I was wondering if it was possible to have an "alarm" style app that would run at a certain time? Would the application have to be run and then left open?
I know with multi-tasking on the iPhone 4 a user could open the app and run it in the background. If my original question isn't possible, is it possible to bring an app running in the background back into the foreground after a certain time?
Thank you very much for your help.
Have a look at the new 4.0 feature called Local Notifications. Local and Push Notification Programming Guide
You can use EventKit to put certain alarms. It is however not possible to schedule to launch of your app. You can not bring your app forward like you suggest. You could however send a push notification. The link suggested by Jessedc gives a lot of in-depth information about the use of this.
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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.
Since few days i am searching for the functionality which will allow me keep user posted that application is running in background. I have attached a !image for what exactly i am looking for. i tried googling but could not get exactly what I need. when i tap on the flashing red bar it takes me back to the application.
Thanks in advance.
The red banner you pictured is provided by the system, is shown only if your application uses background audio recording (see AVAudioSession), and doesn't provide the opportunity for you to choose what happens when the user taps it.
Unless your app fits into one of a few specific classes, it doesn't actually "run" while in the background. Instead, it's "suspended" -- still in memory, but gets no CPU time. What happens outside of your app is thus up to the system, not to you... the only way to show a banner that will launch your application is to use a push notification service or UILocalNotification, but those banners are only shown briefly, and you don't get to control their duration. What you seem to be specifically asking for isn't possible using public API.
The kind of notification you want isn't supported by the current iOS for third-party developers.
If you want that kind of functionality then implement Apple Push Notification service through
this you can first give message to Apple push notification service. then Apple service
automatically generate notification for your App as you want.
I have requirement for an application which work in background only.
When first time application install on device then after installation that will be go to background. And after two minutes a view will popup on screen.
Now problem is that after installation how to redirect application into background?
i get answer for this that if we want to send our app into background then we have to open another app like as safari. so i get this solution.
Now problem is that how show a view after two minutes from background. I have to create as a demo not for app store. So if anyone have any solution then suggest me.
Thanks
It is not possible to do so in iOS. You can't send an app into the background
If you want your app to get displayed, the only way to do so is through push (from server) or local (from phone) notifications, and the user has to explicitly accept it.
Unfortunately, you can't make it open automatically.
iOS is not designed to run code in the background. There are a few exceptions, for example a music streaming app, or a GPS navigation app, but in general it cannot be done.
Instead, you should run your app on a server in the cloud, and send a push notification to the phone when you want something to happen on the phone. You may also be able to achieve this with "local notifications", depending on what you're trying to do.
is it possible to wake an App in the background up, when a call comes in, and access CoreTelephony to send some infos over the web?
I'm practically a n00b in iOS development right now, but got asked a question if iOS is capable to do this. I searched in the iOS reference too, but with no luck.
It would be great if someone with more experience could answer it. Thanks a lot!
Steno
Please, have a look at the document about executing code in the background.
If you go to section "Implementing a VoIP Application", you will see that it is actually possible for your app to be awaken periodically so that it can check if it has anything to do (in your case, if I understand you correctly you would use CTCall to check for calling state).
So, basically, when awaken, your app could check for any incoming call and then use Core Telephony, as you say.
The only trouble about this is that if your app cannot be considered to a a VOIP app, Apple will not let it into the App Store.
It is not possible to have your code run when a call is received.
I need to write an application, that every 10 minutes it should be awaken from suspended mode, get user location via gps and send this information to the server by network.
Depending on the response it should return to the suspended mode or show local notification to the user.
Is there a way to do this on iOS 4?
I've tried different approaches, but the only working for me was to start monitoring user location in backgroind and declare the application as location background application. In that case it worked in background and has a network connection. But this approach takes a lot of power and not accepted cause application should work 24/7.
May be there is a way to write some daemon that should work in background and wake my application every 10 minutes?
Apparently, Pastebot tried to do something similar with the 'audio' multitasking declaration (by playing a silent audiofile) and got rejected.. UNTIL they actually presented a option to the user to pick which audiofile they wanted to play. It's in the appstore now. :)
In this case: What is your reason for not wanting to use the location updates? If battery-usage is a concern, you can use the 'significant location changes only' option, after which you can temporarily change to a more accurate option.
This isn't possible outside of the method you have already tried.
The iPhone background task API will allow you to run a location service in the background.
There is no way to write daemons for the iPhone without jailbreaking, and that is not something I'm able/prepared to help you with.
App store friendly: use new APIs in iOS4, which allows u to make use of GPS location
Anti App store: create a daemon by adding a specific plist file to System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ and put ur app under Applications/. this approach requires a jailbroken iPhone however...
detailed information plz google the following keywords: daemon, multitask, background, etc...
cheers, Lloyd