-f7b10a2245cd
• Content: Environment Variables - Visual Studio App Center
• Content Source: docs/build/custom/variables/index.md
• Service: mobile-center
• GitHub Login: @derpixeldan
• Microsoft Alias: daadam

[philihp]

To add some clarity here, I have two branches, one for staging and one for release, each of which has an environment variable giving it a CODEPUSH_KEY.

When I add a build step that does a printenv command to list all the variables, I see it showing up as USER-DEFINED_CODEPUSH_KEY, but environment variables allowed to have a dash in them, so printing this results in printing the value of $USER followed by -DEFINED_CODEPUSH_KEY... so vsts-DEFINED_CODEPUSH_KEY.

Is the USER-DEFINED_ prefix being added by Appcenter? Is there a way around this?

[jwargo]

@philihp I'll ask someone on the build team to respond, but you should probably just ask support for help. The comments feature of our documentation is intended to enable customers to suggest changes to the docs or ask clarifying questions about the docs. If feels like a doc update would help here, but we can do that after you resolve your issue.

App Center support is provided directly from within the App Center portal. Any time you need help, just click the blue chat button in the lower-right corner of any page and our dedicated support team will respond. For additional information, see the App Center Help Center.

[nilofer]

@philihp the USER-DEFINED_ prefix is added by App Center when you add an environment variable when configuring the branch. There isn't a way around this. If you need still need more specific help, please reach out to our support via the blue bubble in the App Center portal.

[philihp]

@nrajpurkar can that prefix be changed to USER_DEFINED_ for reasons in https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/23659/can-shell-variable-include-character/23714#23714? This would be a breaking change, but I don't imagine they're very useful with that dash.

[dennispan]

@philihp If you access the variables in the places documented here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/appcenter/build/custom/variables/#access-the-variables , then USER-DEFINED_ prefix is not needed. To access them elsewhere, unfortunately there is currently no workaround. I'd encourage adding a new feature request here: https://github.com/Microsoft/appcenter

[tonyarnold]

Why is this closed? The issue isn't resolved, and there's no workaround?

[dennispan]

@tonyarnold The environment variables configured in App Center Build are currently specifically designed to be used in places documented here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/appcenter/build/custom/variables/#access-the-variables, where you can access them without the USER-DEFINED_ prefix. This is achieved by storing the variables with USER-DEFINED_ prefix, and then remove the prefix when we make them available at the places described in the doc.

Accessing the variables outside of those documented place are currently unsupported. Directly using USER-DEFINED_xxx really wasn't our intention. That said, I would definitely be open to hear what you are trying to solve (e.g. where you are trying to access the variables), and see what we can do.

[tonyarnold]

Thanks for the info, @dennispan.

I have components of my Xcode build that I only wish to run in release builds. To date, I’ve been doing that using environment variables that I watch for in build phase scripts.

I also use them to pass a password to lock/unlock a bundled Keychain with build secrets in it.

I really need these available during the Xcode build - I can’t make this work via pre/post build scripts.

[dennispan]

@tonyarnold Thanks for the quick reply! Let's move this discussion to microsoft/appcenter#161? Would be great to consolidate feedbacks on this in one place

[tonyarnold]

Actually, I take that back. I can think of a workaround for the release components. Not sure what to do about the bundled keychain though.