Ideas for pausing an app with ingame iADs?

[JoKa]

When you show an ingame iAD and pause the app with the Q&A Object, the iAD can't be clicked. I assume we'd have to remove it to avoid a rejection from the review team. But then the AD slowly slides offscreen, which takes too much time, it makes no sense to wait for it's disappearance before finally pausing the app. Simply covering the iAD with an Active is also impossible.

Does this mean we can't use iADs in the most effective position? Covering the main app with a modal Subapp is impossible in iOS. The only workaround I can think of is a non-modal subapp, but I really want to avoid this method. Pausing/restoring every timer, movement and animation can be a pain and structuring the code to fit a pause routine is not very elegant. Even worse, the code would not be re-usable.

Do you have ideas how to solve this problem?

[Olivier]

Pausing/restoring every timer, movement and animation can be a pain and structuring the code to fit a pause routine is not very elegant. Even worse, the code would not be re-usable.

Why do you think that Jochen? My code is structured with a [Game.Group] and a [Pause.Group] and I find this elegant and handy to use . At the activation of [Pause.Group] I stop everything (animations, movements etc..) and at the activation of [Game.Group] is restore eveything. I think that this way of coding is not more or less reusable than anything else, MMF events are not easily reusable anyway IMHO. Just my 2 cents!

[JoKa]

Just tried this and I'm in trouble on unpause. The PMO is messed up, the complex animation system for my main char fails occasionally. I have AOs which must not move at start, so a simple "start movement" command isn't possible. For all of them I'd need to track the current status to treat them correctly on unpause. My current app is relatively simple and these are only the most obvious problems which show up immediately and only within MMF. There's a good chance more problems would appear in specific situations I haven't tested yet and every runtime could reveal additional problems. Finally, I'd have to perform tests for every object and it's interactions with any other object on unpause, see what fails and workaround.

In Windows apps I just launch a pause frame (a template with some pre-defined buttons and basic functions) as modal Subapp and on unpause the player's choice is returned in a Global Value. One line of code in any frame I want and problems=Zero

Guess it's better to get rid of iADs in this project, since the efforts to integrate them in a clean way would be too high compared to the revenue they'll make.

[Francois]

I'll see with Andos if there is a way to make the ad appear and disappear faster.

[DistantJ]

Why do you think that Jochen? My code is structured with a [Game.Group] and a [Pause.Group] and I find this elegant and handy to use . At the activation of [Pause.Group] I stop everything (animations, movements etc..) and at the activation of [Game.Group] is restore eveything. I think that this way of coding is not more or less reusable than anything else, MMF events are not easily reusable anyway IMHO. Just my 2 cents!

Yeah, I've done this too. I cheaped out on AWESOME Land's pause to cut down the development time, but usually this method works perfectly, as long as you account for anything which follows the timer.

[JoKa]

Francois, that would be great! Just one more detail to think about: will Apple accept switching iADs on/off when pausing? Depending on the user this could happen frequently, not sure if they require some minimum time for showing an ad or something in this direction.

Is there a way to keep the current ad loaded and simply cover it with an AO? Or even better just toggle an option to hide/show it. I tried to stretch a small black AO across the screen to hide the playfield while the Q&A waits for input. Unfortunately the iAD is still visible, but can't be clicked and I assume Apple won't like this. I guess it would be better to cover an ad or quickly hide it in some other way instead of completely removing/reloading, because this may also require repositioning of UI elements every time.

[Francois]

I have no clue about the reaction of Apple. Certainly they will not like it, and could reject your application.
The iAd is a view over the application's view : there is no way to hide it.

[JoKa]

Somehow your answer doesn't surprise me. Too bad we can't simply hide iADs.
I may try this with a less complex app where I have an option to use the pause routine recommended by Olivier. But right now the insecurity about the reaction of the review team scares me away. It's like the sword of iDamocles

[AyreGuitar]

Not sure if this solves your iAD problem, but you can pause an app without using the Q&A object - my first version of a simple pause example is here: http://community.clickteam.com/showthread.php?t=65291

It uses the pause function available in the storyboard controls - but a little weird since uses a keyboard press to resume in MMF and a touch anywhere on screen to resume on the device.