Background apps

[espruino-discuss2]

Posted at 2023-06-06 by eskibrew

I've come across the BangleJS2 and it looks like it might suit my needs but I wanted to ask for advice before I jump in.

I would like to write a reminder app which will periodically notify disabled users of things they need to do, e.g. a pill reminder, pressure relief reminder etc. I need it to have multiple reminders per day and I have not found an off-the-shelf watch which can do this so I've been looking for a watch I can program myself.

I've looked at the demo application, which is a 30 second timer, but that seems to work only while the timer app is running and in focus. I need something which will run in the background instead and pop up when needed. Is this possible? I.e. can I write a background app which will monitor the current time and pop up warnings?

[espruino-discuss2]

Posted at 2023-06-06 by @thyttan

Hi! It's doable yes - either with bootcode or a widget. Or maybe a non-background app utilizing the scheduler library (absolutely use this library in some way whichever route you take).

Edit:
Check out:
the alarm app - https://espruino.github.io/BangleApps/?q=alarm
the scheduler library - https://espruino.github.io/BangleApps/?q=scheduler
the twenties app - https://espruino.github.io/BangleApps/?q=twenties
in development working memory helper app - https://forum.espruino.com/conversations/386980/#16997771
the noteify app - https://espruino.github.io/BangleApps/?q=noteify
the activity reminder app - https://espruino.github.io/BangleApps/?q=activityreminder

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Posted at 2023-06-06 by eskibrew

Brilliant, thanks so much for your reply, I will check those out :-)

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Posted at 2023-06-07 by Rand__

Couldnt you do this via calendar (Phone + notification or watch app)? If its the same time every day...
O/c if you need it to be in now()+6hrs then that won't work

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Posted at 2023-06-08 by eskibrew

Thanks but no, it won't work for my use case - My son is a wheelchair user and needs reminders but phones are not allowed to be turned on in school so the watch needs to run it autonomously. He currently uses a fit type band but it's limited to just a few reminders.

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Posted at 2023-06-08 by @gfwilliams

Great! As @thyttan said, there's a scheduler library which should handle calling your app at a certain point. Or if it's just displaying a message, there's no need - it's just a matter of configuring the correct times and messages (and you can put images in the messages if you need).

Docs at https://github.com/espruino/BangleApps/blob/master/apps/sched/README.md

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Posted at 2023-06-09 by eskibrew

Thanks Gordon, the BangleJS2 arrived yesterday and it's awesome!