Clutch.io - WTF is that?
Today's topic is all about a new up and coming service called Clutch.io.
So, what is this new service and how can it be useful to me? In this article, we take a deeper look into the service and provide thoughts on its usefulness.
Clutch.io in its simplest form is a service to help speed up development time, and allow for instant deployments of features for iOS applications. What this does is allow the developer to push releases of their application to the users without having to wait through a lengthy submittal/approval process.
The service acts as a great hybrid approach for applications that contain a mix of iOS, CSS, Html, and JavaScript. By using this hybrid approach, this allows your development team to not be limited to developing in only Xcode.
Let's go a bit deeper
that's what she said...
First, we need to create an account, and setup our application within the site. The service does offer a free account for developers that want to deploy one (1) application for a user base of up to 5,000 users/month. And of course there are additional tiers of pricing to suit your needs. The service also includes a free demo application, which allows you to get your hands dirty! Once you create your account, you have two options: Create a New Xcode Project or Migrate an existing Xcode Project.
Two great options here. First, providing a template project is a great way to get started with a new service. Second, providing a migration option is key to allowing developers with already successful applications in the App Store to become more successful on their next release.
So, in my quest to learn more about Clutch.io, I chose the option to download the new project template. Simply, opened up the project in Xcode, hit Run and we have a sample application ready to start with. Once the app is running, you need to add the Device ID to you application on the site under "My Apps" In a matter of minutes I have the skeleton application running and I haven't yet lost interest!
The final step is to setup Development Mode on your system. This can be done easily, by running the following commands from a terminal window:
https://gist.github.com/5ce3abc91167c6a6c17e
Then navigate to the directory in your project where the Clutch.io source files live, and run the following dev command:
https://gist.github.com/47a92357e759503cacf8
… And BOOM! We are all setup.
So, what does this mean? What have we just done? Go back to Xcode and Run the Xcode project again, and you should see that you're now in Development Mode! This means that you have a connection setup between the CSS, JavaScript, and Html files in your local {Xcode Project}/clutch directory with the web view in your iOS simulator. Now, when you click the reload button showing on the bottom left of your simulator screen, the updated content will load directly from your project's clutch directory.
The ability to update an iOS application without touching iOS code, pretty neat huh?