Could be possible use a background running app to control an apple tv?
I mean, using that app to execute the basic commands of an apple remote control.
My idea is to have a BLE device that sends commands to my apple tv, and then my background app translates those user commands (play, stop, volume up/down).
For example, imagine a tvOS app that receives commands from a micro:bit or Myo armband to control Netflix.
Thanks in advance!
Humberto
The short answer is yes.
However, the question is quite broad, because you're speaking of receiving input from devices (with no specific issues), and then doing "basic commands" (again no specific issues there either).
You might try looking at a specific portion of what you'd like to do and then posting a question about any problems should any arise.
Good luck.
Related
Might be i am using a wrong title but i will try to explain here what i want.
In iOS i need to implement a functionality to get notify if the user is using their iOS device.
My app will be running in background using location services and i need to find out if the the user is using their device. It is doable as i have looked into this application which is sending notifications in background to the drivers who is suing their devices while driving.
https://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/cellcontrol/id661169580?l=en&mt=8&ign-mpt=uo=2
So i need similar kind of functionality to find out if a user is using iOS device or not. If anyone of you can suggest me any approach then it would be great for me to start.
Thank you!
Note: I have tried to find out touch events in background but that is not possible as i have done some research on this.
You won't be able to receive touch events when the app is in background using public API's. However, you can do that with the help of mobileSubstrate library ( http://iphonedevwiki.net/index.php/MobileSubstrate - The MobileHooker component is the one that would be used). by hooking your process to the OS. As an example, the display recorder app in Cydia tracks global gestures while recording the screen. This will be a cydia tweak and you will need to jailbreak your device to do all that.
Coming to your specific use-case, the example app you cited should be using one of the exceptions for background applications mentioned in https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/iphone/conceptual/iphoneosprogrammingguide/ManagingYourApplicationsFlow/ManagingYourApplicationsFlow.html (see the section - "Implementing Long-Running Background Tasks"), probably the one to receive updates from external accessories.
I am working on a medical related app where a medical device interfaces via bluetooth with an iphone. However I cannot figure out how to allow the app to run indefinately in the background. Right now it only communicates when the app is open. I have been reading a lot of questions related to this and I haven't managed to find an answer which fits. I'm sorry if this is a duplicate. Can someone point me in the direction of how to implement this.
ETA - I just got confirmation that this is supposed to be able to go on the App Store.
Did you come across this question: Background time issue for Bluetooth LE app for Iphone 4s
It seems that adding the background mode bluetooth-central (see documentation) can enable your app to run in the background while handling bluetooth events. As noted in the question above though, you could always set background mode to audio and play a blank looping audio track to keep your app alive and responding if you don't need to be on the App Store.
I know this question may be a little bit common and over asked but I cannot find any precise information... so :
Is it possible to have some kind of thread running when the app is in background so I can perform basic sync with my webservice ?
App is in background : I mean the user clicked the Home button, or switched to another app
basic sync : photo upload and download with AFNetworking. I know it has method to continue an HTTPRequest while app is in background, but this is not my point.
My goal would be to make some kind of sync manager, reading a list of photos to update created while the user was on the app, and perform those changes.
I know that the manager could be killed by the OS, but since my server uses atomic transfers it is not a problem. I just need a way to relaunch it... Push ?
I think apps like Google Latitude or Mail and those kind of apps uses what I am looking for but I cannot find any relevant details on it. And using iOS5 is not a problem but waiting for iOS6 would not be a solution.
Thank you for your replies !
PS : well I almost forgot. the app is designed for an enterprise program, so maybe rules are different ? I don't think there is any check for in-house deployment so it might lead to new possibilities...
Apple's Mail client has a background daemon which keeps it running but you can't have that with your own applications. Once an app enters a background state, it must halt it's operations. You can request for a little more time when backgrounded to finish off any transfers or writes to disk (see the Executing a Finite-Length Task in the Background section on Apple's Multitasking Guide)
Google Latitude has events generated based on location. This is a special type of backgrounding introduced by Apple for certain types of applications (see Implementing Long-Running Background Tasks section on Apple's Multitasking Guide) but this can't be used for HTTP syncing. It can only be used for audio, location, voip, newstand content, bluetooth and external hardware attachments.
Push doesn't seem like a solution because it only generates an alert. It doesn't trigger any action until the user triggers the opening of the notification.
You'll want to read Tech Note 2277 Networking and Multitasking.
Basically you have a couple of options:
If you can convince Apple that your app is a VoIP app then you can register a VoIP socket and the OS will resume your background app whenever there is activity on that socket.
Your main option though is to register a background task for any outstanding activity that you have to do when your app is put in the background. You typically get 10 minutes to finish up that work.
Mail is a special app with privileges you don't get.
Apps like Latitude typically register themselves for location updates, specifically to be woken up when there are major geo-position changes. Apps that record GPS tracks do similar things.
Found it !
Using Suhail Patel 's link on Apple's Multitasking Guide I added the voip tag to UIBackgroundModes in Info.plist and use setKeepAliveTimeout:handler: method of UIApplication to relaunch it if needed once the app is going to sleep.
I hope this will help a lot of you !
Of course this app won't be allowed to be on the App Store but for in house development this is in my opinion the best way to do so.
Thanks everyone for showing me the right direction !
I am trying to take advantage of iPhone 4 multitasking feature. I want to run app in background and frequently send http request to send/receive data, is it possible?
Surprisingly, there is actually very little time-slicing going on in the "multi-tasking" iOS 4.x. What goes on instead is really just application suspend / resume. When an application is sent to the background upon the user tapping the home button, it will stop getting execute cycles after a short while (*).
(*) There are a few exceptions. Applications which declare themselves as "VoIP providers", location-based apps, and music apps can get background execute cycles, presumably only though to perform those very specific operations in response to corresponding events (like a "significant change in location" occurring). Some apps apparently try to stretch the rules and find undocumented or not-strongly-documented techniques to continue getting background execute cycles.
And the "requested running time" that Undeadlegion mentioned is limited in duration.
The reality is that on iOS4, applications are not allowed to run continuously in the background.
#Undeadlegion has suggested a plausible way to achieve your goal. To be more clear, take a look at my previous answer to a similar question at SO, iphone - Connecting to server in background
It is possible to request running time while your app is backgrounded.
See Multitasking Developer's Guide
Although, depending on the intent of your http requests, push notifications may be a viable alternative.
This may be necessary because you aren't providing audio, voip, or location services, so your app can't run in the background indefinitely.
I want to write a perlscript on my iPhone that is able to give me a heads up at certain points so I'm wondering how I would go about doing that.
Is there a way to get a message through the gui from a script running in the background? I've been looking without much luck. I had a thought about inserting a fake sms into the sqlite db as a last resort but it seems somewhat unlikely that it would work.
It would be nice to be able to make a push notification style popup appear but that might too much to ask.
Any ideas?
For reasons of security and stability, Apple does not allow scripting languages on the iPhone. You can run them on a jailbroken phone but I'm given to understand it's a hassle.
From the Apple Push Notification Programming Guide:
Note: On a desktop system, a
background process is often the means
whereby users are informed of
downloadable data for an application
that currently isn’t running. But on a
device such as the iPhone, background
applications are, for performance and
security reasons, prohibited. Only one
application may be executing at a
time.
The iPhone is a secure and reliable phone first and a computer second. Computing is sacrificed to ensure a reliable phone.
I found a solution I liked so I decided to share it. I found an app for jailbroken iPhones called GriP - Growl for iPhone. Which changes the way push notifications and other messages are handled. It also makes it possible to send messages from the command line via something along the lines of:
/usr/bin/GriP -t "Title" -d "Description"
It has worked great so far.
Thank you for your help TechZen and molecules.
Do you want information from your phone itself or from an outside source? If you want information from an outside source, you could set up a Perl script on a computer to e-mail yourself notifications (see Sending Email with Perl Best Practice).