Iteration Plan for October 2019

[nilofer]

October 2019 Plan

All aboard the Xcode beta train as it pulls into the final GA station. We continually updated Build to support these versions for Swift/Obj-C and React Native apps and added stable support for Xamarin.iOS apps. Additionally, we shipped two major Build requests - building from self-hosted GitLab repos and support for Xamarin.iOS app extensions. You can now better see information related to your apps usage of Data with the Metrics view. We wrapped up work for macOS and iOS extension support in Diagnostics, and you can start using that with the October SDK release. We’re continuing to make transitioning from HockeyApp to App Center as smooth as possible with the ability to move multiple apps at once and manage your organizations directly in App Center.

October will continue to see additional features added to Auth. Data’s Metrics Explorer will get a boost with Traffic Maps. In addition to the macOS and iOS extension support in Diagnostics, there will be some additional features for Windows apps. Distribution will support Sparkle feeds and in-app updates through public distribution groups. Here’s to a productive month for all our app developers!

Auth

• Support bringing your own identity management provider (Firebase Authentication and Auth0) with App Center Auth [Bring your own identity management provider with App Center Auth #637]
• Enable developers to connect their Active Azure Directory to Auth [Enable developers to connect their Active Azure Directory to Auth #994]

Data

• Continue Free Tier investigatory work [ Investigatory work on Free Tier for App Center Data #799]
• CRUD functionality in the Data Explorer [ Investigatory work on Data Explorer #800]
• Traffic Map in Metrics Explorer [Data Metrics Explorer  #660]
• Engineering Design Work on Data Change Notifications [Data Change Notifications in App Center Data  #1121]

Diagnostics

• API to upload custom crashes [[Feature] Add REST API function for uploading custom crashes #31]
• Support macOS & iOS extensions [Add diagnostics (crashes) support for iOS extensions #687]
• Crashes and errors support for UWP apps [Ability to add comments to UWP crashes like on iOS #752, UWP: support handled exceptions #150, Support Crash Metadata for UWP apps #403]
• User ID support for WPF, WinForms, and UWP apps
• Search by exception type [Allow searching of crash reports by exception type #485 ]

Distribution

• Support Sparkle feeds for macOS/Windows in-app updates [Support Sparkle feeds for macOS/Windows in-app updates #202]
• In-app update through public distribution groups [In-app update through public distribution groups requires log-in #182]
• Externally hosted builds
• Updated tester experience [get a QR (or link) to a specific build/release #986, Link to Release on install.appcenter.ms #140, install.appcenter.ms sorts iOS and Android releases differently  #369, The install web page doesn't display properly on Safari #176]

SDK

• Add diagnostics (crashes) support for iOS extensions [Add diagnostics (crashes) support for iOS extensions #687]

HockeyApp

• Switch the distribution groups management for organizations to App Center

General

• Custom apps platform support
• Research for compute backend-as-a-service from App Center [Research for compute backend-as-a-service from App Center #993]

Test

• Add iOS 13 devices to the device selection
• Add iOS 13 and Xcode 11 support to Xamarin.UITest [Xamarin.UITest support fo iOS 13 and Xcode 11 #1129]

[Zee-day]

Any news on #32 ?

[nilofer]

@Zee-day, not planned for this month, but we are continuing to track the feature request.

[absinth70]

Is there some timeline for supporting In-App updates for .Net Core 3 WPF apps?

[dimazaid]

@absinth70 - we don't have timeline at the moment. Do you mind creating an issue and add your vote so we can track it?

[absinth70]

@dimazaid I think (and hope) its already covered by this one: #1228 (Enable In-app updates for WPF Applications (feature parity with HockeyApp)). Even I'm not able to find any functional Sparkle SDK for .Net core WPF :/

[martinarvaiaccedo]

I think Custom apps platform support equals to #464?

[rishimodha]

@nrajpurkar Are there any plans to support the Squirrel flag for the Sparkle update feed? This was supported on HockeyApp and it is required for Electron AutoUpdater, which does not support XML output and requires JSON. See example: https://rink.hockeyapp.net/api/2/apps/bc02347d258a40e2af46cc8de3566bab.json?squirrel=true

It won't be possible for us to complete the transition to AppCenter from HockeyApp until support for Squirrel JSON format is added. Please do not force a transition before this is supported as it will cut off our customer's ability to update their apps.

[lbrownell-gpsw]

Time for that November 2019 iteration plan...

[Oddj0b]

November plan is at #1322

[OzBob]

@rishimodha and anyone else looking for 'Squirrel flag for the Sparkle update feed' see #1304