August 2019

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Developments

iOS Webview Upgrade

We upgraded to WKWebView, the latest version of WebView, that enhances the end user experience and stability of the app generally.

Given the scope of this change and the impact that the migration to this new enhanced class may have, we have extended the preview of this change for the August 2019 release preview. Please take time to review the impact that this change may have on your content. Production environments will be upgraded as part of September release.

Why Did We Upgrade to WKWebView?

Apple has officially deprecated UIWebView since iOS 12. This means that it is not the recommend tool to show Web content within an app. Given the depreciated nature of the view, Apple could remove it completely from their SDKS without warning, which would make it difficult to create apps with the latest build tools. Migrating to the new WKWebView removed this risk and at the same time provides better performance and compliance with the latest Web standards.

What Did We Change in the App?

The current app UX relies heavily on Web content that is dependent on UIWebView. We are upgrading all UIWebViews used within the app to the new WKWebView over the coming two releases. As part of the June release, the following are the main areas that have been upgraded:

SSO login page
Authentication login page
campusM Homescreen
AEK screens

While every effort has been made to test the impact of the changes and ensure the migration is painless, customers are asked to pay particular attention to the areas above (if applicable) during their Preview testing and to report through Salesforce any issues or unexpected behaviors.

AEK Native – iBeacon Access

This month sees the introduction of another component of our AEK native development theme, as we expose access to visible iBeacons on the native apps in your AEK projects. The beaconData callback action available in AEK allows you to retrieve the beacon parameters (UUID, Major and Minor, Received Signal Strength Indicator [RSSI]) along with the associated position information (if configured in the app).

This enhancement enables you to make use of iBeacon technology within your own AEK screens while campusM is in the foreground.

AEK Native – Microphone Access Enhancement

Following its initial release in April 2019, this release sees a minor enhancement to the gain and sensitivity of the microphone access, improving the quality of the captured audio. Access to the microphone within AEK projects using the following campusM URL mechanism is available for iOS.

campusm://micRecStart -- Starts the Microphone recording
campusm://micRecStop -- Stops the Microphone recording

For Web and Android this can be done using HTML5.

Profile Screen Interface Alignment

The icons used on the Profile Selection screens for the iOS and Android apps have been made consistent for the various authentication methods.

Profile Screen Interface Alignment

Automated App Submission

To improve the speed of building and submitting your apps to the app stores, we will be introducing automated processes that streamline the submissions.

To facilitate this, we require institutions to provide us with a Google Service Account, as per the instructions here when you request your next native build update.

The automated submission process will not result in your native apps being updated automatically on a monthly basis – this is still done on request.

Resolved Issues

August 2019 iOS SF: 00688901
Columns in the timetable do not line up with their respective relevant days in the iPad Pro.
August 2019 Android SF: 00679978
Text labels on menu option tiles were not visible on some devices or for some selected text sizes.
August 2019 Android SF: 00671095 00685354
The app closed if the user pressed the volume up and down buttons.
August 2019 Android
The share to Facebook feature did not post a link to the app when posting to Facebook.
August 2019 iOS SF: 00692234 00693062 00694848 00695748
The user was not taken to the relevant App Store listing when selecting a link to a white listed app not yet installed on the user’s device.