I'm here to get some information about an idea in my head. I have two applications (running both on iOS and android) with similar functionalities. The first is developed by me, the second is a famous app used to add votes for students.
Now my app has the same feature, but my question is:
Is it possible to write a function or whatever can help me, to make possible that when I add a vote on my app, It also triggers a specific action (in this case, the "add a vote" action) in the second one (the one not developed by me)? I'm not asking you the specific process (because I should give you major details about the two apps), but I want to know:
1) Is it possible?
2) What language, programs, etc. should I use to do that?
3) Maybe links to video or articles that explain how to archive similar objectives
In my knowledge, it is not possible to invoke an action from your app to another app which you don't own.
One way which I can possibly think is, if there is a web API exposed from the other application then you may be able to achieve what you want.
Related
What are some compulsory test you need to carryout on your application before it goes into production?
If I understood you correctly, you are wondering what exactly you need to test before users see your application?
For me it is divided into two steps: Logic and UI.
Regarding the ui, you need to make sure that your application looks good on different screens and devices, that animations work correctly and views do not lose their positions ...etc
Regarding the logic, everything is a little more complicated, we write scripts to understand if the user will have difficulties with the application. For example, are errors displayed correctly if we receive them, does the application work offline and what exactly is available, do our functions and queries return what we want to get from them, and if not, again, do we inform the user about this.
Maybe if you tell us more about the specification of your application, we can help you even more.
I just want to start by saying I am doing this for a friend as a general information app and I am receiving no money for doing this. He would like an app to help inform his clients of different treatments as well as adding in daily memos etc. I can create an app no problem and have only created apps for general use and for my University assignments (I will also add that this is not a university project but just more to improve my own abilities). I am hoping someone may have a suggestion for how I can allow my friend to update the apps information easily. For example, I will be creating a general app that will display information (contact information, advice, guidelines, exercises etc) most of which will need updated every so often. He has also said he would like to add a daily update (almost like a daily tip or piece of advice). What I would really like help with, is for guidance on how I can have my friend maintain the app after I have done the project. I want an easy way for him to add/remove/edit memos or information. I haven't come across anything like this so I don't know if it is possible or if it is possible but complex etc. I hope I have explained the scenario well enough. Only looking guidelines of things I can research and do on my own, I just don't know where to start looking.
I want to make an android application which will display an external message (For example: some quotes, proverbs etc) daily.
The message should be retrieved from some place other than the client device and I would like to configure the messages from back end
These messages should also change everyday.
How should the back end be and how can the android application retrieve the configured message ?
Do I need a server at the back end for the same or can avail some cloud services for the same ?
What is the best approach to do?
If you want to avoid having to set up and manage a server on the backend yourself you can take a look at a 'backend as a service' offering.
Two example candidates are:
https://parse.com
http://aws.amazon.com/lambda/
Both Parse and Amazon provide SDK's to allow you interact with the backend from your Android app.
You will likely want to study this a little to decide if you want this type of solution or to build your own server as Brian suggests - I think there are pros and cons to each approach and you'll have to choose which is best for your case.
Yes, you will need a server. You can start building the server software on the same machine as your Android emulator and create them in parallel. You'll need to choose a language and most likely a web server framework that suits your thought process and style.
If you want to use REST, for instance, google some for "best REST server framework". You will get hundreds of answers that don't mean much, but look at the communities that surround the frameworks that come back. Look at the user lists and how many questions about it exist on this site. That will give you a better idea of whether you can ask questions and get answers when they arise. You are making an investment by learning a framework, spend a little time deciding which one you are going to use, possibly by trying a few of them for a very simple site that returns the kind of data you are looking for.
Other than that, you really need to ask specific questions once you've chosen a language and a framework. Hope that helps.
I'm constantly trying new apps and my phone is getting cluttered with old apps, I no longer use. So, I thought I'd develop a simple app to help me out. There are similar apps, but none does exactly what I want:
I would like to have a list of apps which I've installed in the last month, which I've used X number of times (for easy access: They may be keepers!) as well as those I've not used in Y weeks.
Is there any way to get app usage statistics with Android? I guess ActivityManager might help me to gather that statistics, but is there a way to read just when an app has been used last? Or how many times in a given period?
Any tips will be most welcome :)
You can try out my app for uninstallation of the apps you don't need : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lb.app_manager .
Also, if you wish to find exact usage statistics of your apps, you can use my app this way: find "settings" (the app itself) inside the list (you can perform a search query), choose to make a shortcut of it, and then choose on the dialog "Usage Statistics". This way you can perform both the operations you wanted.
I also plan on adding this feature somehow in the future, but that's what you can do for now.
Here's a screenshot (it's the first on what I show here) :
I just got done writing an Android Activity that allows other Activities to call it for some result (it's not intended to be a stand-alone Activity). I'm now working on the equivalent iOS application and can't find any resources for how I would enable similar functionality on iOS.
The situation: The tool I'm producing is intended to be used by other applications, rather than as a standalone application. The thing is, the GUI that needs to be presented to the user is rather involved so I'd like to be able to provide the developer with a "all-in-one" package that they can simply launch and get results from. Doing this in Android was very straight forward. I simply wrote an Activity and instructed the developer to launch this Activity for result. I've looked around and can't find a similar functionality to allow an iOS developer to do the same. What would be the best way to go about doing this?
I think part of the problem I'm having in finding resources is that I'm not entirely sure what what I'm making is called. A library? extension? plug-in? I would think a library doesn't have a GUI and it seems extensions and plug-ins are made for an extensible application (that is, one in which the user can install the extension/plug-in).
Your API could be à single call that would pop up a modal view. A target and selector can be specified to receive an answer. Supplying it to other developers means packing it into a "framework". I'm not sure if you can include resources.
There isn't really any equivalent. The closest you can come is having the second application call UIApplication's openURL with a custom scheme that is listened to by your app, and then when your app is done it would do the same with a custom scheme that is listened to by the calling app.
In practice, the iOS app would usually include the entire activity-equivalent as some sort of library, which at the high level would take the form of a UIViewController subclass that is presented modally and then calls a delegate method or completion selector of some sort on completion.
iPhone development is a different design than Android development, so you may need to rethink what it is you are trying to do.
Most likely you will want to look at just including the code in each program, initially, just so you can get it testable, but that may not be the best solution.
But, without knowing more details about what you are trying to do it is hard to give some suggestions as to better solutions.
For example, you may find LocalNotifications as one solution (http://useyourloaf.com/blog/2010/7/31/adding-local-notifications-with-ios-4.html), but again, it depends on what your needs are.
I found that using local notifications to call a REST service, then to process it and decide if I need to inform the user was helpful, as a replacement for how I used Intents in the Android application.