How to launch a BREW application in background? - brew-framework

I know the Brew application have 3 types: active, suspend & background. Launch one BREW application as active or suspend is very simple. I know in BREW2.0 and later version, there is a new application type can allow we create one application in the background. It will not stay in the application stack and change status by active or resume command. It will always stay in the background no matter what user command system received. In one of my small project, I need to create and launch one background application like this.
Unfortunately, I cannot find a simple example on Qualcomm or Google. Is there any programmer who has encountered the same problem?

Yes, you are right. BREW2.0+ do support background application.
When we initial a background application, just like other normal new application, it can be launched by the brew application interface directly. You also can launch it by ISHELL_StartApplet function.
When you want to put one brew application in the background, you need do it when handle EVT_APP_STOP event and must set dwParam to false. After handling EVT_APP_STOP by this, the application will be put in the background. And if you want to change it to normal application, you need call ishell_StartApplet function to active to itself again.
Example code:
typedef struct _bgApp
{
AEEApplet a;
boolean m_bGoBg;
} bgApp;
switch (eCode)
{
case EVT_APP_START:
if(pMe->m_bGoBg)
ISHELL_CloseApplet(pMe->a.m_pIShell, FALSE);
case EVT_APP_STOP:
if(pMe->m_bGoBg)
*((boolean*) dwParam) = FALSE;
return TRUE;
case EVT_USER:
if(pMe->m_bGoBg)
{
pMe->m_bGoBg = FALSE;
// make applet active
ISHELL_StartApplet(pMe->a.m_pIShell, AEECLSID_BGAPP); }
else
{
pMe->m_bGoBg = TRUE;
// trigger EVT_APP_STOP to send app to background
ISHELL_CloseApplet(pMe->a.m_pIShell, FALSE);
}
return TRUE;
}
There is a limitation of background application. You cannot change the screen or communicate with user directly. Developer should be careful on the memory used by the background application. This is very important.

Related

Android Beacon Library - didEnterRegion not firing when app in background or stopped for pre-Android 8

First some background:
My setup uses a Service, which implements BeaconConsumer and binds to the BeaconManager. I have additional handling so when my app leaves the foreground, I move my Service to run in foreground, and when my app enters the foreground, I move my Service to run in background. That way, the persistent notification should display if and only if the app isn't displaying. In accordance, I am using the pattern here to tell BeaconManager I'm running this Service in the foreground, to allow for more frequent scanning. The link above isn't quite clear about this, but I believe this pattern should work without alterations needed on both pre-Android 8 as well as Android 8+. It shouldn't be strictly necessary on pre-Android 8, since the OS is more lenient. However, using this setup across all versions has the collateral benefit of ensuring that the OS does not kill the Service. If the app is in the foreground, the Service is background but has priority by virtue of the app, and if the app is not in the foreground, the Service is, and therefore has priority.
Now the problem: On pre-Android 8 devices, my Service is not seeing didEnterRegion called when the app is not in the foreground (but the Service is). It works fine on Android 8+.
some code snippets:
In my Service, set up the BeaconManager, set scan intervals
_beaconManager = BeaconManager.getInstanceForApplication(this);
_beaconManager.getBeaconParsers().add(new BeaconParser().
setBeaconLayout(IBEACON_PATTERN_1));
_beaconManager.setEnableScheduledScanJobs(false);
_beaconManager.setBackgroundBetweenScanPeriod(0);
_beaconManager.setBackgroundScanPeriod(1100);
Function in my Service I invoke to send the service to the foreground, and background:
private void sendServiceToForeground() {
this.startForeground(NOTIFICATION_ID, _notification);
if (_beaconManager != null) {
if (_beaconManager.isBound(this)) {
_beaconManager.unbind(this);
}
_beaconManager.enableForegroundServiceScanning(_notification, NOTIFICATION_ID);
_beaconManager.bind(this);
}
}
private void sendServiceToBackground() {
if (_beaconManager != null) {
if (_beaconManager.isBound(this)) {
_beaconManager.unbind(this);
}
_beaconManager.disableForegroundServiceScanning();
_beaconManager.bind(this);
}
this.stopForeground(true);
}
I can provide more code as requested. Not sure what all is relevant.
Calls to unbind() and bind() are asynchronous, so calling them one after another will be a problem unless you first wait for the unbind() operation to complete. This is tricky, because the library's BeaconManager does not provide a callback to tell you when unbind is complete (indeed, this is because the underlying Android service APIs also do not provide such a callback. You essentially don't know when the library's scanning service has stopped so you can safely restart it again in a different mode.)
It's a bit of a hack, but you might try adding a delay between unbind() and bind() to see if that makes a difference.

Implement service on Firefox OS

I'm quite new to Firefox OS. At the moment I'm struggling with implementing some kind of service that listens for geolocation updates in the background.
If there are lots of apps running at the same time mine seems to be killed. While debugging with App Manager it disconnects silently.
I tried requestWakeLock('cpu') and the use of a Worker (as proposed in this thread) but without success.
Background services API isn't implemented, yet and will be available for certified apps only.
I know that there are non-certified apps like ConnectA2 that stay alive all the time so there has to be a way.
Could anybody give me a hint?
Firefox OS doesn't provide a way for you to run a service in the background intentionally, since the classes of the devices that we target (for example, the 128MB device) won't be able to support running apps constantly in the background.
There are alternate ways of implementing these kinds of services though. For example you can use the mozAlarm API in order to wake up your application at specific intervals, or you can use the SimplePush API which allows you to notify your app when a remote server initiates an event.
You can use Alarm API to prevent your app to be killed in the background.
Alarms wakes up the app at fixed intervals.
var alarmId = 0;
function setAlarm() {
function onAlarmAdded() {
alarmId = request.result;
}
var alarmDate = new Date(Date.now() + (60 * 1000)); // 60 seconds later
var request = navigator.mozAlarms.add(alarmDate, "ignoreTimezone");
request.onsuccess = onAlarmAdded;
}
function setHandler() {
function onAlarm(mozAlarm) {
// set next alarm
setAlarm();
}
navigator.mozSetMessageHandler("alarm", onAlarm);
}
function startAlarm() {
setHandler();
setAlarm();
}
function stopAlarm() {
navigator.mozAlarms.remove(alarmId);
}

Communicating over XPC with an app and launch daemon running as root

Is it possible to communicate with a launch daemon running as root and an application over XPC? When my daemon is running as my user I can communicate with it fine, when run as root it stops receiving my messages. Is this intended security inside Mac OS X?
I need to use low level xpc (for running on Lion as well). I know I can create a priviliged and signed helper tool that is running as root for my app. Will I be able to communicate with it with another process as well over XPC or sockets?
Thanks!
Small extract from my daemon code:
int main()
{
Logger::Start(Poco::Path::expand("/Users/Shared/Me/Service.log"));
Logger::LogInfo("Starting xpc_main...");
void* observer = nullptr;
CFStringRef observedObject = CFSTR("com.me.service.close");
CFNotificationCenterRef center = CFNotificationCenterGetDistributedCenter();
CFNotificationCenterAddObserver(center, observer, notificationCallback, CFSTR("ClientClosing"), observedObject, CFNotificationSuspensionBehaviorDeliverImmediately);
xpc_connection_t listener = xpc_connection_create_mach_service("com.me.service", NULL, XPC_CONNECTION_MACH_SERVICE_LISTENER);
xpc_connection_set_event_handler(listener, ^(xpc_object_t event)
{
// New connections arrive here. You may safely cast to
// xpc_connection_t. You will never receive messages here.
// The semantics of this handler are similar to those of
// of the one given to xpc_main().
Logger::LogInfo("Event Handler on listener is called");
eventHandler((xpc_connection_t)event);
});
Logger::LogInfo("call xpc_connection_resume...");
xpc_connection_resume(listener);
CFRunLoopRun();
Logger::LogInfo("Main Program is Exiting...");
return 0;
}
The problem is that CFNotificationCenterGetDistributedCenter works only on the same user, root user will not send message to other logged in users..
You'll need to switch to CFNotificationCenterGetDarwinNotifyCenter.
Please note however, that you can't pass any data using this center.

How can I test the background scan and launch the application in background with iBeacon-Android?

I am using the pro library.
But I just found doc for free library
I cannot find any doc for pro version.
Also, I don't know how to implement the background mode even using the pro sample.
Here are the steps:
Build the pro sample project
start the iBeacon source(using iPad) and it can be detected
start the application and then press home button the make it in
background
Turn off the iBeacon source
Turn on the iBeacon source
However, more than 5 minutes, the application does not launch
So, can anyone verify the step I did?
How can I test the background mode more easily?
Also, for the BootstrapNotifier, is it just work only first time when the device reboot?
After that, even I put application in background, the application will not launch when it detect iBeacon?
Your testing method sounds fine. I think the issue is that the reference app for the pro library only auto launches the app on the first detection after boot. After that, it sends a notification instead, and tapping on that notification launches the app.
This is purely for demonstration purposes. You can change it to auto launch on every detection if you wish. Simply alter the haveDetectedIBeaconsSinceBoot logic in this code:
#Override
public void didEnterRegion(Region arg0) {
// In this example, this class sends a notification to the user whenever an iBeacon
// matching a Region (defined above) are first seen.
Log.d(TAG, "did enter region.");
if (!haveDetectedIBeaconsSinceBoot) {
Log.d(TAG, "auto launching MainActivity");
// The very first time since boot that we detect an iBeacon, we launch the
// MainActivity
Intent intent = new Intent(this, MainActivity.class);
intent.setFlags(Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK);
// Important: make sure to add android:launchMode="singleInstance" in the manifest
// to keep multiple copies of this activity from getting created if the user has
// already manually launched the app.
this.startActivity(intent);
haveDetectedIBeaconsSinceBoot = true;
} else {
// If we have already seen iBeacons and launched the MainActivity before, we simply
// send a notification to the user on subsequent detections.
Log.d(TAG, "Sending notification.");
sendNotification();
}
}
The javadoc link was missing from the main documentation page when you posted this question. That is fixed now.

Running EXE application in GINA beofe login screen (Command line)

I have created a Credential Launcher for Windows 7 and was able to run Windows application after the Tile button click event, it was very easy.
I added a few registry settings and *pbAutoLogon = FALSE;.
However now i am now trying to do the same for Windows XP.
Which function I should target or how to achieve the same results ?
I see you tagged your question with "Gina", so I guess you know that Credential Providers do not exist on XP.
Your answer depends on when exactly you want to run that program, especially with regards to the secure attention sequence (SAS, or when a user press CTRL-ALT-Delete)
Before the SAS, use WlxDisplaySASNotice
After the SAS, use WlxLoggedOutSAS
Since you don't want to write a whole GINA yourself, you could use a custom Gina that wraps msgina.dll. Here is one I wrote, you can find the original I started from in the Platform SDK.
Using that approch, you get a chance to execute code just before or just after certain events, like running your program after a successful logon, something like :
int WINAPI WlxLoggedOutSAS(PVOID pWlxContext, DWORD dwSasType, PLUID pAuthenticationId, PSID pLogonSid, PDWORD pdwOptions, PHANDLE phToken, PWLX_MPR_NOTIFY_INFO pMprNotifyInfo, PVOID * pProfile)
{
int result;
result = pfWlxLoggedOutSAS(pWlxContext, dwSasType, pAuthenticationId, pLogonSid, pdwOptions, phToken, pMprNotifyInfo, pProfile);
if (result == WLX_SAS_ACTION_LOGON)
{
//We have a successful logon, let's run our code
run_my_custom_code();
}
return result;
}
There are some caveats, though :
The code cannot block. Winlogon will wait, but your users might not. Spanw a process and let it run.
Your program will be running with SYSTEM privileges, which is a security risk. Sandboxing your process could be hard. If you can't break out of it, don't assume nobody can...

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