Persistence on iOS (and Android)

[Ben Rubinstein]

On 26/01/2013 19:55, J. Landman Gay wrote:
> On 1/26/13 1:22 PM, Ben Rubinstein wrote:
>
>> Is there consensus on the best way to do this - text file, database, or
>> do everything in a dynamic stack that's saved (back to the old
>> splash-screen app approach)?
>
> Depends on your stack and what you need to do, but any of those would work.
> There's no set way. I've always just saved variable values to a text file and
> on startup I look for and read the file, and reset everything. The splash
> method would probably be easier now that I think about it.
>
>> Also - is the story the same on Android?
>
> Yes and no, but you should plan on it being the same. Android doesn't always
> release an app from memory when the user leaves, it retains it until it needs
> the RAM. So if the user pops over to their calendar and then returns to your
> app, chances are pretty good your app will still be in the same state and on
> the same card. Startup/shutdown messages aren't sent because the app hasn't
> really quit. But you don't know when Android will wipe out your app, the user
> may open lots of other processes before returning to yours (it could be days
> later) so you have to assume the state isn't going to be preserved. The same
> startup/shutdown messages will work so you don't need to do anything different
> in scripts.
>

Thanks Jacque, that's really helpful.

Ben