I would like to ship a configuration profile with my iPhone application, and install it if needed.
Mind you, we're talking about a configuration profile, not a provisioning profile.
First off, such a task is possible. If you place a config profile on a Web page and click on it from Safari, it will get installed. If you e-mail a profile and click the attachment, it will install as well. "Installed" in this case means "The installation UI is invoked" - but I could not even get that far.
So I was working under the theory that initiating a profile installation involves navigating to it as a URL. I added the profile to my app bundle.
A) First, I tried [sharedApp openURL] with the file:// URL into my bundle. No such luck - nothing happens.
B) I then added an HTML page to my bundle that has a link to the profile, and loaded it into a UIWebView. Clicking on the link does nothing. Loading an identical page from a Web server in Safari, however, works fine - the link is clickable, the profile installs. I provided a UIWebViewDelegate, answering YES to every navigation request - no difference.
C) Then I tried to load the same Web page from my bundle in Safari (using [sharedApp openURL] - nothing happens. I guess, Safari cannot see files inside my app bundle.
D) Uploading the page and the profile on a Web server is doable, but a pain on the organizational level, not to mention an extra source of failures (what if no 3G coverage? etc.).
So my big question is: **how do I install a profile programmatically?
And the little questions are: what can make a link non-clickable within a UIWebView? Is it possible to load a file:// URL from my bundle in Safari? If not, is there a local location on iPhone where I can place files and Safari can find them?
EDIT on B): the problem is somehow in the fact that we're linking to a profile. I renamed it from .mobileconfig to .xml ('cause it's really XML), altered the link. And the link worked in my UIWebView. Renamed it back - same stuff. It looks as if UIWebView is reluctant to do application-wide stuff - since installation of the profile closes the app. I tried telling it that it's OK - by means of UIWebViewDelegate - but that did not convince. Same behavior for mailto: URLs within UIWebView.
For mailto: URLs the common technique is to translate them into [openURL] calls, but that doesn't quite work for my case, see scenario A.
For itms: URLs, however, UIWebView works as expected...
EDIT2: tried feeding a data URL to Safari via [openURL] - does not work, see here: iPhone Open DATA: Url In Safari
EDIT3: found a lot of info on how Safari does not support file:// URLs. UIWebView, however, very much does. Also, Safari on the simulator open them just fine. The latter bit is the most frustrating.
EDIT4: I never found a solution. Instead, I put together a two-bit Web interface where the users can order the profile e-mailed to them.
1) Install a local server like RoutingHTTPServer
2) Configure the custom header :
[httpServer setDefaultHeader:@"Content-Type" value:@"application/x-apple-aspen-config"];
3) Configure the local root path for the mobileconfig file (Documents):
[httpServer setDocumentRoot:[NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0]];
4) In order to allow time for the web server to send the file, add this :
Appdelegate.h
UIBackgroundTaskIdentifier bgTask;
Appdelegate.m
- (void)applicationDidEnterBackground:(UIApplication *)application {
NSAssert(self->bgTask == UIBackgroundTaskInvalid, nil);
bgTask = [application beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler: ^{
dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
[application endBackgroundTask:self->bgTask];
self->bgTask = UIBackgroundTaskInvalid;
});
}];
}
5) In your controller, call safari with the name of the mobileconfig stored in Documents :
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString: @"http://localhost:12345/MyProfile.mobileconfig"]];