Mobile application background update

Introduction

The bpm'online mobile application implements a synchronization mechanism for the application structure, which can work automatically in the background. Use the [Update checks frequency] system setting to manage the automatic synchronization process.

Fig. 1. The [Update checks frequency] system setting

The frequency is specified as a time interval between automatic configuration updates initiated by the mobile app. The interval is specified in hours. If the setting is set to “0”, the application will always download configuration updates.

Working conditions

The application starts the background synchronization only if the following conditions are met:

• the mobile device uses the iOS or Android platform
• synchronization has not started yet
• the time between synchronizations (specified in the [Update checks frequency] system setting) has elapsed
• the application is launched, or the application is activated (i.e. it was previously minimized).

If changes were made during the structure update, the application will automatically restart to apply the changes when the user minimizes it or switches to another application.

Platform specifics

1. The background mode is implemented through a parallel running service on the Android platform. This approach ensures that the running synchronization will be completed even if the user manually closes the application.

2. On the iOS platform, the application works in the main webView while the synchronization uses the second webView. This ensures that the user can continue working with the application while the structure synchronization is in progress.

   Unlike the Android platform, the synchronization can be interrupted when the application is closed manually or if the iOS platform closes the app itself.

3. On the Windows 10 platform, the application checks for updates on the server at startup. There is no background update check.

   If updates are available, a page with the relevant information is displayed.