iOS Client experiencing unreproducible problem

[moonman239]

I'm currently experiencing a bit of a dilemma. For some reason, my client has a problem that I have so far been unable to reproduce on my own iPad. I did load a release build.

The problem, in my opinion, has to do with the user interface. Essentially, a view isn't doing what it should be doing. The oddest thing is, I'm using the exact same code at other times and it works then for the both of us. I did set a breakpoint to jump right to the view controller where the problem is, in an attempt to make it easier for me to debug that part of the app. Other than that, my client and I should be on relatively equal ground. I do have a bunch of other view controllers that come before the one where the problem is. Could it be a memory problem? I don't know.

What would you suggest I do to find the cause of this problem? I was thinking of creating some kind of log.

 

[xStep]

I'd start by doing three things; delete the current derived data, perform a Clean on the project, recompile. Perhaps this will allow your device to show the same issue. _maybe_!

Have the client first delete the current version of the app from their device and then install a new clean copy. This would clear out the data sources (including NSUserDefaults I believe) which could have what is considered corrupted data for the current build. I haven't worked with iCloud but would look at how to clean that out too if used.

It's been awhile, I need to review this, but if it is a crasher, then can't a user get the crash log via iTunes and email it to you?

If you can narrow down where this problem begins and ends, you could follow through with the debugger and review the code and try to understand where the path change is occurring. That could be very time consuming.

Good luck with the mystery!

 

[1458279]

It's hard to offer much help without some more details. You say it's a UI error that crashes the app? How do you build the UI? In code or IB/Storyboard? Are there different versions for different languages or anything else that would change the behavior?

Is the OS the same and was the app tested on that version? Does it check all the assets before loading and have any error system if an asset isn't found?

How do you handle memory shortage issues?

Can you post the code where it crashes and any error messages? Does it share any assets or get them from an external source?

Does the app assume any settings?

 

[AxoNeuron]

It really depends on what the exact bug is. Xcode has a really good memory debugging tool for this. There's also a method in each view controller that gets called when a low memory situation occurs, you can use that to clear out unrequited assets.

Is it crashing the app? If so you can use something like Crashlytics to find out what's going on.