Background fetch on Xamarin.forms - c#

I have been looking around, but I don't see any topics related to background fetch in Xamarin.forms. I have an Xamarin.forms.iOS solution that can update data by just dragging the view down.
How should I go about setting up a background fetch on xamarin.forms (is there such a thing?) or do I have to create a custom renderer for the iOS application?
My main goal is to have the application check for new data every minute or so while using as little resources as possible. I am using azure in case there is some work around to doing this.

If you want to use iOS Background Fetch you will have to implement the fetch code in the iOS project as you normally would.
http://developer.xamarin.com/guides/ios/application_fundamentals/backgrounding/part_3_ios_backgrounding_techniques/updating_an_application_in_the_background/#Background_Fetch_iOS_7

Related

Xamarin iOS backgrounding app termination

I’m currently developing a timer app for android and iOS. I really care more about iOS for the time being, and even after following Xamarin’s documentation on backgrounding, using messaging center calls to the appDelegate.cs class and then launching a background task with the platform specific code, I’m still having my app terminated.
Is there any way to put an iOS app as a foreground service, like on android. Or is a background service still the way to go? I am trying to allow the user to set a timer up to 23 hours in advance and show count down.
To those interested, another strategy I found was just setting a notification to go off, regardless of if the app is running or not. Then, you can just handle persistence instead of trying to make the app keep running!
Good luck to everyone!

Identifying this control for Xamarin.Forms?

This is the first Xamarin.Forms app I try to create, so please bear with me.
I'm learning about Xamarin.Forms, and I'm creating my first app (with a map) that will run in the android emulator. I've already added the map, so life is good.
I also understand that, unlike asp.net webforms or Windows forms, I cannot drag & drop controls to the form. I also don't know what the available controls for each platform look like.
With that said, I would like to add the following control to my app. I have no idea how it's called, but it's sort of a panel on the bottom half of the screen. This panel will include a list (much like a gridview).
I saw this Xamarin page with a list of standard controls, but I don't know how to identify them. Even worse, I don't know what to search for in the web.
I would like to know where I can find information on adding that control to a form and populating it with data (like an asp.net gridview)
Something like that is usually rendered using an ActionSheet
Unfortunately there isn't such a control. On iOS it is done by partially covering the screen while presenting the TableViewController. You can't do something like that on Xamarin.Forms. You can do that only on native projects.
There might be some plugins that may do some of that work for you but I don't think any of them fits your request, but you can try how far you can get with this one: https://github.com/rotorgames/Rg.Plugins.Popup
Please note that Xamarin.Forms don't cover all native controls and especially not all properties of those controls. And while you may extend their reach in various ways if you are after copying everything you see in some app it is better to think of some other technology.
Also of note, Android doesn't support everything that iOS supports, so if you see something on iOS screen (like above) it may not be supported on Android, no matter what technology you use you will have to build a very custom solution, which probably isn't part of your first app.

Is BackgroundExecutionManager.RequestAccessAsync required to update Live Tiles on the background?

I find different instructions, for making Live Tile of Windows 8.1 app update in the background using IBackgroundTask. Others include this row
await BackgroundExecutionManager.RequestAccessAsync();
others not.
Question is, is it required for the background updating of Live Tile to work? I do NOT need lock screen access in my app, just updating Live Tile.
If you want to run a lock-screen capable background task then you need to call the RequestAccessAsync(). Here are your options:
You can create a background task that updates the live tile doesn't need lock-screen access. If you want it to run periodically regardless of whether it is plugged in, you need to RequestAccessAsync(). Here is a good article on when you should use the MaintinanceTrigger and the TimerTrigger.
You can update the live tile from your app directly.
You can create a periodic tile update using TileUpdater.StartPeriodicUpdate
In Windows 8.1, you can update the app's live tile using the TileUpdate element in the manifest (look at the Tile Update section on the Manifest Editor Application page.)
You can use push notification to update the live tile.

Auto-start or any code execution on installation of windows store app?

My very simple Windows Store App (c#) only shows some data on it's tile. To initialize it, at the moment, the app has to be started by the user which is impractical.
Is there a possibility to auto-start the app or to execute any code on installation?
AFAIK there's no way to execute any code without actually starting the app. This means that the user will need to start the app to initialize the tile and its data. You have multiple options for setting up your data then:
You can create a fixed tile directly from the app.
You can register the trigger and refresh the tile from there.
You can setup push notifications for refreshing the tile.
Considering this I suggest you try to make the best out of your app that needs to be run. For example you could show a preview of the tile and add some options for configuring it if that makes sense in you case.

Metro UI - create live tiles inside a page

Is there a way of creating live tiles in a page of Metro App? I want to simulate the tiles of the application inside a page. The tiles can flip to show more data, probably images too.
Edit: Ok, I am already aware that there is nothing done by default. Has anyone done this by himself trying to emulate the actual tiles?
Check out the Windows Animation library - it might simplify your task:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd371981(v=vs.85).aspx

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