How to submit "Beta App Description" to iTunes Connect with fastlane deliver

Question

I upload my iOS app and most of the app metadata to iTunes Connect using fastlane deliver. Most of the data and screenshots can be put into files that I then have stored in git.

This includes for example the review notes that are stored in a file

fastlane/metadata/review_information/notes.txt

In iTunes Connect there is a bit of information in the TestFlight part under "Test Information" called "Beta App Description". I would like to also upload this text using fastlane.

In the fastlane deliver docs I have found the parameter called "beta_app_description" and as far as I can read, this is exactly that. This is a command parameter and as such muct be spefified directly in the Fastfile or Deliverfile.

I would like to have fastlane load this from a file just like all the other metadata.

Is this possible and how?

Answer 1

Besides deliver (or upload_ios_app) there is a testflight (or upload_to_testflight or pilot) action in fastlane:

https://docs.fastlane.tools/actions/testflight/

As the name suggests, it is used for everything Testflight, which includes the beta description:

beta_app_description | Provide the beta app description when uploading a new build

https://docs.fastlane.tools/actions/testflight/#parameters

pilot is also the name of a connected command line tool, that has additional options: https://docs.fastlane.tools/actions/pilot/

Unfortunately, getting this data from a file is not part of any of those.

Answer 2

It can be easily provided as a parameter to testflight action. And if you like to format your text or provide more than just a sentence, you can use groovy's multi-line strings, e.g.:

upload_to_testflight(
  beta_app_description: "Have fun testing the app!",
  changelog: 
"""This is my multi-line changelog
with information for my testers.
* align left to avoid blanks at the beginning of a line
* this allows nice formatting...

* ...and blank lines in between
  
Hope, you find it useful."""
)