iOS: Simple way to manage REST end points

Question

Our REST based application can be used for testing on multiple internal environments each with a different REST end point. Is there a simple way to set up environment level co

Answer 1

This is my approach of doing things when we have multiple end points. I used to make a ConfigurationManager class something like this

Swift 3.0 code

import Foundation
import UIKit

let kEnvironmentsPlist:NSString? = "Environments"
let kConfigurationKey:NSString? = "ActiveConfiguration"
let kAPIEndpointKey:NSString? = "APIEndPoint"
let kLoggingEnabledKey:NSString? = "LoggingEnabled"
let kAnalyticsTrackingEnabled:NSString? = "AnalyticsTrackingEnabled"

class ConfigurationManager:NSObject {

    var environment : NSDictionary?

    //Singleton Method

    static let sharedInstance: ConfigurationManager = {
        let instance = ConfigurationManager()
        // setup code
        return instance
    }()

    override init() {
        super.init()
        initialize()
    }

    // Private method

    func initialize ()   {

        var environments: NSDictionary?
        if let envsPlistPath = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "Environments", ofType: "plist") {
            environments = NSDictionary(contentsOfFile: envsPlistPath)
        }
        self.environment = environments!.object(forKey: currentConfiguration()) as? NSDictionary
        if self.environment == nil {
            assertionFailure(NSLocalizedString("Unable to load application configuration", comment: "Unable to load application configuration"))
        }
    }

    // CurrentConfiguration

    func currentConfiguration () -> String   {
        let configuration = Bundle.main.infoDictionary?[kConfigurationKey! as String] as? String
        return configuration!
    }

    // APIEndpoint

    func APIEndpoint () -> String  {
        let configuration = self.environment![kAPIEndpointKey!]
        return (configuration)! as! String
    }

    // isLoggingEnabled

    func isLoggingEnabled () -> Bool  {

        let configuration = self.environment![kLoggingEnabledKey!]
        return (configuration)! as! Bool
    }

    // isAnalyticsTrackingEnabled

    func isAnalyticsTrackingEnabled () -> String  {

        let configuration = self.environment![kAnalyticsTrackingEnabled!]
        return (configuration)! as! String
    }

    func applicationName()->String{
        let bundleDict = Bundle.main.infoDictionary! as NSDictionary
        return bundleDict.object(forKey: "CFBundleName") as! String
    }
}

In Project--> Info Add some new configurations as per your need.

I have added Staging and QA as extra endpoints.Generally I use to make Staging as Release config and QA as Debug. So it will look like:

Now go to Targets -> Build Settings and add a User Defined Setting

Give the name of the user defined like ACTIVE_CONFIGURATION.

Add a key named ActiveConfiguration in info.plist with a variable name as $(ACTIVE_CONFIGURATION) same as given in User Defined Settings with a $ in the beginning. We gave the name of key as ActiveConfiguration because we are using the same name in our ConfigurationManager.swift class for kConfigurationKey.

let kConfigurationKey:NSString? = "ActiveConfiguration"

You can define as per your naming convention.

It will look like:

Now in the ConfigurationManager class I am getting a path for Environments.plist file.

I will just make a Environments.plist file like this:

The actual description source of this file is

    Development
    
        APIEndPoint
        https://dev
        LoggingEnabled
        
        AnalyticsTrackingEnabled
        
        Flurry
        
            FlurryApplicationID
            
            FlurryApplicationSecret
            
        
        Facebook
        
            FacebookAppID
            
            FacebookAppSecret
            
        
    
    QA
    
        APIEndPoint
        https://qa
        LoggingEnabled
        
        AnalyticsTrackingEnabled
        
        Flurry
        
            FlurryApplicationID
            
            FlurryApplicationSecret
            
        
        Facebook
        
            FacebookAppID
            
            FacebookAppSecret
            
        
    
    Staging
    
        APIEndPoint
        https://staging
        LoggingEnabled
        
        AnalyticsTrackingEnabled
        
        Flurry
        
            FlurryApplicationID
            
            FlurryApplicationSecret
            
        
        Facebook
        
            FacebookAppID
            840474532726958
            FacebookAppSecret
            
        
    
    Production
    
        APIEndPoint
        https://production
        LoggingEnabled
        
        AnalyticsTrackingEnabled
        
        Flurry
        
            FlurryApplicationID
            
            FlurryApplicationSecret
            
        
        Facebook
        
            FacebookAppID
            
            FacebookAppSecret
            
        
    

We are now good to go. Now you have to just call

ConfigurationManager.sharedInstance.APIEndpoint()

for your respective end points.

Now you just have to change the schemes from Edit Schemes and you are done and change the Build Configuration in info.

This not only manages API End Points but also other things like whether to enable analytics or tracking for the respective end point or different ids of Facebook for different end points.