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[Solved] Can we create a background service?

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TonyG asked on 04 Dec 2014, 05:29 PM

I'm a long-time Telerik user, just getting started with the Platform. It looks like questions about background processes, services, etc go back to Icenium. But I don't see anything recent on the topic.

What's the latest on this? Is there an example of a project created with AppBuilder which continues to run in the background on a device after another application has taken the foreground? An example would be a chat app that continues to poll for new inbound messages, updating the Notification area when a message is available. Or an app to log the changing GPS location while another app is running.

Would such a solution be cross-platform, or do we need three code sets to support Android, iOS, and WindowsPhone?

Would this require NativeScript?

Thanks.

10 Answers, 1 is accepted

answered on 09 Dec 2014, 01:42 PM

Hi TonyG,

Thank you for bringing the issue.

Unfortunately, at this stage we do not have such examples. Nevertheless, this is something that we will definitely consider for the near future.

What I can suggest you, is to check this forum thread, where a working sample about integrating the BackgroundGeoLocation plugin is provided. As for developing a background service as a whole, I believe there is no plugin that unites the approaches for all the platforms (iOS, Android and WP). Still, you can look at this article about Background Fetch in order to implement this on iOS. For Android, I would suggest this stackoverflow thread, where most of the possible plugins are listed.

With the above said, I believe the answer to you second question depends a lot on the requirements of the background service. In other words, the solution can be cross-platform, sharing one code base for basic, or already developed scenarios (like the GeoLocation). Still for more complicated background tasks you may need different code sets.

Finally, this won't require NativeScript, as you should be able to achieve the functionality in hybrid application with the help of custom plugins that utilize the needed native parts.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Kaloyan
Telerik

Visit the Telerik Verified Plugins Marketplace and get the custom Cordova plugin you need, already tweaked to work seamlessly with AppBuilder.

answered on 06 Jun 2016, 06:51 PM

While checking background services in general I stumbled into this thread. This post was started in 2014 then I saw the sentence "Nevertheless, this is something that we will definitely consider for the near future." from Kaloyan. Did something happen in between? I also checked Teleriks base for background services but couldn't find all I need:

- Getting GPS coordinates in background
- Using a third party service for pub/sub (sending/receiving messages) in backgroun

Is there already a "universal" solution (NativeJS, Cordova Plugin) that could meet these requirements? I need it for an App built with Javascript.

Regards

answered on 09 Jun 2016, 03:27 PM

Hi Tayger,

I think that you can benefit from the latest and most stable implementation of the Cordova Background GeoLocation plugin. It is capable of executing a callback function on iOS and WP devices in order to send data to the server. As for Android, the data is synced automatically.

About receiving messages on the device while the app is in the background, you can use Push Notifications, as explained here. This will also allow you to execute certain login in the background after such notification is received on the device.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Kaloyan
Telerik

Visit the Telerik Verified Plugins Marketplace and get the custom Cordova plugin you need, already tweaked to work seamlessly with AppBuilder.