Delta Chat iOS Client

The application lifecycle is managed through the following components:

• UIApplication: The single instance representing the app. It is initialized via UIApplicationMain() or the @UIApplicationMain attribute.
• UIApplicationDelegate: A delegate that responds to application-level events (e.g., application(_:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:)). This is the ideal place to store "app globals" like DcContext.
• UIApplication.shared.delegate: Provides access to the application's delegate instance.

The application uses two main patterns for flow control and navigation:

Delegation

Delegation is used to receive events from the system or other components. A "delegator" calls specific functions on a "delegate" (defined by a protocol) when an event occurs (e.g., didSelect()).

Coordinators

Coordinators are a convention used to decouple navigation logic from View Controllers.

• A coordinator typically takes a UINavigationController during construction.
• It handles navigation by calling methods like pushViewController().
• In this project, strong references are held to coordinators, which in turn hold strong references to the view controllers they manage. This ensures the navigation stack is not prematurely deallocated.
• While coordinators help reuse logic by removing navigation responsibility from views, the project notes that they can add complexity if overused.

Once you have the signing request, generate the Apple certificate:

1. Go to the Apple Certificate Resources page.
2. Click Create.
3. Select Apple Push Notification service SSL (Sandbox & Production).
4. For App ID, use: 8Y...A8.chat.delta.
5. Upload the CertificateSigningRequest.certSigningRequest file created in the previous step.
6. Download the resulting file and save it locally as certificates/YEAR-push-renew-NUMBER/aps.cer.

Note: Do not commit this file to git.

To run the full test suite in Xcode, ensure the deltachat-ios target is selected. Long-press the Run button (the play icon) at the top of the Xcode interface and select Test from the menu to switch the action from running the app to running tests.

To run a specific individual test, navigate to the desired test function within the DcTests.swift file. Click the Test button (the diamond icon) located in the gutter (the line number column) next to the first line of the test function.

After generating the .p12 file and the password file, the certificate must be updated on the server.

If you do not have direct access to the server, contact the server administrators and provide them with:

1. The Certificates.p12 file.
2. The password.txt file.

Important: Send these files through a secure channel. The server code is managed in the notifiers repository.

Before building the project, you must install rustup, cargo-lipo, and CocoaPods.

# Install rustup
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Install cargo-lipo
cargo install cargo-lipo

# Install CocoaPods (via Homebrew)
brew install cocoapods

Follow these steps to clone the repository, initialize submodules, install the required Rust toolchain, and set up CocoaPods dependencies.

Note: Always open the .xcworkspace file, not the .xcodeproj file, to run the project.

# Clone and initialize
git clone git@github.com:deltachat/deltachat-ios.git
cd deltachat-ios
git submodule update --init --recursive

# Install specific Rust toolchain
rustup toolchain install `cat rust-toolchain`

# Install CocoaPods dependencies
pod install

# Open the workspace in Xcode
open deltachat-ios.xcworkspace

New unit tests should be added as functions within the DcTests struct. These functions must be annotated with the @Test macro. This project uses the Swift Testing framework.

struct DcTests {
    @Test func myNewTest() {
        // Test implementation
    }
}

To begin the renewal, generate a signing request on a Mac desktop:

1. Launch the Keychain Access app.
2. In the main menu, navigate to: Keychain Access > Certificate Assistant > Request a Certificate from a Certificate Authority.
3. Use the following details:
   • Email Address: delta-ios@merlinux.eu
   • Common Name: delta-apns
4. Save the file locally as certificates/YEAR-push-renew-NUMBER/CertificateSigningRequest.certSigningRequest.

Note: Do not commit this file to git.

The scripts/local-help-image-replacements directory contains alternative versions of help images from https://delta.chat/help that are designed to look more native to iOS.

To apply these replacements to the generated offline help, run the following script:

./script/create-local-help.sh

This script copies the images from this directory into the generated offline help, overwriting the original images. You do not need to replace every image; only replace those that do not align with the iOS aesthetic. The general goal is to maintain neutral images where possible, but use these replacements for images that feel non-native to the iOS platform.

To prepare the certificate for the server, convert the .cer file into a .p12 format:

1. Create a file named certificates/YEAR-push-renew-NUMBER/password.txt containing only a secure password.
2. In Keychain Access, select the login keychain and the Certificates tab.
3. Go to File > Import Items... and select your aps.cer file.
4. Locate the newly imported item (look for the one with the furthest expiration date) and expand it.
5. Select the delta-apns certificate.
6. Right-click and select Export "delta-apns".
7. Save the file as certificates/YEAR-push-renew-NUMBER/Certificates.p12.
8. When prompted, enter the password you saved in password.txt.