Using Azure CLI

There are two tools az (Azure CLI) and azd (Azure Developer CLI). Both serve different purposes but are complementary to each other.

	Azure CLI	Azure Developer CLI
Purpose	General-purpose command-line tool	High-level developer-focused CLI
Use Case	Manages Azure resources and configurations.	Manages end-to-end Azure workflows and applications.

1. Azure CLI

1.1 Install

Install it:

brew install azure-cli

Check it works:

az --version

It should show the installed version. As of 2025/01/01 my Azure CLI version is 2.67.0.

1.2 Login

To login do the following command. It will open a browser where you can login. When the login is done it will communicate the CLI.

az login

Since Azure CLI version 2.61.0, we are able to select the Subscription at login time. Just follow the instructions in the CLI and input the number that corresponds to the desired subcription. More in the official docs.

1.3 Check acccount/subscription information

If successfully logged in active account and subscription information can be retrieved

az account show --output table

or more specific

az account show --query "{Name:name, ID:id}" --output table

The former will show a table like this:

EnvironmentName	HomeTenantId	IsDefault	Name	State	TenantDefaultDomain	TenantDisplayName	TenantId
AzureCloud	ccfc0000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000	True	Azure Subscription Basic	Enabled	meemaildomain.onmicrosoft.com	Default Directory	ccfc0000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000

1.4 Retrieve all subscriptions

All available accounts can be retrieved with

az account list --output table

or a more specific command

az account list --query "[].{Name:name, ID:id}" --output table

The former will show a table like this:

Name	CloudName	SubscriptionId	TenantId	State	IsDefault
Azure Subscription Basic	AzureCloud	00000-0000-0000..	ccfc0000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000	Enabled	true

1.5 List Resource Groups

List resorces groups in a nice table. If you prefer the json format just omit --output table.

az group list --output table

or a more specific query:

az group list --output table

2. Azure Developer CLI

2.1 Install

Install it (More in the official docs.):

brew tap azure/azd && brew install azd

Check it works:

azd version

2.2 See help

There are various subcommands like init, up, etc. See a list of them in the help:

azd --help

2.3 Create a simple web

Official documentation shows various templates. I will use python and Flask with App Service because is the cheapest for small apps. Create the app from a template in local computer. We will be interactively asked for an environment name. It is optional.

azd init --template azure-flask-postgres-flexible-appservice 

2.4 Deploying the web app

If app was created with above template. It will contain a bunch of bicep files and .azure.yaml file which are enough to deploy with the follwing command. This command will deploy to the default environment. If it is the first time deploying in such environment then the subscription and region will be interactively asked too.

azd up

Resource group name and other services names will be derived from environment name (dev1).

(✓) Done: Resource group: dev1-rg (4.324s)
(✓) Done: Virtual Network: dev1-vnet (7.855s)
(✓) Done: Log Analytics workspace: dev1-AAAAAAAAAAAAA-loganalytics (17.576s)
(✓) Done: Application Insights: dev1-AAAAAAAAAAAAA-appinsights (5.623s)
(✓) Done: Portal dashboard: dev1-AAAAAAAAAAAAA-appinsights-dashboard (1.832s)
(✓) Done: Key Vault: dev1AAAAAAAAAAAAA-vault (24.42s)
(✓) Done: Private Endpoint: dev1-keyvault-pe (33.304s)
(✓) Done: Azure Database for PostgreSQL flexible server: dev1-AAAAAAAAAAAAA-postgresql (4m5.414s)
(✓) Done: App Service plan: dev1-AAAAAAAAAAAAA-appsvc-serviceplan (10.593s)
(✓) Done: App Service: dev1-AAAAAAAAAAAAA-appsvc-web (43.647s)

2.5 Deploy to another environment/region/subscription

Create a new environment and pass it to up command.

azd env new dev2
azd up --environment dev2  

Where is Environment information stored?
Information for each environment is stored in a separated file: .azure/[EnvironmentName]/.env .

• Environment can be created at azd init --template [template-name] and azd env new [EnvironmentName] .
• Environment name is stored in AZURE_ENV_NAME variable
• Additionally, subscription plan name and location (region) is also stored in the same file.
• Information gathered at deployment/provisioning time is also stored (i.e: BACKEND_URI, AZURE_KEY_VAULT_ENDPOINT, AZURE_KEY_VAULT_NAME, etc).

.azure/dev2/.env :

AZURE_ENV_NAME="dev2"
AZURE_LOCATION="eastasia"
AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"

2.6 Check environments

View current environment. The default environment will be used in azd up unless --environment flag is used.

azd env list

NAME	DEFAULT	LOCAL	REMOTE
dev1	false	true	false
dev2	false	true	false
nacho	true	true	false

View other related variables

azd env get-values

Flutter installation

This is a summary of what this YouTube video explains. Recommended. Youtube - Install Flutter macOS - Derek Banas

1. Install Flutter

brew install --cask flutter
flutter doctor
flutter upgrade

2. Optional: Install Android Studio

Install Android studio if you plan to target Android devices.
Download latest Android Studio from https://developer.android.com/studio and install Flutter plugin
Settings > Plugins > Flutter In Settings > System Settings

• In SDK Platforms tab, make sure at least one API level is installed. This is needed for running apps.
• In SDK Tools tab, make sure Android SDK Command Line Tools (latest) is installed. This is needed by flutter.
• Set ANDROID_HOME Get your Android sdk location from Android Studio

  echo export ANDROID_HOME="/Users/ignacio/Library/Android/sdk" >> ~/.zshrc

  If needed, restart terminal to get settings applied.

In recent versions of Android Studio jre directory has been renamed to jbr so Flutter gets confused. To solve this we create a link. (Thanks to this Stackoverflow answer!)

cd /Applications/Android\ Studio.app/Contents
ln -s jbr jre

Now Flutter show be able to fully recognize Android, we run the doctor:

flutter doctor -v
flutter doctor --android-licenses

Last step on Android Studio: The first time we create a Flutter project we need to setup Flutter SDK path. We get it from flutter doctor -v command. Just look for a line like this:

• Flutter version 3.7.1 on channel stable at /opt/homebrew/Caskroom/flutter/3.7.0/flutter

3. Optional: Install CocoaPods

I suspect this is only required if you target iOS devices.

brew install cocoapods

4. Final check

At the end we should have everything setup. Run the doctor:

flutter doctor -v

Aggregate target to create xcframework

It has been a while I create an xcframework from scratch so these is hopefully a all-mighty script that will work with a framework target.

Create an aggregate target and add a "Run Script" like below.

set -e

N_SCHEME_NAME=MySchemeNameHere
N_BUILD_DIR="build"
N_IOS_XCARCHIVE="${N_BUILD_DIR}/${N_SCHEME_NAME}-iphoneos.xcarchive"
N_SIM_XCARCHIVE="${N_BUILD_DIR}/${N_SCHEME_NAME}-iphonesimulator.xcarchive"
N_XCFRAMEWORK="${N_BUILD_DIR}/${N_SCHEME_NAME}.xcframework"

rm -rf "$N_BUILD_DIR"

echo "🚀 Building $N_IOS_XCARCHIVE"
xcodebuild archive \
    -scheme "$N_SCHEME_NAME" \
    -archivePath "$N_IOS_XCARCHIVE" \
    -sdk iphoneos \
    BUILD_LIBRARY_FOR_DISTRIBUTION=YES \
    SKIP_INSTALL=NO

echo "🚀 Building $N_SIM_XCARCHIVE" 
xcodebuild archive \
    -scheme "$N_SCHEME_NAME" \
    -archivePath "$N_SIM_XCARCHIVE" \
    -sdk iphonesimulator \
    BUILD_LIBRARY_FOR_DISTRIBUTION=YES \
    SKIP_INSTALL=NO
 
echo "🚀 Building $N_XCFRAMEWORK"
xcodebuild -create-xcframework \
    -framework "${N_IOS_XCARCHIVE}/Products/Library/Frameworks/${N_SCHEME_NAME}.framework" \
    -framework "${N_SIM_XCARCHIVE}/Products/Library/Frameworks/${N_SCHEME_NAME}.framework" \
    -output "${N_XCFRAMEWORK}"

echo "🚀🟢 Build SUCCESS"

Hope it helps.

Convert old FAT .framework to .xcframework

Sometimes when working with old fat frameworks they can cause warnings in Xcode. By using lipo and xcodebuild they can be converted to the new format and Xcode will not complain anymore!

See Usage at the bottom of the script

Note:

In below script bash is required because I use automatic word splitting for REMOVE_FOR_IOS and REMOVE_FOR_SIM expansion. Using word splitting is probably no the best option however simplicity wins here. Specially in a script that is supposed to be executed only a couple of times in the time of our lifes.

#! /bin/bash
# Bash (not zsh) is required for word splitting for REMOVE_FOR_IOS and REMOVE_FOR_SIM inside make_part function

make_part() {
    FRAMEWORK_NAME=${1%.framework}
    TEMP_DIR=$2
    ARCHS_TO_REMOVE=$3

    rm -rf "$TEMP_DIR"
    mkdir $TEMP_DIR
    cp -R "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}.framework" "$TEMP_DIR"
    pushd "${TEMP_DIR}/${FRAMEWORK_NAME}.framework" > /dev/null || return
    #xcrun lipo -info "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}"
    mv "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}" "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}_original" 
    # xcrun lipo "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}_original" -remove i386 -remove x86_64 -output "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}"
    xcrun lipo "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}_original" $ARCHS_TO_REMOVE -output "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}"
    xcrun lipo -info "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}"
    rm "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}_original"
    popd > /dev/null
}

make_xcframework () {
    FRAMEWORK_NAME=${1%.framework}
    REMOVE_FOR_IOS=$2
    REMOVE_FOR_SIM=$3
    DIR_IOS=temp_ios
    DIR_SIM=temp_sim
    
    echo "Processing framework: ${FRAMEWORK_NAME}.framework"

    echo "Creating ios part"
    make_part "$FRAMEWORK_NAME" "$DIR_IOS" "$REMOVE_FOR_IOS"

    echo "Creating simulator part"
    make_part "$FRAMEWORK_NAME" "$DIR_SIM" "$REMOVE_FOR_SIM"

    echo "Creating xcframework"
    rm -rf "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}.xcframework"
    xcodebuild -create-xcframework \
        -framework "${DIR_IOS}/${FRAMEWORK_NAME}.framework" \
        -framework "${DIR_SIM}/${FRAMEWORK_NAME}.framework" \
        -output "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}.xcframework"
    
    rm -rf "$DIR_IOS" "$DIR_SIM"
    #tree "${FRAMEWORK_NAME}.xcframework"
    echo 'OK!'
}

# First parameter: name of the framework to convert
# Second parameter: architectures to remove for ios (device) in the form: "-remove ABC -remove XYZ"
# Third parameter: architectures to remove for ios simulator  in the form: "-remove ABC -remove XYZ"

Examples: 
make_xcframework MyOldFramework.framework "-remove i386 -remove x86_64" "-remove armv7 -remove arm64"
make_xcframework OtherFramework.framework "-remove i386 -remove x86_64" "-remove armv7 -remove arm64"
make_xcframework AnotherFramework.framework "-remove i386 -remove x86_64" "-remove armv7s -remove armv7 -remove arm64"

Using periphery

Periphery is a promissing looking tool for finding dead code!. I have unsuccessfully tried it the past and finally I found a way to build my project correctly with it.

Short explanation, CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO is set by default however in some xcode projects some files (usually old .frameworks) might have the "Code Sign on Copy" setting set to YES (on Target > Build Phases > Copy files). This kind of projects need CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=YES.

Below is an example of my .periphery.yml file:

project: MyProject.xcodeproj
retain_objc_accessible: true
retain_public: true
schemes:
- MyScheme
targets:
- MyTargetTests
- MyTarget
verbose: true
clean_build: true
build_arguments:
- -destination
- platform="iOS Simulator,name=iPhone 8,OS=latest"
- CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED="YES"

Run it

periphery scan --config .periphery.yml

Default ouput format is xcode which is good for xcode integration and for humans that like to read the terminal. Probably json output is probably easier for integrate with other services like Sonarqube custom issues, etc :)

SwiftUI Notes

I will add a bunch of little notes as I read all the tutorials in the internet. (Yep, ALL the tutorials in the internet)

Ignoring Safe Area

Apparently ignoresSafeArea and edgesIgnoringSafeAreaboth do the same.

let colors = [Color.init(red: 0.1, green: 0.1, blue: 0.6), Color.blue]
LinearGradient(gradient: Gradient(colors: colors), startPoint: .topLeading, endPoint: .bottomTrailing)

// This is the preferred way: `@available(iOS 14.0, macOS 11.0, tvOS 14.0, watchOS 7.0, *)`
.ignoresSafeArea(SafeAreaRegions.all, edges: [Edge.Set.top, .bottom])

// Header says deprecated: `@available(iOS, introduced: 13.0, deprecated: 100000.0, message: "Use ignoresSafeArea(_:edges:) instead.")`
.edgesIgnoringSafeArea(Edge.Set.all)

'kSecUseNoAuthenticationUI' is deprecated: first deprecated in iOS 9.0 - Use kSecUseAuthenticationUI instead.

This is a very old warning found in some old versions of some old libraries.

I just copy the link of of what it should a fix should look like: AWSUICKeyChainStore fix

- query[(__bridge __strong id)kSecUseNoAuthenticationUI] = (__bridge id)kCFBooleanTrue;
+ query[(__bridge __strong id)kSecUseAuthenticationUI] = (__bridge id)kSecUseAuthenticationUIFail;