Android Question How to solve a problem?

A

Alex_197

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My app HHA-EVV does clock in and clock out for a home care agent. On clock in / clock out the app sends location and timestamp back to the server. If there is no Internet the data stored in the database. The next time user starts the app right after login the app collects the all unsent info and if Internet is Ok, sends it to the server. But there is a problem. Agent did clock out, didn't have Internet at that time, the info stored in the database and he exited from the app. The next time he started the app 3 days later. If it's a Friday and he returns to the app 3 days later it's already next week and he won't be paid for the days he didn't have Internet even though he did nothing wrong.

I was thinking about creating another app that will constantly run in the background and every hour will check if there is something unsent and if the connection Ok - send it. But as far as I remember - Google Play market doesn't allow background apps anymore. And there is another problem - let's say this background app sends the info to the server and at the same time user started HHA-EVV app which is after login sees also that there is unsent and also will try to send it - it will be disaster.

Maybe we can rise a flag but it's also not reliable solution.

An ideas?

Thanks.
 
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emexes

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Alex_197 said:
The worst case scenario - no Internet for the whole day
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What about places where there's no internet at all? Eg my mum was a district nurse visiting elderly people in their homes, and her stomping ground was the hills surrounding the city where coverage is still erratic at best even now.

Beautiful place to live, hidden in the forest, but you pay for it by being somewhat disconnected from the world. It's almost like some people prefer it that way.
 
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emexes

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emexes said:
What about places where there's no internet at all?
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Where I was headed was: you don't want people being unable to work just because they don't have internet at the time.

Or because the employer's server goes down for days or weeks, eg several years ago with that file-locking extortion malware.

My son is a learner driver and the licencing department has moved to smartphone logging of the mandatory 120 hours driving practice. If drives didn't log properly, we were supposed to visit the department where their staff would add the drive to the system. I just laughed when they told me that. Didn't take long for them to provide a facility to let supervising drivers add the drive ourselves via the internet. Hmm. Writing this has reminded me that originally the "lost" drives were supposed to be recorded in the paper logbook and signed... I'd better double-check where that's still necessary or not.
 
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Alex_197

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All the info will be stored into local database and later on when the user will be in another place with a better connection he will send this info back to the server.
 
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Alex_197

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I am providing CDPAS for my parents and the agency I'm working for gave me the app for clock in / out that doesn't start at all if you don't have Internet
 
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Unobtainius

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If it was me I would make the user responsible for sending in their data at the end of the day. When it comes to getting paid people are generally pretty switched on. If your start page has clock on, you could add a Send in my hours button. When a user clocks off always go back to the main clock in page. The Send in my hours will be there waiting and you could display the current internet status, and an hours waiting to be sent status. A simple success or wait for a stable internet connection message on pressing the button
Its just an idea
 
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Marvel

Active Member
Licensed User
I'm a UI/UX designer and I'll just advice from my perspective. Sometimes, we really just have to make users responsible for stuffs instead of looking for complex solutions. If you really want to get paid, I don't see a reason you should not take a minute to connect to the internet and clock out.
You can probably even limit the app to not clock out without the internet.
Also, how does the app get the users location without internet?
 
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Alex_197

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Location? From the GPS - we don't need Internet to get location. We need satellites.
 
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