In our app users can track and submit journeys they have recorded. I need a simple way of creating a task in iOS. I have already created and tested this on Android. It works via:
The user selects the journeys they would like to submit.
Taps sync and a foreground service is created that syncs the journeys to our API.
This service will continue to sync journeys even if the app is put into the background or even closed.
So in short how can i achieve this on iOS 9-13?
I have already tried creating a background-safe tasks using:
nint taskID = UIApplication.SharedApplication.BeginBackgroundTask( () => {});
However, this only gives the task 2 mins to run which isn't enough. I have looked into the NSURlSessions but they require URls, whereas we are using our own API wrapper.
I would simply like a way of creating a task when the user taps 'sync' and this task also being capable to run in the background. I am not too bothered if the task is cancelled when the app is closed, although if possible would like the task to continue.
Thanks.
This service will continue to sync journeys even if the app is put
into the background or even closed.
First, if your app is closed in iOS, I'm sure do can't run any service in background.
Then if your app is put into background, Apple has strict limit to allow apps running in the background. background-tasks has time limits, you can read the document about more information. There is a section about handling-background-task-time-limits which you can have a try.
Also, Apple allows some specific apps to run in background which have to perform tasks in the background. For example, app that needs to play music in background, update location in background and etc. You can see the Application Registration Categories here. If your app meets the requirement there, you can apply for a background running permission from system.
Refer: Backgrounding in Xamarin.iOS
I would advise you to leverage on Shiny to achieve it.
PerformFetch is the closest thing to what you ask for, it will run in the background and update your app when iOS thinks it is needed (it predicts that according to the previous behavior the user will soon open your app and that the new content is available).
The only alternative is to send the push notification when you want the app to be updated.
That's about it, I understand your wish but it is just that - a wish and not something that can be real.
Related
I have an app that needs to create a pop up to notify the user of something, even when the app is closed. I would like it to be fullscreen, but if that's not possible, a pop up that takes up most of the screen will do. I don't know how to make part of the app run in the background on Android and iOS to check if it's time for the pop up. I also don't know how to go about making the actual pop up. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Side notes: I am using a cross platform Xamarin.Forms app. I have a main page that the user can set the time they want the pop up to appear, and I save this to the Application.Current.Properties dictionary for data persistence.
Background tasks on mobile has quite a lot of limitations. Which is logical. The user would not like if some app will always run in background and collect user data, drain the battery or affect overal performance of the the mobile device. Therefore for there are strict set of rules every developer must follow when creating a background tasks.
You best bet would be to use local notifications, there is a well documented open source library that you can use for this. There will be no pop-ups but notifications which you could customize according to OS guides.
I have a UWP app that needs to check for new data (from network) every x seconds. I do this by starting a new async thread. The app can be minimized or even navigated from in Windows Phone, and this suspends the app.
How do I restore the loop when the user goes back to the app again (it appears to be still open, at the same Page)? This can be done either by re-navigating to the Page in question on relaunch or by restoring the loop. What's the easiest way to do so?
Generally when your app is suspended, if you don't cancel your tasks, the OS will do it. Therefore it's recommended that you will send a suitable signal to your tasks along with saving some progress for resuming operation.
However, in UWP there is something like ExtendedExecution - it should allow your app to run in background up to 10 minutes (as far as I know this is the limit for battery powered devices - not 100% sure about this, and it of course may change on various scenarios).
Nevertheless, I think that checking for changes in few seconds interval may be a bad idea. Maybe you can change the design little and use BackgroundTasks which are designed for background processing.
Most of information about app states you will find at MSDN.
I am using a 3rd party rest api to query data and display it in my app. I have to perform a task like at night 12 approx. it will perform a background task to query data from rest api and update live tile and generate notification. I would like to use only C# only for this task. I don't know what will be best approach to do this task. But I using below code to perform background task to do this which is not working. Not sure why?
BackgroundTaskBuilder taskBuilder = new BackgroundTaskBuilder();
taskBuilder.Name = taskName;
SystemTrigger trigger = new SystemTrigger(SystemTriggerType.InternetAvailable, false);
taskBuilder.SetTrigger(trigger);
taskBuilder.AddCondition(new SystemCondition(SystemConditionType.InternetAvailable));
taskBuilder.TaskEntryPoint = typeof(BackgroundTask.BackgroundTask).FullName;
taskBuilder.Register();
and from background task I am querying data and generating toast notification.
Any help why this code is not working or when this task will fire. Is there any better approach to do above task?
Thanks
Regarding the code you have not working...
For Windows Phone 8.1 unlike Windows 8\8.1, you are required to call BackgroundExecutionManager.RequestAccessAsync() (search MSDN\internet) for ANY background task before registering task(s) whereas in Windows this is only required for some tasks. Make sure your code calls this and validate the returned value before registering your background task(s).
Regarding knowing if your task "worked"...
It's a good idea to have the background task implementation run (IBackgroundTask::Run()) independent of the trigger\conditions you've set to ensure it performs without issue by debugging it. See instructions in the following link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/windows/apps/xaml/jj542416.aspx.
Regarding your use of SystemConditionType.InternetAvailable...
I'm not 100% about this but I'm pretty certain this will be redundant given you already have a SystemTriggerType.InternetAvailable. I don't know of a situation where the trigger would fire but the condition wouldn't be true.
Regarding the requirement you've mentioned...
If I understand your requirement correctly you have different options here:
If your app is a Windows Phone XAML app that need to run based on time, I would recommend either TimeTrigger or MaintenanceTrigger triggers (as opposed to the SystemTrigger). These are both Background Tasks. For general info on Background Tasks and links to the TimeTrigger and MaintenanceTrigger documentation see this MSDN link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/library/windows/apps/xaml/hh977056.aspx.
If your app is a Windows Phone Silverlight 8.0 app you can use Background Agents, specifically either PeriodicTask or ResourceIntensiveTask. See the links posted by others or search the MSDN\internet for more info.
If your app is a Windows Phone Silverlight 8.1 app you can use the option in either 1 or 2 above.
I think you should try using PeriodicTask. Also consider the constraints mentioned in the link.
create one class with output Type :Windows Runtime Component
and put your Class that inheritance from IBackroundTask so this work
if you use from emulator for launching app, i think your app for register task not active in emulator.
I've found the following question asking whether it's possible to find out whether an app update is available:
Programmatically check Windows Store App update
(Not my primary question, but is there a better way?)
I know that it's possible to configure Windows 8.1 to auto-update apps, but this doesn't always happen as soon as I want.
So, now I know that an update is available, can I trigger the update from within the app?
If so, would this trigger have to take me through the Windows Store (which won't be possible in my scenario as I'm running in kiosk mode) or can it just start the auto-update?
Any thoughts/ideas on how I might be able to achieve this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
I've run into this problem as well.
What you can do is to check to see if there is an update available, then notify your users that they can either wait or update manually (through the Windows Store app, which you can open for them). You can also notify them of the importance level of the update (just UI fixes/additional features or is it a critical security patch?).
Lastly, you can also register the users for toast updates via an Azure Notification Hub, then send out a toast notification about it.
If it's truly critical, you can also include code in your app to do something like lock down unless it's fully updated or something similar.
In my experience, as of right now, these are our only options. Maybe one day they'll allow us to force an update via a Background Worker or something while the app isn't running. As of right now, that's not an option though.
I am trying to create an specific Calendar for Windows8 Metro User Interface.
All I want to do for now is to update my tile at 12:00 am (showing the current date on the tile) even while the program is not running.
WinRT provides multiple solutions for such task but I can not use any of them for various reasons:
It is possible to Register a Maintenance Background Task but they only run if the device is on AC power.
It is possible to Register a Periodic Cloud URI but they only run if the computer is connected to the internet.
It is possible to Register a Background Task on Timer but they only run if the user add them to lock screen.
It is possible to Register a ScheduledTileNotification but it's single, non-recurring scheduled update to a tile.
is there any other solution?
I think the answer here is that you have to get added to the lock screen -- this isn't something that requires the user to dig into PC Settings. You can prompt to be added to the lock screen using the supported api. Sample code is included in the Documentation -- it's a simple call, and a case of handling the result.
You don't need to be on the lock screen. Look into using scheduled tile notifications:
A code sample is here:
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsapps/Scheduled-notifications-da477093