Sorry for what is probably another stupid question. Just updated my control panel to 2.1.8 and updated all the plugins. When I went into my apps, I noticed there is now a publish changes link with a red dot next to it. What is this? Should I do what it says (what version do I make things? It currently is 1.0)?

The way that works is, in your 'config.txt' file that is provided with each code download, there is a "Mode" called either "Design" or "Live". For the time, until YOU change it, it is in 'Design' mode. While in 'design' mode, an app will react to 'ALL' changes in your control panel. When your app is ready for release, you need to change that text in your config.txt file from "Design" to "Live". from that point on, any changes you make in your control panel WILL NOT be pushed down to your 'Live' devices, until you 'Publish' the changes. This will allow you to make subtle changes, or radical changes, to your app, and test them in 'design' devices, without affecting any 'live' devices. Kind of neat, yes? Cheers! -- Smug

What he said! Totally cool. Subtle or radical, @SmugWimp speaks the truth! Ps Note to self. Stop will all the exclamation marks MacApple, you run out!

You had some for xmas too?!?!?

Whoops .. I didn't do this on my last app...I would assume I have to resubmit?.. On the same subject .. When do you have to recompile and submit a update? If I add a plugin to a already submitted app will it change the app or do I have resubmit? Couple questions I know Funny thing is I was going to search this and it was just posted.. Lol

Keep in mind that the version number is totally arbitrary..it's just a way for you to keep track of what version of the Live config file you're on (if you have multiple updates). To take advantage of this, you'll have to publish an update to the store using a Live version of the config file. After that...what @smug said! Mark

> To take advantage of this, you'll have to publish an update to the store using a Live version of the config file. So, from now on, whenever you publish an app, be sure that you published it using a Live version. That is one of the many steps you have to undergo when the app is finished and needs to be published. You should make a list of all those little things to do so that in time, you have a "mechanical" to-do list for publishing the app to the store. To complicate things further, if you are publishing on both platforms, you would probably need two different lists for final publishing!

Out of curiosity, can I change things in my app and keep the version number the same? So just to make sure I understand this right, when I have my fully, ready to go app, I click the publish changes link, assign a version number and then download the source code of a live app. Does using the publish changes link change things from design to live or do I need to do that from within the file manually?

If you make changes in your control panel, and they don't require a new app package to be built (like if you decided to update some included docs or something), then you don't need to change the version at all. Just hit Publish when all the content is ready to go. Changing the version number in the Control Panel has absolutely no effect on the code package at all. The only thing that changes is that field in the config file, and literally nothing references it. It's all based on timestamps and the Live vs. Design designation. Mark

Are you able to do separate publishings to ios and android? Reason being, my app includes some plugins that are ios-only. eg. Menu tabs linked to facebook and twitter plugins. Thus, for iOS I download the full app, but for android I've removed the relevant menu tabs and then downloaded. I'm now foreseeing a future problem with publishing. If I do updates and then publish the app with all menu tabs, then it'll be ok for iOS, but android users will see the tabs as well, however they wont be of any use to them. On the other hand, if I remove the tabs for android purposes and then publish, then my iOS extras will be gone. Is that correct? Or is there something I can do to overcome this? If there's nothing I can do at this stage, then I'm assuming I should just leave one device in "Live" mode and the other in "Design" mode for the meantime. If anyone has some feedback, please let me know. Thank you.

Hi Natasha, I had a similar problem. Not sure what the best fix is, but what I did is made a separate iOS and android copy of my app so that I could alter them independently. There is a free plugin you can download that copies all your files for you, but you still have to regenerate your menus to link the files together (which is a pain when you have a lot of menu screens!). Having said this, I am hardly an accomplished user of this stuff so there may be better options. Good luck!

Great, thanks for the feedback @bioninja. I'll see how I go with it.