App switcher/multi-tasking thumbnail

[donbrae]

Hi. I'm attempting to have my app appear in the iOS 7 app switcher/multi-tasking interface with the most recent app UI state as the thumbnail.

By default, it seems that the splash screen image specified in Standalone Application Settings is used as the thumbnail, and if this isn't set there is an empty black rectangle.

I have an app built by another LiveCode developer on my 5s and it pulls this feat off nicely. But I can't work out how to do it, and searches across docs and forums have not yielded any clues.

One thought I had is to take a screenshot and save this as the new thumbnail, but I've not been able to do this, and am not sure whether it's even possible.

Anyone have any thoughts?

I'm using LC 6.5.2-rc-1

Cheers,

Jamie

[endernafi]

I have an app built by another LiveCode developer on my 5s and it pulls this feat off nicely.

Jamie,

Do you mind sharing that app's name or app store link,
I'd like to check it out.


Best,

~ Ender

[donbrae]

Hi Ender. Sure, it's called Nine Square: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/nine-sq ... 79850?mt=8

[endernafi]

Ok, it's Gerry's cool game.
But I didn't notice this behavior of it, before.

I need this too;
so, hopefully Gerry will be kind enough to share the method with us


~ Ender

[Nakia]

For what it's worth I have a LC App on my iPhone that is working as you are requesting (not in App store though)
I did nothing special and it just worked.

Note: This was last built with LC5.5.3 so maybe something has changed recently ...

[splash21]

If I start an LC app then double tap the home button, the current screen is shown in the app list. If I switch to another app then double tap the button again, the LC app's screen shot has changed to the splash screen - which I suppose is normal as the app quits rather than running in the background. I guess if you keep the app running in the background then the screen shot in the app list will remain current.

(I'm sure my app was also 5.5.x - I've not checked yet with anything newer!)

[Jellicle]

I guess if you keep the app running in the background then the screen shot in the app list will remain current.

That's how I do it. LC does not usually permit apps to run in the background but there's a hack that enables it. You need to delete an entry in the template pList file in the LC app package. Here's how you do it:

1. Right click on the LC app icon and choose Show package contents.
2. Navigate to Tools -> Runtime - > iOS and then the folder(s) for the iOS version(s) you are targeting, for both device and simulator. I'm building for iOS 7 only but have found I need to edit the iOS 6 files too.
3. Find the Settings file in each folder and open it in a text editor.
4. Delete the following text:

<key>UIApplicationExitsOnSuspend</key>
${APPLICATION_EXITS_ON_SUSPEND}

5. Save the files.

Note this is UNSUPPORTED. It works for me but use at your own risk and don't complain to RunRev if it messes up anything.

Gerry

[donbrae]

Thank you, everyone, for responding to my query and in particular to Gerry for sharing his solution. It's much appreciated.

[thatkeith]

Great tip! It works well for me. It'd be *really* nice to see this implemented as an option in the Standalone Application Settings window along with the other items in the Requirements and Restrictions section. (I just peeked into a copy of the "revstandalonesettings.rev" document but decided to step back out without making any changes. Heh. )

[jacque]

If I remember right, RR decided not to support background processing because of a few things that could cause problems. The one I remember is the "wait" command, which (I'm fuzzy on this but I think this is right) will hang up the CPU while the wait persists. If a handler uses "wait until somethingOrOther" and it is in the background, and somethingOrOther never occurs, the device will become unresponsive.

So use at your own risk.

[thatkeith]

Hah! Isn't LiveCode itself a 'use at your own risk' kind of thing? I mean, it's SO powerful it's like the phrase "with great power comes great responsibility" was made specifically for it.

(Personally, I'd *much* rather see it as an option in the Standalone Application Settings window and have a modal alert nag me whenever I pick it. That way, it's off unless I want it to be on. This way – because it's actually quite annoying to have an app always reset itself whenever I turn my back – I do the little hack and then ALL my productions are set that way rather than just ones I set in the UI. No warning at all.
Oh, I know it is entirely my fault if I do something wrong. It's just slightly curious to be protected here when I could do so much accidental damage with calling shell commands, for example.

[thatkeith]

To be fair I'm sure there are wrinkles to this that make the current setting the sensible way. Even I'm not dumb enough to believe I can walk into something like this and know better than the authors themselves.

It would, though, be good to know what sort of things I should consider and look out for. Because unless it is actually specifically a *bad* thing to do I'm going to set LiveCode this way for each new build.

[Jellicle]

This this remains unsupported by RR out of the box defies belief, frankly, given that pretty much every app on the ios App Store can be properly sent to the background.

Yes, it's the "wait" command that keeps them from making it possible by default. Surely LC can check for wait commands when it compiles the ios binary and warn the coder that they might be a problem?

Gerry

[thatkeith]

I'm not so surprised that it's an area of concern, but I would really appreciate at least knowing what things could be a problem when this limitation is removed. Then at least I'd be fully informed and can navigate my way around possible pitfalls on my own.

Going further, offering this option as part of the Standalone Application Settings with a clear warning presented when it's touched would seem more in line with the general ethos of LiveCode. Power to the people! Viva la Revoluti... whoops, sorry, old name.