I have a Web-Service application, i need to send scheduled GET methods to my server and if a change has happened with my incoming data i have to inform my user about the changes. When my app is in the foreground(in min thread) i fetch some data and pıpulate my tableview, my problem is, i can't realize how to create a scheduled method to the same data source(mean server) and if a new thing has been added, either my app is on bacground or not, inform user(alert) about the changes. Can anyone please share any idea-link.. Thanks in advance
This is exactly what push notifications were designed for, and are, technically the best way to solve the problem.
It does mean the task of 'checking' for new data is shifted to your server but the user is better suited as a push notification will happen, even if your app is not running.
I recommend using a system like Urban Airship.
Related
Hello I am trying to create a simple push-notification system similar to this common use case:
1. The user gets a chest and can either watch an ad to skip the wait time or wait one hours for the chest to open. The app sends an upstream request which sets up a downstream push notification that shall be delivered in one hour to let the user know the chest is ready.
2a. The user then waits an hour, gets a push notification (outside of the app) to open their chest and they do!
or
2b. They wait 20 minutes then decide to watch the ad. The app sends an upstream request which cancels the pending push notification which would have otherwise been delivered in 40 minutes.
Okay awesome so that is the problem and I am having a hard time understanding how to do this. I have looked over the documentation for each of these programs but they seem designed for downstream push notifications. It just seems odd there is no built-in support for this use case. It seems like such a common use case.
I so far found 3 solutions that will integrate into my cross-platform Unity setup and provide services for free or super-cheap:
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)
Google Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM)
OneSignal
Amazon seems to group clients into "Topics" so I guess I would be setting up a one-device-topic and essentially. I can subscribe and unsubscribe from them but it doesn't seem to support a topic with a 60 minute delay.
2a. Create a topic: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sns/latest/dg/sns-tutorial-create-topic.html (it would just include the current device)
2b. Subscribe to it
2c. Send a message to it https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sns/latest/dg/sns-tutorial-publish-message-with-attributes.html
So basically I can add attributes to my message but it would seem I need to implement the server-side code to read a delay attribute then somehow queue a message for delay. Maybe I am missing something?
For Firebase I pretty much see the same thing as Amazon. There are topics https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging/android/topic-messaging and a means to send upstream messages https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging/android/send-with-console but with the messages I don't see anyway here to get the time delay https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging/unity/topic-messaging I see conditions towards the bottom of that article but I don't know if it is meant for this use case.
OneSignal has the easiest to scroll-through API. I'll refer to some strings that you can CTRL-F by using the format ("Create Notif") because everything is on this one page: https://documentation.onesignal.com/reference
So basically I can ("Send to Specific Devices") which I guess would be the sending device, then I can ("Schedule notification for future delivery.") using the send_after parameter. And finally, if need be, I can ("Cancel notification"). So this appears to be everything I need. I'm currently looking at this option and trying to figure out how to actually get this working.
So there is my progress over the last few hours researching each of these options. I am hoping you can help me better understand how I may be misunderstanding the above options as this seems to me a very common use-case. Perhaps I am just not googling the question correctly. Any help appreciated.
Whenever there's a likelihood that you'll need to cancel a significant percent of the notifications you send, you should use local notifications. That way you can easily schedule and cancel them locally without making any network requests. Also, this solution works for offline devices which is great for games (played on planes, etc...)
I am trying to make a chat app using XMPP protocol. The app is working fine except it doesn't show message notification when the app is in background. In Android I have used a Service for this purpose, however in Windows Phone I couldn't find anything similar to this.
I am trying Background Tasks for this, but as far as I have understood, they're made to run on prespecified trigger and I cannot add any custom trigger to it. In Android I have put my socket connection and parsing message calls in the service itself so that they can run on background too and the socket doesn't get closed even when the app is stopped.
So my question is, is there any similar way to do it in Windows Phone 8.1 (WinRT, not silverlight) or if Background Task is the only option, can you suggest a way to implement the notification functionality. I don't need the exact code, I just need a push to the right direction.
First: You cannot run a network connection in background.
Suggested way is using PushNotifications:
Either directly with a Toast Notification
Or with a PushTrigger to handle a Raw Notification, work out what to do
with it (who was it from, prepare data, etc.) and then create a ShellToast from it. Adds flexibility and improves user experience, but is quite complex.
Known downside: You have to use a server.
Only workarounds: Background-Tasks that checks for new messages about every 30 Minutes.
So I got a little problem here.
My App needs to fire notifications everyday at the same time.
It does this now by the code that's inside the application.
However, I want to schedule these notifications on my server and then schedule them on the device until it's time to go off.
I've read about Push notifications and also that they are unreliable as an alarm so I guess that's not a good idea.
So my question is, is it possible to make the App read the times from a server and then schedule them locally?
Yes, just use UILocalNotification. You don't need to involve push notifications.
My app uses iCloud (key-value store) to sync an unique id between multiple devices. This works accept at the point were it really has to work, at the first launch of the app. It looks like the device isn't yet familiar with the values from iCloud at first launch, only after the app is installed and has been running for a while.
I check for the iCloud value in the viewDidLoad function on main view of the app.
So, my questions:
Is this the expected behavior?
If yes, is there another solution?
Could it be the case this is only a problem when running from Xcode, not the shipping version? If so, how to test?
Thanks!
Jasper
I had a similar issue where the NSUbiquitousKeyValueStoreDidChangeExternallyNotification wasn't triggering on the first launch after install, no matter how long I waited. Setting an initial key in the NSUBiquitousKeyValueStore seemed to solve this.
Immediately after adding the observer to the default store, I call:
[[NSUbiquitousKeyValueStore defaultStore] setString:#"testValue" forKey:#"testKey"];
[[NSUbiquitousKeyValueStore defaultStore] synchronize];
I use different keys (i.e. not testKey) for the actual data I want to sync.
When you first run an iCloud enabled App it has to pull all the data from Apple servers. The time it takes to do so depends on many things like what kind of network you're currently on (Edge, 3G, GPRS, WLAN). It also depends on how much traffic the iCloud server currently has to handle so the request to the iCloud server may take a few more seconds, no matter what type of network connectivity you have.
To sum it up: Yes, it sounds absolutely normal.
If running your App depends on those settings consider implementing a "Wait" or "Loading" view that stays on the screen as long as it takes for the App to perform a initial synch and load all needed data from the cloud. To not block the UI forever also implement a timeout for this view (if iCloud data not loaded within X seconds, dismiss the view and notify user).
You have no guarantee NSUbiquitousKeyValueStore would have finished its first synchronization as your app is launched for the first time. (In fact, on iOS 5, it's often starting to sync as you launch your app for the first time).
There is no way to know if the first initial sync has already happened, is ongoing or has finished. You can (in fact should) subscribe to NSUbiquitousKeyValueStoreDidChangeExternallyNotification. The trick is that if your store is empty on the iCloud server, you won't get any notification after the initial sync (since your local store is empty and the cloud store is empty as well, nothing really changed "externally" after the initial sync…)
Normally, you should not rely on the initial sync being done.
Be optimist at launch, even if your store is empty, push your values (e.g. your unique id) right away. If the initial sync happens concurrently or after and there is already some value on the server, your local values will be reset to the server values and you will get the NSUbiquitousKeyValueStoreDidChangeExternallyNotification notification with the NSUbiquitousKeyValueStoreInitialSyncChange reason.
Finally, if you really think knowing about the initial sync being completed or not, please file a bug to bugreport.apple.com and explain why you really need that.
I have created a web-service app and i want to populate my view controllers according to the response i fetch(via GET) in main thread. But i want to create a scheduled timer which will go and control my server, if there becomes any difference(let's say if the count of an array has changed) i will create a local notification. As far as i read from here and some google results, i cant run my app in background more then ten minutes expect from some special situations(Audio, Vo-IP, GPS).. But i need to control the server at least one per minute.. Can anyone offer some idea-or link please?
EDIT
I will not sell the app in store, just for a local area network. Let's say, from the server i will send some text messages to the users and if a new message comes, the count of messages array will increment, in this situation i will create a notification. I need to keep this 'controlling' routing alive forever, whether in foreground or background. Does GCD give such a solution do anyone have any idea?
Just simply play a mute audio file in loop in the background, OR, ping the user's location in the background. Yes, that will drain the battery a bit, but it's a simple hack for in-home applications. Just remember to enable the background types in your Info.plist!
Note: "[...] I fetch (via GET) in main thread." This is not a good approach. You should never fetch any network resources on the main thread. Why? Because your GUI, which is maintained by the main thread, will become unresponsive whenever a fetch isn't instantaneous. Any lag spike on the network results in a less than desirable user experience.
Answer: Aside from the listed special situations, you can't run background apps. The way I see it:
Don't put the app in the background. (crappy solution)
Try putting another "entity" between the app and the "server". I don't know why you "need to control the server at least one per minute" but perhaps you can delegate this "control" to another process outside the device?
.
iOS app -> some form of proxy server -> server which requires
"babysitting" every minute.