Best practice for checking Internet connection status?

[colourpixels]

Hi All,
I noticed the note on the app store submission tips stating that an app that relies on internet connectivity should have some checks to see if the user is online.

I used the following code alone with a lebel to show the user the status (I'll report back if this app gets approved in the store)

The problem I have is that it seems to return EMPty initially, even when there is a connection (only meant to return that in airplane mode). Also it doesn't seem to fire an went on my iPad when connected to wifi only (no 3g) and I turn off the wifi router. <shrug> they do say it's experimental in the IOS release notes I guess, but if it's mandatory for an app store release it's a bit of a worry.

So my code is something like

Code: Select all

on OpenCard
     iPhoneSetReachabilityTarget  "http://mydomainname.com/"
end OpenCard

on reachabilityChanged pHost,pInfo
 
   if pInfo contains "connection required" then
      set the text of field "labelConnectionOnline" to "Connection required"
   else if pInfo contains "intervention required" then
       set the text of field "labelConnectionOnline" to "Connection required"
   else if pInfo contains "reachable" then
      set the text of field "labelConnectionOnline" to "Connection Ok"
   else if pInfo is empty then
      set the text of field "labelConnectionOnline" to "Are you in airplane mode?"
  end if

What does everyone else do?

Many thanks, look forward to hearing from others as I'm quite new to live code.

Dale

[CALL-151]

Until it's no longer experimental, I use a simpler approach. Try to open a webpage with iphoneControlSet sBrowserId, "url", "http://www.website.com" and trap errors with something like

Code: Select all

on browserLoadFailed
   answer "Internet connection required"
end browserLoadFailed

This is a crude approach, as the user could still have a viable connection if the site you're trying to load is down. It's best to use a site with a low likelihood of issues like http://www.google.com

This approach has satisfied the Apple reviewers, at least for me.

[FireWorx]

The code below brings up the google url if my wifi is turned on but does nothing if my wifi is turned off. What am I doing wrong? I am rying to use the example as provided in the docs

global sbrowserID,theUrl

on mouseup
put "http://google.com" into theURL
replace space with "%20" in theURL
iphoneControlSet sbrowserID, "url", theURL
end mouseUp

on browserLoadFailed theURL, pError
answer "Failed to load" && theURL && "Error:" && pError
end browserLoadFailed

Dave

[colourpixels]

global gBrowserA

iphoneControlSet gBrowserA["myBrowser"], "url", "http://www.google.com"

works for a mobGUI browser called myBrowser for me

[FireWorx]

Hi Colorpixels,
Not sure if I was clear enough in my post. I am not having trouble getting the browser populated when I have internet. I am having trouble returning a message when I don't have internet to alert the user to that and abort the attempt. Have you got that part worked out? If so I would like to see your code.
Thanks,
Dave

[Dixie]

Dave...

Does this help ?

Code: Select all

on openStack
   if environment() = "mobile" then
      put "http://www.google.com" into theURL
      put URL theURL into connCheck
      
      if connCheck is empty then
         answer "There seems to be no connection to the internet"
         exit openStack
      else
         answer "We are connected to millions of people"
      end if
   end if
end openStack

Ho,ho,ho...

Dixie

[colourpixels]

Sorry Dave, I'll give that code a whirl and see.

[FireWorx]

HO HO HO !!!
Dixie Nails it !!!!
Worked like a charm !!!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!!!

[macnomad2]

Hello Dixie, works fine but not if the user is connected to a portal (for example, first time with a wifi link and then a web page to enter its login and password) because in this case the file sent back is not empty, it is the portal page...
For my app I had to go to a specific file and test the beginning of it against known values : any other answer was a "no connection" situation.

So if you test it against a known page, just add a test that the file you receive starts as it should be. Empty is not enough
Beware that pages like google.com can be forbidden in certain countries or can change without notice.

[Jellicle]

I set a global variable to true or false using the reachabilityChanged message, and whenever I need to know if the device is connected I just check that variable. For my purposes checking for connectivity on openstack isn't enough

g

[Simon]

Hi,
I've have tried the solutions posted here but am still getting an error on the actual device (iPad).
The test is:

Code: Select all

on mouseUp
put "" into tConn
put URL "www.mysite.com/connected.html" into tConn
if "This specific string" is in tConn then -- get rid of 404 or other connection alerts
answer "connected"
else
answer "no connection"
end mouseUp

With WIFI on run the app I get "connected"
turn WIFI off I still get "connected". The identical page gets loaded even when offline.
It seems the app is storing the page info and is pulling it from cache.
Does anyone know how to clear the cache or where it is hiding?

THX,
Simon

[dave_probertGA6e24]

Hi,

Not sure if this will work, but I use a simple cache-breaker method to bypass cached pages on web apps. Simple add a ?x=current time to the end of the URL. e.g...
put URL ("www.mysite.com/connected.html?x=" & seconds) into tConn

This adds the number of seconds since the epoch (eon!) to the end of the request - which means it can never be a cached page.

Look up seconds() in the dictionary to get the correct usage if I have it wrong here

I hope that helps.

Dave

[Simon]

Thanks Dave!
Working now.
put url "www.mysite.com/connected.html?x=" & the seconds into tConn
That works.

Simon

[dave_probertGA6e24]

Glad I could help

Cheers,
Dave

[genie]

Used this code from Dixie...

Code: Select all

on openStack
   if environment() = "mobile" then
      put "http://www.google.com" into theURL
      put URL theURL into connCheck
      
      if connCheck is empty then
         answer "There seems to be no connection to the internet"
         exit openStack
      else
         answer "We are connected to millions of people"
      end if
   end if
end openStack

And..upon testing, it works perfectly on iOS, but I get connCheck=EMPTY on Android. Sounds silly, but that's what I get.
I made sure I am connected to the internet by 'launch'ing theURL afterwards.

Any idea why this is happening on my Android?

Thanks Guys!


Regards,
Genie