How to send and receive data in Today extensions - ios

Question

I want to develop an app for iOS that have a Widget for notification center, but I don't know how I should send and receive data (pass data) between View Controller and And Today Extension.
I tried to use structs, but it doesn't work, and also I used app groups but I don't want to use this method.
let shared = NSUserDefaults(suiteName: "group.Demo.Share-Extension-Demo.mahdi")
shared?.setObject("Hello", forKey: "kkk")

Answer 1

Apart from NSUserDefaults, you can use the NSNotificationCenter to send or receive data anywhere.
You need to set the observer where you can receive the data like below:
override func viewDidLoad() {
super.viewDidLoad()
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserver(self, selector: "dataReceived:", name: "SpecialKey", object: nil)
}
Funciton to catch data:
func dataReceived(notification: NSNotification) {
//deal with notification.userInfo
println(notification.userInfo)
println("Received Data")
}
And you need to define NSNotificationCenter from where you need to send the data:
NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().postNotificationName("SpecialKey", object: nil, userInfo: ["MyData": "Demo"])
References:
The complete guide to NSNotificationCenter
Hope it helps!
http://moreindirection.blogspot.in/2014/08/nsnotificationcenter-swift-and-blocks.html

Answer 2

For the people who haven't found a way to implement calling function or button click from App Extension (Widget):
Note: This is using Swift
Note 2: Replace the names of NSNotification and methods with your implementations
First, create NotificationCenter post method (In Swift 2.0 - NSNotification Center)
Create methods in App Delegate class -
var scheme: String!
var host: String!
Then, add the following function on the bottom of the class (after the last one):
func application(_ app: UIApplication, open url: URL, sourceApplication: String?, annotation: Any) -> Bool {
scheme = url.scheme
host = url.host
NotificationCenter.default.post(name: NSNotification.Name(rawValue: "NOTIFICATION_NAME"), object: nil)
return true
}
In your ViewController class, where you want to execute the function or the statement from clicking Widget, add the following in super.viewDidLoad():
NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self,selector: #selector(self.YOUR_METHOD_NAME),
name: NSNotification.Name(rawValue: "NOTIFICATION_NAME"),
object: nil)
And the method you want to call:
func YOUR_METHOD_NAME(notification: NSNotification) {
let appDelegate =
UIApplication.shared.delegate as! AppDelegate
if appDelegate.scheme != nil {
startRecording()
}
}
I'm assuming that you have already created your widget target, and the view for it. Add this to your button in TodayViewController from which you want to handle the click:
#IBAction func openApp(_ sender: UIButton) {
openApp()
}
And the function to handle opening app by URl Scheme:
func openApp(){
let myAppUrl = NSURL(string: "YOUR_URL_SCHEME://YOUR_HOST_NAME")!
extensionContext?.open(myAppUrl as URL, completionHandler: { (success) in
if (!success) {
self.textView.text = "There was a problem opening app!"
}
})
}
For YOUR_URL_SCHEME, add your scheme that you have specified in Info.plist, if your don't, go to this link and follow instructions:
Add URL Scheme to Xcode
For YOUR_HOST_NAME, you can remove this, and only open app by URL Scheme.
Happy coding!