Itoo X

Kumaraswamy B G,•App Inventor

Itoo X is a core framework behind the Itoo extension (opens in a new tab) that creates a virtual App Inventor environment for background execution.

This page explains discusses the usage of the Itoo Framework

Usage for developers

Add the latest Itoo X library (GitHub releases (opens in a new tab)) as compile time dependency if you decide to use it with the Itoo extension or as runtime dependency.

Example for simple usage of the framework:

  1. Add Framework.create() in your extension's constructor
public MyExtension(ComponentContainer container) throws Throwable {
  Framework.create();
  ...
}
  1. Calling your procedure from the background
String screenName = "Screen1"; // name of the screen
Framework.FrameworkResult result = Framework.get(this, screenName);
if (result.success()) {
  Framework framework = result.getFramework();
  Framework.CallResult call = framework.call("myBackgroundProcedure", /* optional arguments */0);
  // handle CallResult
} else {
  // something went wrong
  // result.getThrowable()
}
  1. After you are done, it's necessary to call framework.close()

Guidelines

  1. Do not use global variables while in the background environment
  2. Do not use any user-visible or UI components
  3. Use ItooPreferences in place of Tiny DB, Tiny DB relies on SharedPreferences which will not ensure data synchronization across background process.

TinyDB relies on SharedPreferences, this causes synchronization issues. That means when a value is updated from the App, it does not necessarily mean the changes will reflect in the background process. Example:

ItooPreferences preferences = new ItooPreferences(context, "my_namespace");
preferences.write("my_tag", "Hello, World!");
String myTag = (String) preferences.read("my_tag", "Default value");
  1. Make sure to call Framework.close() or flagEnd() to avoid problems.
  2. Do not ask for permissions in background, as a safe measure, framework blocks all such requests.

Advanced

The Itoo X framework offers much more APIs and functions.

1. Check if app is in Background

if (form instanceof InstanceForm.FormX) {
  // app is in background
}

2. Call a procedure from Itoo

When your extension is in environment created by Itoo, you can request it to call a procedure.

if (form instanceof InstanceForm.FormX) {
  InstanceForm.FormX formX = (InstanceForm.FormX) form;
  ItooCreator creator = formX.creator;
  creator.startProcedureInvoke("my_procedure", "Argument 1", "Argument 2"...);
}

While we are already in background, we must not use Framework class. Framework class tries to create another environment. ItooCreator is responsible for handling background execution while the Framework class just wraps it.

3. Querying

If your extension is in background, you can query for execution details like the Screen name, and original context Context

ItooCreator creator = formX.creator;
 
String screenName = creator.refScreen;
Context context = creator.context; // I'm not sure why would you want to do it

4. Listening to events

While you are in the background, you may want to listen to component's events, this is how you do it:

InstanceForm.FormX formX = (InstanceForm.FormX) form
formX.creator.listener = new InstanceForm.Listener() {
  @Override
  public void event(Component component, String componentName, String eventName, Object... args) {
    // maybe do some action :)
    // formX.creator.startProcedureInvoke(procedure, args);
  }
};

5. Closing Itoo Framework

Once you are done doing the background work, your extension should call ItooCreator.flagEnd()

ItooCreator creator = formX.creator;
creator.flagEnd();

flagEnd() stops all the background execution and destroys the components.

Thank you

690x258

© Kumaraswamy.