Apps by Arlomedia

BandHelper => Repertoire Help => Topic started by: tonygardner on December 12, 2015, 10:53:46 AM

Title: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: tonygardner on December 12, 2015, 10:53:46 AM
On the Settings menu, there is an Apps option. I tried finding a tutorial which explains this, but couldn't find one. My first guess is that BH has the capability to either launch other apps on my device, or somehow interface with them. My primary objective would be to launch a BIG countdown timer so everyone can see when the show's going to start. The same timer could could be for instrumental "jams" that we want to keep a leash on time-wise.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: arlo on December 12, 2015, 02:51:03 PM
Check out the item "If you want to quickly jump between apps on your device..." in the last section of this page:

http://www.bandhelper.com/tutorials/performing.html
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: tonygardner on December 15, 2015, 03:06:44 PM
Thanks Arlo. That actually got me off to a great start! I visited www.handleopenurl.com (http://www.handleopenurl.com) and searched for all my apps, but none showed up, so I bought one that I thought would be cool (Timer) and was able to successfully get BH to launch it. The only thing left is to find out if BH has a URL that I can use with the "x-success" parameter. For more info on what I'm seeing, go to http://handleopenurl.com?id=889 (http://handleopenurl.com?id=889).

I'll certainly reach out to the other app developers and see if they want to join the party.  8)

Cheers, Tony.
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: arlo on December 15, 2015, 06:06:49 PM
You can switch back to BandHelper using this URL:

bandhelper://
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: tonygardner on December 16, 2015, 08:22:37 AM
Hmm... When I specify a scheme of:
timer://?show=1&start=1&x-success=bandhelper://

it launches Timer for a second (should be four minutes), then returns to BH with the following error:

Replace File?
A file named '/' already exists in the BandHelper app.
Would you like to replace it with the selected file?
Cancel / Replace

Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

My desire isn't necessarily for it to return to BH after the timer finishes (although that would be fine too), but just to see the Back to BandHelper link at the top left of the Timer app.

Thanks Again,
Tony G.

P.S. Ultimate Two Hour Gig using all known features of BandHelper is tomorrow at noon. Wish me luck!  8)
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: arlo on December 16, 2015, 08:29:33 AM
Do you mean you're putting that URL into the Scheme field of the app edit page in BandHelper? BandHelper is just expecting a scheme (in this case, timer), not a whole URL. As an unintended and unsupported feature, you could leave off the final :// and then it might work like you want it to.

Quote
My desire isn't necessarily for it to return to BH after the timer finishes (although that would be fine too), but just to see the Back to BandHelper link at the top left of the Timer app.

That should happen automatically in iOS 9.
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: arlo on January 15, 2016, 11:32:44 AM
I just tweaked this functionality for the next update so that if you enter a complete URL, BandHelper will use it as is without adding :// at the end.

The :// is still added if you enter just an app URL scheme, which is still the primary purpose of this function. But it should also now support complete URLs as well.
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: Arnie on January 17, 2017, 02:11:25 PM
I'm using BandHelper together with JamUp Pro (also sending MIDI commands etc.)

Interesting enough when I start JamUp Pro from the BandHelper App feature the suggested "k. To return to BandHelper after jumping to a different app, you can use the "Back to BandHelper" button that appears in the top left corner on iOS 9 and above, or you can use whatever quick-switch features are built into the other app." doesn't work as the back to BandHelper button doesn't appear.
What could be the reason for that?
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: arlo on January 17, 2017, 02:26:05 PM
Can you post a screen shot showing the problem?
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: Arnie on January 24, 2017, 03:34:19 PM
See attached three screenshots
1) my settings in BandHelper
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: Arnie on January 24, 2017, 03:37:24 PM
2) the JamUp Screen for about one second after starting the App from within BandHelper
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: Arnie on January 24, 2017, 03:41:07 PM

3) the JamUp Screen when having completely started up. No back button to BandHelper
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: arlo on January 24, 2017, 08:45:14 PM
If you navigate back to BandHelper manually after that point, is the BandHelper interface where you left it, or does it reset to the main menu?
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: Arnie on January 25, 2017, 04:59:20 AM
Navigating back to BandHelper I see the very same screen in the BandHelper interface as before (see the screen shot in my post before named 1) my settings in BandHelper)
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: arlo on January 25, 2017, 09:17:05 AM
All right, I think the problem is that some apps like JamUp enable audio input functionality when they launch; that turns the iOS status bar to red when you leave the app, and also resets the "back to previous app" button in the status bar. I see the same behavior when switching to GarageBand. Unfortunately, I don't think I or the JamUp developers can do anything about that. But I've filed a bug report with Apple to see if they can fix it in a future iOS update.
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: Arnie on January 25, 2017, 09:38:18 AM
You are completely right, the status bar switches to red in this case and the "back to previous app" button is reset.
Thank you for your detailed investigation
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: Mark on February 09, 2017, 10:30:49 AM
Does anyone know of an alternative to www.handleopenurl.com (which doesn't seem to work anymore)?

I'm trying to find the URLs for the Presonus QMix AI app, the Yamaha M12 Touch app, and the Midas M32-Q app.

Thanks.
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: arlo on February 20, 2017, 08:32:34 PM
Good news: The handleopenurl.com website is back now.

Bad news: Apple replied to my bug report about the missing back button, saying they don't intend to change the current behavior.
Title: Re: Need Help Understanding Adding Apps under Settings
Post by: Arnie on February 22, 2017, 09:48:41 AM
anyway, thank you for trying your best, arlo!