Guys, Stupid question alert. I have an app live in the app store which had videos in it. I am working on compressing the videos to make the app smaller in size. By compressing my app, the videos have changed their extension. EXample: .mov to MP4 If i change the file names in my control panel, its trying to push the changes to the app itself and therefore would stop the app from working as the .mp4 files dont exist in the app package. How do i work on my control panel without trying to send updates to the device until i am ready? Thanks

is it as simple as changing the version number in the control panel under the publish changes section ? for example. say my 'live' app is 2.0, i would change my control panel to 3.0 and then the changes wouldnt push, until i submit a 3.0 version to the app store as an update?

You basically have a couple of options. 1) Create a new App with the new videos, and post an update. 2) Use a dataURL to link the new videos, externally hosted. Cheers! -- Smug Edit: I'm going on the assumption that your config file is either in 'Design' mode, or was created prior to the Live/Design modification, therefore always 'Live'. If so, any change made to the control panel happens, regardless of 'version'. That 'version' number is for our internal use, it doesn't have much to do with the actual 'app' version.

i dont really like either of those options unless its a last resort..... so should this 'publish changes' not do what i want to do ?

Hi @Bonzo, Can you compress the videos still keeping the .mov extension? Or are you building for Android as well and need the .Mp4 extension as well? I have also just changed file extensions in my Config.txt file to get the app running.

Well, if the app is in 'design' mode then I don't think it matters whether you 'publish' the changes or not; those changes are reflected in all 'design' mode apps. The 'publish' button only works with an App that has been distributed in "Live" mode. No changes will be provided to the 'Live' app until you 'publish' them. The 'version' number is kind of an arbitrary number that we can use for our own purpose; it has no effect on the actual 'app version' that is contained in the config.txt file. If your app is in 'design' mode, or if it was released before the 'design/live' modification, 'ANY' change will be reflected in the app. Tread lightly. Cheers! -- Smug

im not very good with video files really. but i found a post on here saying to use 'handbreak' to do video compressing without losing quality. ive done that but can only do it by changing the file extension, otherwise it doesnt compress much, or loses alot of quality im only building for iOS because i use in app purchase plugin that doesnt exist for android at the moment

Ian that's brilliant. It's the simple solutions that confound me. Cheers! -- Smug

How many video files Bonzo? I use QuickTime Player 7 or iMovie a lot to compress in .mov format.

And for what it's worth, the version field in the config file literally has no bearing on anything at all. It's just a way for you to keep track of what version of the config file you might be on. It has no actual ties to anything else...it's just for your reference. I like Ian's solution...change the extension in the config file, then publish an update to Apple with the new videos. Then you could actually change the extensions in the control panel as well, and publish an update to the Live app. That would put everything in sync. Mark

About 25-30 2-4 minute long videos. At the moment they are a mix of mov and m4v

Going back to your original question about how to update without affecting your published app, it is easier to do if you published your app after the live/design mode was introduced. Otherwise, I think you might need to follow @smugwimps advice and clone the app in buzztouch and work on that or keep the files external. If you opt for keeping the video files outside the build, it will male the app smaller and allow changes more easily.

Bonzo have u tried iMovie to compress video? The x264 encoder does a great job for me exporting .mov files. Had 12 DVD's worth of material I made into a 150mb app that looks decent even on iPad. This would be if you are trying to keep that .mov extension and your control panel names the same.