Increase mobile development productivity with Firebase App Distribution

Learn how Hubble, asia's leading technology startup focused on the construction industry, tackle challenges faced that impact developer productivity and how we are able to resolve them.

Transcript

1. 1 Increase mobile development productivity with Firebase App Distribution Lim Shang Yi Google Developer Expert Firebase Software Engineer @ Hubble @shanggyilim
2. 2 02 Problems 01 Background 03 Solutions 04 Summary
3. 3 01 Background 02 Problems 03 Solutions 04 Summary
4. 4 Hubble is Asia's leading full fledged technology company focused on the construction industry. Our end-to-end enterprise construction management software allows you to unify all key stakeholders – developers, consultants, fabricators, and contractors - and digitise operations on a single platform – The Hubble Platform.
6. Background Team Tech 6 - 4 Team members - Teams may work on various sub-systems - 1/2 QA Test Engineer - 1 Product Owner - Gitlab - React Native v63 - Talks to backend via APIs - Multiple product flavours, e.g. Dev, Staging, Release
7. Workflow 7 Dev work & test features Open MR/PR to main Merge to main Dev builds app and sends to QA Dev work & test features PM requests a build Dev builds app and sends to PM QA requests a build
8. Workflow 8 Dev work & test features Open MR/PR to main Merge to main Dev builds app and sends to QA Dev work & test features PM requests a build Dev builds app and sends to PM QA requests a build
9. 9 01 Background 01 Problems 03 Solutions 04 Summary
10. 10 - Occupying computer resources - Building incorrect flavours - Introduce unintended changes - Security risk It’s still building Problems “The app is still building!” Building!!
11. 11 - Building ad-hoc causes disruption in developer workflows - Wasted time increasing version number, code Stop bothering me Problems
12. 12 - Builds sent in slack 👁 👄 👁 - Can come from any team member - Unable to determine features deployed - Sharing builds between many people can be cumbersome Where did it go? Problems
13. 13 - Unsure which features are in which build - Delay QA testing - Devs unsure too leading to rebuilds - Unsure to use which version code and name What’s in the box Problems
14. 14 - Which commit broke the build? - Onboarding new devs can be an issue Sudden Death Problems
15. 15 Problems - Need a way to get the same app with different environments installed the same device - Need a way to get testers to easily find different environments of the same app to download Same same but different
16. 16 01 Background 01 Problems 03 Solutions 04 Summary
17. 17 - The same app can live in the same device but identified by different application ID / Bundle ID - Different environment uses different APIs, dev uses Dev APIs, while QA uses QA APIs. - Android app uses product flavours - iOS app uses iOS Schemes and Build Configurations Handling Multiple App Environments Solution
18. 18 android { flavorDimensions "default" productFlavors { dev{ applicationIdSuffix ".dev" } qa { applicationIdSuffix ".test" } re { applicationIdSuffix ".release" } demo { applicationIdSuffix ".demo" } prod { } } }
19. 19 const ANDROID_ASSEMBLE_TYPES = { dev: 'assembleDevRelease', qa: 'assembleQaRelease', release: 'assembleReRelease', demo: 'assembleDemoRelease', prod: 'assembleProdRelease', }; execSync(`cd android && ./gradlew ${assembleType} && cd ..`);
21. 21 // Configured in Xcode Toolbar > Product > Manage Schemes const IOS_SCHEME = { dev: 'HubbleApp-Dev', qa: 'HubbleApp-QA', release: 'HubbleApp-Rel', demo: 'HubbleApp-Demo', prod: 'HubbleOneApp', }; // Configured in XCode HubbleOneApp Project > Configurations const IOS_CONFIGURATION = { dev: 'Dev.Release', qa: 'QA.Release', release: 'Rel.Release', demo: 'Demo.Release', prod: 'release', }; execSync( `xcodebuild -workspace ios/HubbleOneApp.xcworkspace -scheme ${ IOS_SCHEME[argv.env] } \ clean archive -configuration ${IOS_CONFIGURATION[argv.env]} -sdk iphoneos`);
22. 22 - Plugins that let you automate tasks for mobile apps - fastlane-plugin-increment_version_name for android, fastlane-plugin-versioning for iOS - fastlane-plugin-increment_version_code, fastlane-plugin-increment_version_name to automatically increase version numbers Fastlane Solutions
24. 24 info.plist app/build.gradle
25. 25 - Create scheduled pipelines - Runs every night with latest from code branch - Android: Gitlab pipeline runner with react-native-community/docker-android - iOS: Gitlab pipeline runner delegate to Bitrise Automatic Nightly Builds Solutions
27. Workflow QA requests a build Dev triggers build pipeline ????? QA receives installable app
28. Workflow QA requests a build Dev triggers build pipeline Automate deployment of apps QA receives installable app
29. 29 - Distribute pre-production versions for Android, iOS - Upload APKs or AABs for Android, IPAs for iOS - Apps are easy to install - Manage testers and groups - Easy workflow integration Firebase App Distribution Solutions
33. Previous Workflow 33 Dev work & test features Open MR/PR to main Merge to main Dev builds app and sends to QA Dev work & test features PM requests a build Dev builds app and sends to PM QA requests a build
34. Previous Workflow 34 Dev work & test features Open MR/PR to main Merge to main Dev builds app and sends to QA Dev work & test features PM requests a build Dev builds app and sends to PM QA requests a build
35. Workflow 35 Dev work & test features Open MR/PR to main Merge to main Dev triggers build & deploy pipeline QA requests a build
36. Pipeline Workflow 36 Pipeline triggered APP_ENV=QA COMMIT_BEFORE_SHA =74a5156 Android build started iOS build delegated to Bitrise Firebase App Distribution emails test group Deploy to Firebase App Distribution Deploy to Firebase App Distribution Firebase App Distribution emails test group
37. 37 Distribution methods Firebase App Distribution - Firebase Console - Firebase CLI - Fastlane
38. 38 Distribute via Firebase Console
39. 39 Distribute via Firebase CLI
40. 40 Distribute via Fastlane
41. 41 Distribute via Fastlane
42. 42 Using Fastlane to run Firebase App Distribution
43. 43 Android App Bundle Support Firebase App Distribution - Uncover and debug device-specific issues. - Test app bundle features like Play Feature Delivery and Play Asset Delivery. - Reduce the size of downloads for your testers.
44. 44 Crashlytics Support Firebase App Distribution - Uncover issues with specific test builds
45. 45 02 Section 01 Hello & Expertise 03 Section 04 Summary
46. 46 Conclusion Build Pipeline Firebase App Distribution - Simplify build process - Delegate build to pipeline instead of devs - Identify errors as soon as build fails - Fits well with workflows - Manage apps in a single location - Fast distribution to user - Tester management - Crashlytics support - Allow AAB distribution
47. Thank you! Firebase Documentation https://bit.ly/2Uyyy Firebase Blog - Android App Bundle Support https://bit.ly/333KJR Hubble - Integrated Construction Management Digital Platform https://bit.ly/3je77 Links 47 Shang Yi - Software Engineer, Hubble @shanggyilim