What I am trying to achieve: when user presses "buy" in my app, App Store window should appear with my app url in it.
This works fine when App Store is not running: [[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#"macappstore://..."]];
But when App Store is already running and is minimised in the dock it's window doesn't show up. It becomes active, yes, but the window doesn't appear.
What I have already tried: fetched app using NSRunningApplication and trying to unhide, activateWithOptions: it, but this doesn't work.
I don't see more options in NSWorkspace and NSRunningApplication, so if someone have some solutions for this, it would be appreciated.
Mmm I can't think of any approach that does not involve Applescript or Accessibility APIs which then requires the user give your app access permission which is even worse. (I mean, you could quit and relaunch App Store, but that's jarring.) Honestly this is bad behavior in App Store, so you should file a report with Apple noting the window doesn't come to the front. It won't help you now, though.
But doesn't this bring it to the front even if it's minimized?
NSWorkspace.shared.launchApplication("App Store")
Related
I want to add a link from my app to another of my apps on the appstore.
Question How to link to apps on the app store showed that the itunes.apple.com link was,until recently, the normal way to go. I've tried this and everything is fine. The problem begins when I disgard this and use Apple's new recommendation of using appstore.com. I use the following line of code:
[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL:[NSURL URLWithString:#http://appstore.com/myappname"]];
The first time I call this from my app it works well. You see it jump through Safari and move onto the appstore where it displays my app.
At this point if you look back into Safari you will notice a new blank tab labelled Favourites has been created.
If I go back to my app and perform the same action to link to the appstore again I'm prompted with one of the two popup boxes:
"Open this page in "App Store"? [Cancel] or [Open].
or
"Cannot Open Page. Safari cannot open the page because the address is invalid" [OK]
I've found that manually deleting the blank tab in Safari will allow the link to work properly but this behaviour isn't what I want my users to see- and I wouldn't be expecting them to delete the blank tabs from Safari.
Any advice on stopping this behaviour whilst following Apple's new rules greatly appreciated.
A simple and clean solution is to present an instance of SKStoreProductViewController inside your app (modally) to display information on the products you are interested in. The user can interact with it as a small view on the App Store and you can simply dismiss it when done.
I am currently making an app that recommends other apps to download on the apple app store. I assumed that the only way for users to download these linked apps was to call the iTunes URL of the particular app -> the apple app store would then open pushing the original calling app into the background -> then the user would press the download button here as per normal.
Then I was playing with the app "App Hero" and they do something I thought wasn't possible. You can actually download another app to your device without ever leaving the "App Hero" application. I thought this was impossible due to sandboxing. They have a modal segue to what appears to be an embedded app store where you can commence installation of another app. This "embedded" app store doesn't have the usual UITabBar running along the bottom but everything else is basically the same.
Does anyone have any idea how they would have achieved this? It doesn't appear to be a UIWebView, perhaps I am wrong. And is this against any of the apple regulations?
*This is no way an advertisement for "App Hero". I am genuinely impressed/confused how they are able to do this and would love this functionality in my own app if it is allowed.
The class you are looking for is called SKStoreProductViewController. Docs here.
Alright, this title might seem strange, but bear with me. I have an app which can be set on its preferences by the user to launch at login. That means I can expect sometimes the app will be launched by the user (clicking on the Dock/Finder, etc), but some other times the app will be launched automatically by the system, on login.
I would like to show a window when the app is launched by the user, but not when it is launched automatically (as I imagine that would be a pain for the user). How can I do that?
Although it may depend on how you intend to automate the launch of the app, you could use command line arguments to distinguish between system launch vs. user launch.
So, the command line launch might like like this:
MyApp -autoLaunch "Y"
To parse the command line args in a Cocoa app, you could use NSUserDefaults (Yes, you can!):
if( ![[NSUserDefaults standardUserDefaults] objectForKey:#"autoLaunch"] isEqualToString:"Y"] ) {
// do something for user initiated launch
}
I don't have an exact answer to your question. However, may I suggest that your app should show the window if the window was visible when the user last quit your app?
This may be more in-line with the Mac UI guidelines' suggestion on restoring apps and windows, and is within the user's expectations.
Also, a user who set your app to launch at login will probably understand to close the window and not have it restored the next time, or make the system also hide your app during login.
I would like to be able to turn VoiceOver on or off within my iOS app. The reason for this is I am trying to help a person with disabilities which render her unable to read messages (hence the need for VoiceOver), and who is also unable to triple click the home-button due to motor coordination problems. The way to the setting through Settings>General>Accessibility>VoiceOver>VoiceOver>Flipswitch is far too long and complicated.
Is it possible, without jailbreaking the device, to change this setting in an app? The app doesn't need to make it to the App Store, if that helps.
Alternatively, is it easy to do this with a jailbroken device?
Another approach may be to simulate the triple-click on the home-button that automatically turns on VoiceOver. Is there any way to do this?
Get the app aHomeIcon.
Open the app and tap URL.
Insert the url: prefs:root=General&path=ACCESSIBILITY
Tap 'Done'.
Insert a name to be shown below the icon.
Tap the export button at the bottom of the page. Safari opens.
Add a bookmark and select 'to home-screen'.
Now you can tap that icon and you are redirected to the accessibility part of the settings app.
See this link for reference.
I want to develop a screensaver-like app where the only way of getting back to the springboard is entering a code. Therefore I would need the Home Button action to be ignored, that is that when the user presses the button nothing happens..or something custom...instead of going back to the springboard and terminating the app.
Is this possible? does anybody know if apple will approve/reject this kind of app?
The answer to your question is, yes.
The answer to the question you meant to ask--can I ship an app through the iPhone store that has the home button disabled--is no.
If you are only publishing your app to jailbroken phones you can do it, but it will piss everyone off.
Edit 7 years later:
This is actually extremely possible now--there is a standard feature in the iPhone called "Guided Access". It's hidden under that "Accessibility" Link (With some other fairly cool stuff like flashing the LED whenever you get a call and allowing a Bluetooth keyboard to tab between controls)
It's called "Guided Access". You set a passcode, launch the app then triple-click the home button to start guided access.
It disables exit and allows you to designate regions of the screen you can't touch. You can also set a time limit (For kids playing which seems to be the reason a lot of people look up this question).
Tempted to edit the "Accepted answer" and throw this info in there, but that seems rude so I'll just hope people find this answer.
Annoyingly you also seem to be unable to shut off the phone--I suppose this is perfect for people who want their kids to play a game, but might not hit the original asker's problem of restricting access to a single app (I mean it WILL do that but it'll also prevent it from doing ANYTHING else).
Not with public APIS (and hopefully, not with private ones). Even if you manage it somehow, Apple will reject it for breaking UI guidelines. Moreover, even if they didn't, people could always use the iPhone's "Force Quit" equivalent to hard terminate your app.
Apple is not going to approve this type of app, they state pretty explicitly that you're app needs to respond appropriately to springboard telling the app to terminate both when things like phone calls come in and when memory warnings come in.
This is not possible with the current SDK, nor do I suspect it will ever be.
You might be able to get this behaviour via jailbreaking, but you won't be able to sell your app through iTunes, nor will Apple ever approve such an application.
You can do it like this
Install the following mobileconfig file
This will disable the home button once you launch the app
Download
Found the link Here
Apple won't allow it.
What if something emergency happens and you wan to dial an emergency phone number. You are putting the user at risk. The trade-off isn't worth it.