IOS app starts with black screen when compiled via ADT (Flex 4.6, AIR3.7)

Question

I was using Flex 4.6 with AIR 3.1 in Flash Builder 4.6 on Windows 7. I used two build methods: 1) "Export Release Build" in Flash Builder during development and 2) the ADT toolchain on my build server.
For the ADT method I would create AIR intermediate files using:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Flash Builder 4.6\FlashBuilderC.exe" --launcher.suppressErrors -noSplash -application org.eclipse.ant.core.antRunner -data [PATH_TO_SOURCE] -file [PATH_TO_BUILD_XML] [PROJECT_NAME]
Where my build.xml looks like:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<project default="main">
    <target name="main">
        <fb.exportReleaseBuild project="[PROJECT_NAME]" basefilename="[BASE_FILE_NAME]" verbose="true" destdir="bin-release" />
    </target>
</project>
From these intermediate AIR files I would create my APK and IPA files using ADT like so (shown for iOS):
echo [CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD]|"C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Flash Builder 4.6\sdks\4.6.0\bin\adt" -package -target ipa-test -provisioning-profile [PATH_TO_MOBILE_PROVISIONING_FILE] -storetype PKCS12 -keystore [PATH_TO_DEV_CERTIFICATE] [OUTPUT_PATH] [PATH_TO_IOS_AIRI]
This procedure produced working iOS and Android apps as well.
I decided to upgrade AIR to version 3.7. I used the overlay proceedure described here (http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/multi/how-overlay-air-sdk-flex-sdk.html). I also updated the namespace in my project to reflect the new AIR version. Using "Export Release Build" in Flash Builder produces working copies of both the iOS and Android apps. Furthermore, the secondary method (used on my build server), produces both APK and IPA files without error. The APK works just fine but the IPA does not. When running the app on an Apple device, it starts up with a black screen and stays this way.
To summarize:
Flex 4.6, AIR 3.1: "Export Release Build" and ADT tool chain produce working APK and IPA files.
Flex 4.6, AIR 3.7 using overlay procedure: "Export Release Build" produces working APK and IPA files, ADT tool chain produces working APK file but IPA file loads black screen on Apple devices.
More notes:
I had made a back up of the "4.6.0" directory that holds the Flex and AIR SDK files. If I replace the overlayed Flex 4.6.0 SDK directory with the original (which contains AIR 3.1) and revert the namespace back to 3.1 in my project, everything goes back to normal and I get working apps via both methods described above.
Edit: I also should note that I've tried many other combinations of Flex and AIR (Flex 4.9.1 from Apache and AIR 3.5/3.6), which all produce the same issue. It seems that the overlay procedure breaks something for ADT with iOS specifically...
Edit 2: I also noticed that the IPA files output by methods 1 and 2 are slightly different. Opening these with 7-Zip I see that most of the files are the same, but some differ slightly in size (this was due to 'ipa-test' vs 'ipa-ad-hoc'). The odd thing is that in the IPA file that does not work (produced via the ADT method), the SWF file is named "swf3465180827438224920.tmp" while the SWF in the IPA that was created using "Export Release Build is named "[PROJECT_NAME].swf". It almost appears as though ADT fails to rename the temporary SWF file. I also realized that the "Export Release Build" method likely used '-target ipa-ad-hoc', so I tried this in the ADT method with the same result.
Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Hello Nimit,
Thank you for your response. I have tried AIR 3.8 Beta and this did not correct the problem. I downloaded the AIR 3.7 SDK from http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/win/download/latest/AdobeAIRSDK.zip . I have also tried with the new compiler as well, with the same result.
To keep things simple, I've created a very lightweight example with which I see the issue. I've also been able to remove the Flash Builder step and reproduce the problem with mxmlc and adt only. Since the files are simple, I will just post them here.
TestApp-app.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<application xmlns="http://ns.adobe.com/air/application/3.7">
    <id>com.company.testapp</id>
    <filename>TestApp</filename>
    <versionNumber>1.0.0</versionNumber>
    <initialWindow>
        <content>TestApp.swf</content>
        <autoOrients>false</autoOrients>
        <fullScreen>true</fullScreen>
        <visible>true</visible>
        <softKeyboardBehavior>none</softKeyboardBehavior>
    </initialWindow>
    <android>
        <colorDepth>16bit</colorDepth>
        <manifestAdditions><![CDATA[
            <manifest android:installLocation="auto">
                <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
            </manifest>
        ]]></manifestAdditions>
    </android>
    <iPhone>
        <InfoAdditions><![CDATA[
            <key>UIDeviceFamily</key>
            <array>
                <string>1</string>
                <string>2</string>
            </array>
        ]]></InfoAdditions>
        <requestedDisplayResolution>high</requestedDisplayResolution>
    </iPhone>
</application>
TestApp.mxml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:ViewNavigatorApplication xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" firstView="TestView" applicationDPI="160">
    <fx:Declarations>
        <!-- Place non-visual elements (e.g., services, value objects) here -->
    </fx:Declarations>
</s:ViewNavigatorApplication>
TestView.mxml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:View xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" title="Test App" >
    <s:VGroup width="100%" height="100%" verticalAlign="middle" horizontalAlign="center" >
        <s:Label text="Hello World!" />
    </s:VGroup>
</s:View>
Create the above files in a single directory. Run the following to get a working IPA (method 1):
> mxmlc +configname=airmobile TestApp.mxml
> adt -package -target ipa-test -provisioning-profile [PROVISIONING_FILE] -storetype pkcs12 -keystore [CERTIFICATE] TestApp.ipa TestApp-app.xml TestApp.swf
To reproduce the problem, run the following (method 2):
> mxmlc +configname=airmobile TestApp.mxml
> adt -prepare TestApp.airi TestApp-app.xml TestApp.swf
> adt -package -target ipa-test -provisioning-profile [PROVISIONING_FILE] -storetype pkcs12 -keystore [CERTIFICATE] TestApp.ipa TestApp.airi
If you unpack the working IPA (from method 1) you will see the file "TestApp.ipa\Payload\TestApp.app\TestApp.swf". However, if you likewise inspect the IPA created via the AIR intermediate method (method 2), you will see the file "TestApp.ipa\Payload\TestApp.app\swf1970057761096800694.tmp" and there will be no "TestApp.swf". In both IPA files, if we inspect "TestApp.ipa\Payload\TestApp.app\Info.plist", we see the snippet:
        <key>CTInitialWindowTitle</key>
        <string>TestApp</string>
        <key>CTInitialWindowContent</key>
        <string>TestApp.swf</string>
        <key>CTMaxSWFMajorVersion</key>
        <string>20</string>
        <key>CFBundleSupportedPlatforms</key>
So I suspect "TestApp.ipa\Payload\TestApp.app\swf1970057761096800694.tmp" is incorrectly named, cannot be found at runtime and thus displays a black screen.
This problem is observed when using AIR 3.7. It is not observed when using AIR 3.1.