About notifications...

[Alphacodex]

Notification were a always and heavily used feature for me on palm.
No on the iPhone things are a bit different, some great, some not so great.

One of the suboptimal features on the iPhone are the apps possibilities to bring onscreen notifications, if the "sending" app is not running. Actually it doesn't work at all in the moment for third party apps. It does work with the built in ClockApp - you can set alarms there and they will pop-up even when the clock-app is not running.

iambic should think about workarounds. One workaround would be to use Google SMS notification service. Incoming SMS are shown as a popup whatever app is running or not running (even if the iPhone is in sleep mode). And (at least in germany) this service is free of charge.
In the moment it looks like that this is the only way to get a notification on screen out of a third party app that is not running...

What do you think?
Greetz
Codex

[Allibama]

As you know, background notifications are impossible given Apple's closed system. If Iambic does go with syncing to Google (which seems a very real possibility given Adriano's latest comments), then Google SMS notifications are a no-brainer and wil be up to each individual.

I have never used Google's sms for calendar notifications as SMS is often unreliable. It is a shame Apple has kept this necessary feature from us.

[pdradley]

Background notifications are, as I understand it, now possible in 3.0, though they are not as yet fully implemented.

[Allibama]

No. Push notifications are now enabled, but those are quite different than background notifications.

[pdradley]

I believe you are mistaken, as notifications are now implemented. "Push" and "background" mean the same thing. Just Google "background notifications" and you will see that Apple has now provided for "push background notifications". Alphacodex is talking about getting notifications when an app is not running, and this is now possible, though only for the moment sporadically implemented. FYI, I am already getting such notifications from the AP News app.

[Allibama]

Push comes from the server, like push email. When it arrives at your device, it continues to push the notification to you. Background has to originate from your device, not an outside server - and Apple has not yet opened that up. That is a shame, because that would make all those nice little alarm clock apps work.

[pdradley]

They are in fact both background notifications, but the source is different, and for the moment Apple has implemented only push.

[Alphacodex]

Instant Messenger 3.0+ (IM3.0+) has implemented some form of push notification in their recent OS3.0 update. How do they do it?

Greetz
Codex

[Allibama]

They do it through a system of servers because the "notifications" are push and coming from an outside source - just like email.

Apple has not made background notifications available. Push and background notifications are not the same thing.

[Sulley]

In order for AGiPH to have notifications of any sort, iambic would have to set up a server, which contained items that needed to be sent at certain times, like when you had an appointment coming up in 30 minutes. But, then, before that your copy of AGiPH would have to send this information to the iambic server. It gets to be a really tricky mess when the data that causes the need for a notification is on the iPhone that needs to be notified (so, it needs to be sent to a server somewhere and then sent back at the right time).

Instant Messaging is a simple example. They send out push notifications constantly and now they can on the iPhone (AOL, IM+, etc.). That's what a IM is, essentially, a push notification of a message. But, what makes it simpler, is that it is coming from a third party (the message sender). It then goes through AOL's (for example) AIM server and then onto wherever (and however) your account tells it to send messages to. They have a dedicated server farm (plural, in AOL's case, of course) that takes these incoming messages and pushes them out. It's what the purpose of a Microsoft Exchange Server is. It takes requests (e-mails, meeting requests, etc.) in and pushes them out to whatever users it is supposed to.

The framework that allows for a push notification to happen IS a background process. But, that doesn't mean that the notifications happen in the background. The notifications come from an outside server, like AOL's AIM servers, and end up on your iPhone. Apple has a little process running all the time (provided you have notifcations turned-on in the settings and apps that use them) that checks for notifications being sent to your iPhone.

It's going to be a tall order to have push notifications in AGiPH. If Apple ever establishes some kind of background messaging system that AGiPH could just put a little note in to tell you about your appointment at a certain time, it would be easy. But, there's no framework for that. Apple's clock, and it's alarms, are an exception, but they built in the ability for just that app to have that feature. That's a background notification. It keeps a small footprint version of the Clock app running (and you see the little clock at the top) so that the alarm can go off (or whatever). No apps, except built-in Apple ones, have this ability. Apple is afraid that if they let people run stuff in the background, it will slow the iPhone to a crawl or stop. It might change as the processors get faster, as with the 3GS, but they want the phone (and it's OS) to be stable and clean (and sometimes it doesn't work, but they do fix it eventually). What's easy for a developer is not their first thought.

Sorry, the programmer in me got out...:eek:!

[Alphacodex]

Hmmm... in this case I see two immediate options for notifications (with my thoughts):

- iambic sets up a notification server to send notification via the push service
> a quite costly and "dangerous" (in terms of being on shedule) solution

- use SMS notification feature of GoogleCalendar.
> works great for me for the moment and does the trick. However we will be dependant on Google and we can never be absolutly sure that the message arrives on shedule. Might still be the best solution for the moment

Longterm solution
- use the built in calendar of the iPhone as soon as apple allows access
> would be the best solution. The built in calendar features real background notifcations, does not depend on any online service and should therefore be quite reliable.

My 5c, greetz
Codex

[pdradley]

Just an FYI: Pocket Informant is promising push notifications for its next version (due out in July).

[adriano]

n order for AGiPH to have notifications of any sort, iambic would have to set up a server, which contained items that needed to be sent at certain times, like when you had an appointment coming up in 30 minutes.

yes, and there really is no other options. We'll have to go this route even to do things such as bringing up alarms on tasks.

- Adriano

[Sulley]

Just an FYI: Pocket Informant is promising push notifications for its next version (due out in July).

Now, to be honest, I hadn't seen this product before. I just took a look at it...and to be honest, it's a long ways ahead of even where Agendus wants to be. They already have calendar syncing available to Google, along with a large number of other features, including Wi-Fi syncing directly to Outlook. It's only on v1.03 and it looks like a scary monster.

They have a lite version available and I will take a look at it.

This just raises my concern about some kind of timetable for when we're going to see a version of AGiPH that can replace AGP, even by just including all of the basic functions. iambic is getting screwed right now by the slow releases of apps into the App Store (and I know there's a v1.02 ready to submit, with v1.3 including Google syncing on its heels).

Can somebody who has used Pocket Informant already give me some feedback, even if you feel you should do it via e-mail, since it's promoting a competitors product, I'd appreciate it. I am just concerned that we're going to be waiting a year to get a product that is viable on the iPhone from iambic (nothing against the Adriano & Michael), but Apple's release timing is not helping things. The "perfect" AGiPH could be ready to be released today, but it could be months at this point just to get it posted to the App Store. I am starting to wonder if Apple's slow approval process is going to be iambic's downfall. Did iambic ever do something against Apple to torque them off, so to speak? (headbang)

I just read that they were going to be implementing push notification with the next release coming soon. The reviews are very solid (3 1/2 - 4+ stars) and the attached comments really do sing some valid praises. I'd hate to bail ship, but giving a lite version to try thing out was a very smart way to go. I'm hoping that iambic can come through in the end, but I'm worried about that right now. I'm downloading the Lite version of PI right now and am going to take a look...

Don't let me down, Agendus! :up::up::up: