get iphone drawing into a browser - ios

i need to build a system where our customers can sign a contract on the ipad or galaxy-tab of our employees.
i am a ruby-on-rails webdeveloper so it would be easist thing for me to do it as an onlineapplication.
big big questions is:
my guy says, his ipad has such a great function with the pen, that he can write/sign things.
is it possible to grab this input with a browser? like im making a drawing-canvas, and when the submits the form, the ipad generates it as an image and send it to the server?
otherwise i need to build up a native app. my guy wants to keep his ipad, so i get in trouble while every app needs to be downloaded by the appstore - means i cant develop him a app and only he can get it. right?

ok,
build my own formtastic input
**canvas to image** – An input plugin to use a canvas for drawings (mostly autographs). the
drawing will be submitted to the server
Link to Gist: https://gist.github.com/4678219

Related

How to download a 3D model from a website and load content into ios app using Swift

Can someone explain the process involved to allows users of my app to visit a website using Safari to download 3D models and subsequently launch the app for the users to view the models. I am currently working with Scenekit to visualise 3D models that have been pre-loaded at build time, however I would like users to be able to access 3D files dynamically after they have uploaded them to my website. After some initial research, I believe Universal links may direct me in the right direction, however I cannot find a suitable source that supports downloading files using these links. An example of the desired functionality is below (screenshot taken from another app).
The user visits the website and downloads the 3D model.
After pressing the download button, an alert pops up and allows the user to launch the app. In doing so, the 3D model is downloaded into the app.
Thank you in advance.
You can use for it Universal Links, or Deeplink. iOS will detect this action and offer to you open in app. But remember, app MUST be installed on your device, otherwise it goes to AppStore to find your app.
So u can put into download URL your 3D model and send it by Universal Link.
Here is documentation from Apple how to use it.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/inter-process_communication/allowing_apps_and_websites_to_link_to_your_content

Make changes to app w/o update

I was wondering how it works to make changes to an app without re-uploading the binary and go through the whole process again. I have got an example for it:
The developer of Whatsapp made changes to his app twice already, just today for the second time. This "update" included the blue indicators which show wether the chat-partner read your message or not. The 1st time I noticed changes to the app without an update was when he introduced voice messages.
Does anyone have an idea how this works?
You can use Google Tag Manager to make simple tweaks to your app without having to update the entire app. Here is an overview of how it can work (I've used this on Android apps)
Suppose your app's interface is supplied in whole or in part from a server - i.e., it's really a web view showing HTML that you are serving. Then you can just change the code on the server.

iOS webview app incorporating barcode scanner

Hi I just started my adventure on IOS development and I am already stuck.
I have put together a simple webview app that is working just fine, its purpose is to load up a redeem page for certificate. I want to be able to pull the certificate information from the barcode into a text field on the page all inside the webview instead of someone having to type it in.
I have looked into multiple different threads and even a few items such as pic2go, zxing and others. However, I am still at a loss if something simple like this is possible.
Thanks for any help you can provide.

Clarification on Apple App Store Guidelines - Use of WebUIView

I'm new to mobile programming. Recently my company has looked into creating a specific application for tablets (Android and iOS). So it was assigned to me to develop a thin-client based around using HTML5 for what we need to do.
Essentially the application allows a user to fill in a custom-designed form (which the user can build themselves, or pull down a predefined template from our server). This form is built using HTML5, Javascript, JQuery, etc. Some additional functionality is planned, such as being able to take a picture using the native device and attach it to the form that we send back to our server for storage (once we figure out how to do it in iOS. We've already done it in Android.)
However, I noticed the following on Apple's App Store Guidelines, under the Functionality section. Item 2.12:
Apps that are not very useful, unique, are simply web sites bundled as Apps, or do not provide any lasting entertainment value may be rejected
Can someone explain, or at least direct me to clarification of this when using the UIWebView construct? This application at its core is pretty much just HTML5. While it might have some additional bells and whistles, does this mean that if we try to submit this (when its completed) to Apple, that they will simply reject it out of hand? Implementing the majority of it in HTML5 was done purposely so we wouldn't have to re-code everything from device to device (and we will also embed it in one of our products, so if they want to fill it out on the desktop while in our system, they can.)
Any guidance would be appreciated, or even suggestions of where this question should be asked if SO is not the proper forum for it. Thanks again.
The key in the Appstore guideline is the word "simply":
Apps that are not very useful, unique, are simply web sites bundled as
Apps
If you keep a balance between locally stored and remote HTML content for your webviews Apple would not look at the app as a hollow shell pulling in remote content.

How does the Facebook app for iPhone work?

I will soon be writing a native iPhone app for my web site. The web site is already mobile optimised so could potentially just sit in a UIWebView. How does the Facebook app work? Does it do something similar?
If I did use a UIWebView then how would I store user credentials so they don't have to log in every time and how would they upload photos? These are my two main requirements.
The facebook app is going to be a native app. It is different from the mobile website.
There are two things you can do here. If you're going to make your native app just a UIWebView then don't bother! You can have an apple icon embedded in your website which will show if a user bookmarks your website on their home screen. To use this use the <link rel="apple-itouch-icon" href="/apple-touch-icon.png" /> code to do it.
The second is make a fully native app. I know the benefits of a UIWebView app, but the negatives are plain to see. UIWebView apps are tacky, nonfunctional and terrible to use. A mobile website is not an app (unless done very well). You will have links to click, pinch and zoom, awful bounce effects on the web view, links that may possibly allow users to navigate away from your mobile website but within your app. Again, unless done cleverly, you will have to provide browser controls on your app which will make it look like a tacky web browser.
My suggestion would be either stick with your website, optimise it for touch based input, make it a really good mobile website, or create a fully functional native application. Remember not all websites need to have an app to go with it. If your app isn't necessary then its merely counter productive to make an app for it. I don't know about anyone else, but I spend more time in my web browser than I do in apps.
With regards to uploading and auth then a) auth should be done already in your website. A UIWebView is just an instance of safari working within your app, so it will be able to get and store cookies and all sorts. I believe these degrade at the end of the app session, however its easy to pass to the objective c and store in an stored preference. b) uploads not going to work even if you put your site in a web view. You will have to (at some point) hand off to an upload screen in your app which is running natively.
I would suggest that you start off with a simple native app. Let the users log in, upload stuff and do other basic stuff - whatever they can't currently do on your mobile website. Then move on to other things as people ask for them, or as you have the time to make them. You don't have to launch your app with a fully functioning version of you website (in fact this would be silly because the only thing they cannot do on your mobile website on their phone is upload stuff). I'm sure people will request features as your product evolves.
I would take a look at PhoneGap, you can get access to native device features through javascript http://phonegap.com/

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