Simulators with `(` in name are not started after `tns run ios --device <device_name>`

[asterizk]

I can't run tns emulate ios --device "iPad Pro (12.9 inch)"

Doing so results in the following message:
Starting iOS Simulator Unable to find device iPad Pro (12.9 inch). The valid device names are iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone SE, iPad Retina, iPad Air, iPad Air 2

Expected result:

• Starts 12.9" iPad simulator

This error occurs despite 'xcrun simctl list' outputting the 12.9" iPad as an option.

I believe I've tracked the root cause down to the fact that "iPad Pro (9.7 inch)" and the "iPad Pro (12.9 inch)" devices contain parentheses in their names, and the regex that parses the output of 'xcrun simctl list' doesn't expect those parentheses to be there:

var lineRegex = /^ ([^\(]+) \(([^\)]+)\) \(([^\)]+)\)( \(([^\)]+)\))*/;

That regex is contained in the following file: /usr/local/lib/node_modules/nativescript/node_modules/ios-sim-portable/lib/simctl.js.

I guess that means it's a problem with the ios-sim-portable module. I've got version 1.3.0 of it. I will file an issue with that project. In the meantime I'm working around it by manually adding devices to the device list in simctl.js:

            devices.push({
                            name: 'iPad Pro (9.7 inch)',
                            id: 'F123F133-F175-4FF4-ABA5-4A043EFCA810',
                            fullId: "com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPad Pro (9.7 inch)",
                            runtimeVersion: '10.0',
                            state: 'Shutdown'
                        });


            devices.push({
                            name: 'iPad Pro (12.9 inch)',
                            id: '07552BEF-F830-4561-912B-D760B0716935',
                            fullId: "com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPad Pro (12.9 inch)",
                            runtimeVersion: '10.0',
                            state: 'Shutdown'
                        });

...right before the return devices; statement.

Obviously that's a big hack and not a solution (the solution would involve fixing that regex), but at the present it allows me to launch my Nativescript app on the 12.9" iPad under emulation, which is pretty important for me because it's the only iOS platform my company actually supports at the moment.

Feel free to close this if issues in dependencies shouldn't be filed here. I just thought I might file it because it manifested itself while I was using 'tns' and it might help someone else out.

My config:
OS X 10.11.6
Xcode 8.0 (8A218a)
tns --version: 2.3.0
ios-sim-portable: 1.3.0
npm --version: 3.10.8
tsc --version: Version 2.0.3

[asterizk]

Looks a lot like this: ios-control/ios-sim#197

[davecoffin]

@asterizk Do you need to reinstall nativescript after you add your workaround?

[asterizk]

No, I don't think so, but, for what it's worth, I haven't tried it in a couple of months so it may no longer work... ? What are you seeing?

[biziosan]

Hi, I've just installed NativeScript.

iPad Air 2 is detected as a simulated device. The demo app starts just fine. iPad Pro (both types) is not detected.

[grasshoppermouse]

iPad Pro also not detected on my setup. Annoying because the App submission process requires screenshots from the 12.9" Pro, and I just got a "Metadata Rejected" from Apple due to lack of accurate screenshots from that device.

[nraboy]

Any news on this? Apple won't let me submit my app without iPad Pro pictures, but I can't simulate on iPad Pro.

[rosen-vladimirov]

@nraboy , @grasshoppermouse you can change the device type of your simulator by executing the following steps:

1. Start the simulator
2. From the top menu select Hardware -> Device -> iOS 10.1 -> iPad Pro (12.9 inch)
3. After the simulator is currently running, execute your CLI command: tns run ios - CLI will respect the already running emulator.

Hoep this helps.

[nraboy]

That does not work @rosen-vladimirov. It never deploys the app even with the correct simulator running. Works for every simulator except iPad Pro.

[grasshoppermouse]

@nraboy is correct: switching simulators first doesn't help; files still don't transfer and the app doesn't launch. I used the hack of @asterizk, and then it seemed to work. However, the simulator that started running was the iPad Pro (without the parentheses), which I believe is only available in iOS 9 (not at work so I can't check). It turns out this has the same screen size as the iPad Pro (12.9 inch). I submitted screen shots to the app store from the iPad Pro, and the app was approved.

[nraboy]

@grasshoppermouse it didn't work for me.

I'm pretty bummed right now because I worked hard on my application and Apple won't let me submit until I get iPad Pro images.

@rosen-vladimirov any ideas here?

[tjvantoll]

I confirmed this as well. Even if you launch the 12.9 emulator you are unable to deploy to it from the {N} CLI.

As a temporary workaround until this problem can be addressed, your best bet is running your app on the “iPad Retina”, which gives you 1536 x 2048 screenshots, and then manually upsizing those screenshots to the required 2048 x 2732 size. Not ideal because you lose a bit of quality, but I’ve taken this approach before and had apps accepted.

[rosen-vladimirov]

@nraboy , @grasshoppermouse , @tjvantoll sorry for this issue 😿
I'll raise it's priority and will try to take a look at the issue by the end of the week. Meanwhile can you provide the following information, while the iPad simulator is running:

$ tns device --log trace
$ xcrun simctl list devices

As a workaround you may try the following:

$ tns build ios --emulator

This will build your application for iOS Simulator. Find the output in your platforms/iOS/<project name>/build/emulator/<project name>.app (the path may vary on your environment).

After that, make sure your iOS Simulator (the problematic iPad one) is running and execute:

$ xcrun simctl list devices | grep -i booted

From this line get the identifier of the booted device.
After that try the following:

$ xcrun simctl install <device id> <path to .app>
$ xcrun simctl launch <device id> <app identifier>