Forum Discussion

stellarCaptain's avatar
stellarCaptain
Explorer
8 years ago

Development cycle best practice?

Hi!

I'm developing an app on top of the social starter example. I'm not sure if I have missed something but is the only way to test builds that have social content to upload them to Oculus store alpha channel and add myself and a friend I'm testing it with as alpha testers? When I build directly to the phone (I have Galaxy S8 and S8+ at my disposal) the social side doesn't work. I already posted a question regarding that.

Does anyone know any workaround? Or are we stuck with this tedious development cycle (change version numbers in both manifest and unity -> add new manifest to unity project -> build -> sign the apk from command line with v1 signature schema  -> upload to store -> update app in phone)?

Thanks for your help in advance!
Avatars SDK
best practice
development pipeline
social
SocialStarter example

3 Replies

  • l0g1k's avatar
    l0g1k
    Protege
    8 years ago
    You definitely don't need to upload to the store everytime; just once. If you are experiencing problems then it must be something else. 


  • stellarCaptain's avatar
    stellarCaptain
    Explorer
    8 years ago

    l0g1k said:

    You definitely don't need to upload to the store everytime; just once. If you are experiencing problems then it must be something else. 




    Please elaborate a little, what do you mean by that? If I make a new build of my app and I need to test it, how do I pass it to the phones without uploading the new build to the store? I'm not experiencing any problems, just wondering if the dev cycle for apps that use social features really is this tedious. I'm really interested to hear if there is a workaround I don't know of. :)
  • l0g1k's avatar
    l0g1k
    Protege
    8 years ago
    * You can build and run directly from Unity. If you are using a store-compatible manifest then Unity is unable to start the app for you. Oculus does a terrible job of advertising this, but you can start the app directly by finding the "GearVR Service" app on the phone and then you can launch your app from the list. For local testing, you can disregard the code signing and version numbers (just sign with "debug" in the Unity settings). You only need them for your store submission.

    * Do you have an Oculus Rift? That's what I use to test social. If you don't have one, I'm not sure how it would work. Typically, you have create app IDs for a GearVR and Rift app, and then add them in Unity under [Main menu > Oculus Avatars > Edit Configuration] and [Main Menu > Oculus Platform > Edit Settings]. If you don't have a Rift I'm not sure what to recommend - it's possible it will still work. Either way you have to upload a Rift build and put the app ID in Unity (it can be an empty scene, it's fine). 

    * You will need to be logged into different Oculus accounts on your PC and your phone

    * I think, maybe, you have to add all testing accounts to the 'Developers' section of the organisation too. I can't remember.