How to implement interactive notifications ios8 - objective-c

Question

I'm creating a timed todo list app in which users can start a timer from a lock screen notification by swiping to reveal a start button. This is a new feature shown in iOS 8 but there is little documentation showing how to implement this feature.
Can anyone show how I would go about setting up the 'start' action and the block of code which runs when this is pressed? If the app were closed would this feature still work?

Answer 1

#Shubhendu thanks for the link. For those of you who don't want to have to sit through the video, here's a quick recap of what you need to do in order to include interactive notifications in you application.
Define all the actions that the user may execute from your app's notifications. These actions are created using the UIMutableUserNotificationAction class.
UIMutableUserNotificationAction *action = [[UIMutableUserNotificationAction alloc] init];
action.identifier = #"ACTION_ID"; // The id passed when the user selects the action
action.title = NSLocalizedString(#"Title",nil); // The title displayed for the action
action.activationMode = UIUserNotificationActivationModeBackground; // Choose whether the application is launched in foreground when the action is clicked
action.destructive = NO; // If YES, then the action is red
action.authenticationRequired = NO; // Whether the user must authenticate to execute the action
Place these actions into categories. Each category defines a group of actions that a user may execute from a notification. These categories are created using UIMutableUserNotificationCategory.
UIMutableUserNotificationCategory *category = [[UIMutableUserNotificationCategory alloc] init];
category.identifier = #"CATEGORY_ID"; // Identifier passed in the payload
[category setActions:#[action] forContext:UIUserNotificationActionContextDefault]; // The context determines the number of actions presented (see documentation)
Register the categories in the settings. Note that registering the categories doesn't replace asking for user permission to send remote notifications,using [[UIApplication sharedApplication] registerForRemoteNotifications]
NSSet *categories = [NSSet setWithObjects:category, nil];
NSUInteger types = UIUserNotificationTypeNone; // Add badge, sound, or alerts here
UIUserNotificationSettings *settings = [UIUSerNotificationSettings settingsForTypes:types categories:categories];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] registerUserNotificationSettings:settings];
Send the identifier of the category in the notification payload.
{
"aps":{
"alert":"Here's a notification",
...
"category":"CATEGORY_ID"
}
}
Handle user actions in the app delegate by implementing the UIApplicationDelegate protocol methods:
application:handleActionWithIdentifier:forRemoteNotification:completionHandler: for remote notifications
application:handleActionWithIdentifier:forLocalNotification:completionHandler: for local notifications

Answer 2

STEP 1:
NSString * const NotificationCategoryIdent = #"ACTIONABLE";
NSString * const NotificationActionOneIdent = #"ACTION_ONE";
NSString * const NotificationActionTwoIdent = #"ACTION_TWO";
- (void)registerForNotification {
UIMutableUserNotificationAction *action1;
action1 = [[UIMutableUserNotificationAction alloc] init];
[action1 setActivationMode:UIUserNotificationActivationModeBackground];
[action1 setTitle:#"Action 1"];
[action1 setIdentifier:NotificationActionOneIdent];
[action1 setDestructive:NO];
[action1 setAuthenticationRequired:NO];
UIMutableUserNotificationAction *action2;
action2 = [[UIMutableUserNotificationAction alloc] init];
[action2 setActivationMode:UIUserNotificationActivationModeBackground];
[action2 setTitle:#"Action 2"];
[action2 setIdentifier:NotificationActionTwoIdent];
[action2 setDestructive:NO];
[action2 setAuthenticationRequired:NO];
UIMutableUserNotificationCategory *actionCategory;
actionCategory = [[UIMutableUserNotificationCategory alloc] init];
[actionCategory setIdentifier:NotificationCategoryIdent];
[actionCategory setActions:#[action1, action2]
forContext:UIUserNotificationActionContextDefault];
NSSet *categories = [NSSet setWithObject:actionCategory];
UIUserNotificationType types = (UIUserNotificationTypeAlert|
UIUserNotificationTypeSound|
UIUserNotificationTypeBadge);
UIUserNotificationSettings *settings;
settings = [UIUserNotificationSettings settingsForTypes:types
categories:categories];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] registerUserNotificationSettings:settings];
}
STEP 2:
To send this type of notification simply add the category to the payload.
{
"aps" : {
"alert" : "Pull down to interact.",
"category" : "ACTIONABLE"
}
}
STEP 3:
Use this method
application:handleActionWithIdentifier:forRemoteNotification:completionHand
ler:
[application:handleActionWithIdentifier:forLocalNotification:completionHandler:
-> For LOCAL Notification]
- (void)application:(UIApplication *)application handleActionWithIdentifier:(NSString *)identifier forRemoteNotification:(NSDictionary *)userInfo completionHandler:(void (^)())completionHandler {
if ([identifier isEqualToString:NotificationActionOneIdent]) {
NSLog(#"You chose action 1.");
}
else if ([identifier isEqualToString:NotificationActionTwoIdent]) {
NSLog(#"You chose action 2.");
}
if (completionHandler) {
completionHandler();
}
}
1.Refer link: Obj C tutorial
2.Swift Code Tutorial here

Answer 3

In order to know more about interactive notifications- a new feature in iOS 8 go to the below link
https://developer.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2014/
and then go to the section "What's New in iOS Notifications"

Answer 4

With iOS 8 came an exciting new API for creating interactive notifications. These allow you to provide additional functionality to your users outside of your application.
Let’s get started. There are 3 new classes in iOS 8 which are needed: UIUserNotificationSettings, UIUserNotificationCategory, UIUserNotificationAction and their mutable counterparts.
Instead of simply registering for notification types (sounds, banners, alerts) you can now also register for custom notification categories and actions. Categories describe a custom type of notification that your application sends and contains actions that a user can perform in response. For example you receive a notification that someone followed you on a social network. In response you might want to follow them back or ignore.
NSString * const NotificationCategoryIdent = #"ACTIONABLE";
NSString * const NotificationActionOneIdent = #"ACTION_ONE";
NSString * const NotificationActionTwoIdent = #"ACTION_TWO";
- (void)registerForNotification {
UIMutableUserNotificationAction *action1;
action1 = [[UIMutableUserNotificationAction alloc] init];
[action1 setActivationMode:UIUserNotificationActivationModeBackground];
[action1 setTitle:#"Action 1"];
[action1 setIdentifier:NotificationActionOneIdent];
[action1 setDestructive:NO];
[action1 setAuthenticationRequired:NO];
UIMutableUserNotificationAction *action2;
action2 = [[UIMutableUserNotificationAction alloc] init];
[action2 setActivationMode:UIUserNotificationActivationModeBackground];
[action2 setTitle:#"Action 2"];
[action2 setIdentifier:NotificationActionTwoIdent];
[action2 setDestructive:NO];
[action2 setAuthenticationRequired:NO];
UIMutableUserNotificationCategory *actionCategory;
actionCategory = [[UIMutableUserNotificationCategory alloc] init];
[actionCategory setIdentifier:NotificationCategoryIdent];
[actionCategory setActions:#[action1, action2]
forContext:UIUserNotificationActionContextDefault];
NSSet *categories = [NSSet setWithObject:actionCategory];
UIUserNotificationType types = (UIUserNotificationTypeAlert|
UIUserNotificationTypeSound|
UIUserNotificationTypeBadge);
UIUserNotificationSettings *settings;
settings = [UIUserNotificationSettings settingsForTypes:types
categories:categories];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] registerUserNotificationSettings:settings];
}
//JSON payload:
{
"aps" : {
"alert" : "Pull down to interact.",
"category" : "ACTIONABLE"
}
}
Now to handle the actions the user selects, there are 2 new methods on the UIApplicationDelegate protocol:\
application:handleActionWithIdentifier:forLocalNotification:completionHandler:
application:handleActionWithIdentifier:forRemoteNotification:completionHandler:
These methods will get called, in the background, when the user selects an action from your push notification.
- (void)application:(UIApplication *)application handleActionWithIdentifier:(NSString *)identifier forRemoteNotification:(NSDictionary *)userInfo completionHandler:(void (^)())completionHandler {
if ([identifier isEqualToString:NotificationActionOneIdent]) {
NSLog(#"You chose action 1.");
}
else if ([identifier isEqualToString:NotificationActionTwoIdent]) {
NSLog(#"You chose action 2.");
}
if (completionHandler) {
completionHandler();
}
}

Answer 5

For ios10 Actionable push use this
UNAuthorizationOptions authOptions =
UNAuthorizationOptionAlert
| UNAuthorizationOptionSound
| UNAuthorizationOptionBadge;
[[UNUserNotificationCenter currentNotificationCenter]
requestAuthorizationWithOptions:authOptions
completionHandler:^(BOOL granted, NSError * _Nullable error) {
}
];
UNNotificationAction *ok = [UNNotificationAction actionWithIdentifier:#"OK"
title:NSLocalizedString(#"OK", nil)
options:UNNotificationActionOptionForeground];
UNNotificationAction *cancel = [UNNotificationAction actionWithIdentifier:#"CANCEL"
title:NSLocalizedString(#"CANCEL", nil)
options:UNNotificationActionOptionForeground];
NSArray *buttons = #[ ok, cancel ];
// create a category for message failed
UNNotificationCategory *buttonsAction = [UNNotificationCategory categoryWithIdentifier:#"ACTION_BUTTON"
actions:buttons
intentIdentifiers:#[]
options:UNNotificationCategoryOptionCustomDismissAction];
NSSet *categories = [NSSet setWithObjects:buttonsAction, nil];
// registration
[[UNUserNotificationCenter currentNotificationCenter] setNotificationCategories:categories];