Beginner with a few iOS related questions

[Robert115]

Hey guys,

I'm interested in learning to develop iOS and possibly android apps, and I came across LiveCode in my search for a tool that would simplify the whole process. I have a few ideas in mind for apps that I'd like to develop in the future, and before I get started, I just want to make sure that certain features will be possible to create with LiveCode. This will be later down the line once I've developed some degree of mastery in the software.

1. Location based notifications
Is it possible to have an app send iOS notifications (as in notifications that show up in the notification center or on the lock screen) when the user arrives at a certain location. This would be like the iOS Reminders app location based reminder feature. I've seen a few third party apps that claim to have this feature, but I haven't bought them, so I can't verify it first hand.

Based on information in "iOS Deployment Release Notes," I know that LiveCode apps can use GPS location tracking and that they can create "local notifications," but I don't see a parameter for location in the local notification command (I only took one Java class in college a couple of years ago, so I'm not sure that command is even the correct term...)

I found the following in the previously mentioned release notes: "mobileCreateLocalNotification alertBody, alertButtonMessage, alertPayload, alertTime, playSound, [badgeValue]"

My understanding is that notifications are handled by iOS and only scheduled with the app itself, so if you can't send a location parameter when you setup the notification, is it possible to set up a location based notification?

Can any third party apps send location based notifications? Again, I've seen people claim that their app could do this, but I didn't want to buy an app I didn't actually want. Maybe only if the app is running in the background?

2. Background Clipboard Monitoring
I have an app called "Clipboard Manager and History" that will run in the background and keeps a list of everything that has been saved to my clipboard while I'm using other apps. It does not require me to return to the app after each item is saved to the clipboard, although it can only do this background monitoring for 10 minutes as limited by iOS.

Would it be possible to set this up with a Live Code app? I didn't see anything about the clipboard in the release notes document I mentioned, and I'm not sure where else to look at this point.

I'd really appreciated any guidance with this! I can't wait to get started!

[Agia]

Hi Robert115

I can't help you with the LiveCode specific questions, however I can verify that iOS apps can indeed send notifications based on location (as opposed to time, for example), and can do so when not open or even open in the background. It's a feature I have come across in several apps, and used extensively in one I now use daily, and it can be an incredibly effective and useful addition to a relevant app.

[dave_probertGA6e24]

Hi,

Just a quick not about iOS Livecode Apps in general. You will probably have problems trying to get them to run in the background (ie for monitoring clipboard, etc) as the LC system is designed more for foreground tasks. You could check out Monte's mergExt externals to see if he has anything suitable in those.

Location based notification is actually just a program that monitors the GPS to find out if the device is within the bounds setup, and then it would fire a notification to the system. The notification system itself has no awareness of GPS location. These are two separate actions combined via the app coding.

I hope that helps your understanding.

Cheers,
Dave

[user#606]

Hi, I had a similar requirement for a background process, see

Re: How do you poll in a program?
by Dixie » Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:04 pm

And in conjunction with advice from others in the Post, credit for my solution should go to Dixie, who produced a simple stack demonstrating how to do it.

[gpb01]

Please, read here : http://forums.runrev.com/viewtopic.php? ... 579#p65438 and also here : http://forums.runrev.com/viewtopic.php? ... 411#p64445.

More important ... READ CAREFULLY here : http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/ ... sFlow.html

This should clarify the real situation on iOS

Guglielmo