How to Create and Complete a Certificate Request Using Visual Studio

If you're involved in writing iOS applications, you're probably aware of the steps you have to take to actually deploy an application to a device (not only for distribution of your app, but even just to test it on a device). In a nutshell, you need to have these bases covered:

• You need a developer certficate
• You need to add the unique device identifier of any iOS device you plan to use for testing to your iOS developer profile
• You need an app identifier
• You need a provision profile, which associates your app ID, your developer certificate and your device IDs together

In this post, we're going to cover the first step mentioned above – creating a developer certificate – and we're going to use the Icenium Extension for Visual Studio (in tandem with Apple's iOS developer website) to do it.

Step 1 - Create the Certificate Request

You'll want to start this process using Visual Studio. Open Visual Studio, go to the Icenium menu and choose Options. From there, switch to the "Certification Management" tab. Towards the bottom , click the "Create" button in the "Pending Certificates" section. You will be prompted to save a certificate signing request (.csr) file - name it whatever you like.

Step 2 - Import Cert Request via Apple's iOS Developer Website

You'll need to go to Apple's iOS developer site. Find the link (near the top right) for "Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles":

Next, click on the "Certificates" link:

At the top of the list of certificates, you'll see a "plus" icon - click on it to add a new certificate:

You will have to decide what kind of certificate you are requesting, but for the sake of our example here, I am requesting an ad hoc distribution certificate (If you'd like to read more about the types of certificates used in developing iOS apps, check out this article and read what the Apple Support Center has to say as well):

On the next screen, simply click "Continue", and then you will see a screen similar to this:

Now we can upload the .csr file we created earlier. Just click "Choose File…" and browse to where you saved your file and select it. Then click "Generate". Once the certificate has been generated, you'll see the following confirmation:

Click the "Download" link and save the file locally.

Step 3 - Import the Certificate In Visual Studio

Now we're ready to "complete" the certificate request. In Visual Studio, click on the "Icenium" menu, and choose "Options". When the Options window opens, go to the "Certification Management" tab. Under "Pending Certificate Requests", click the "Complete" button:

Once the certificate has been imported, you'll see the pending request line item disappear, and the new certificate will be available in the list of "Cryptographic Identities":

The End of the Beginning

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. – Winston Churchill

Congratulations! You've completed the first step. We still need to create an application identifier, add devices to our profile and create provision profile(s). We'll discuss each of those steps in a dedicated blog post, covering when and where the Icenium Extension for Visual Studio comes into play.

About the Author
Jim Cowart is an architect, developer, open source author, and overall web/hybrid mobile development geek. He is an active speaker and writer, with a passion for elevating developer knowledge of patterns and helpful frameworks. Jim works for Telerik as a Developer Advocate and is @ifandelse on Twitter.