View Full Version : Structure for "Assistant" app

May 2, 2011, 08:59 PM
Thanks to all the previous help, I've been overly successful. The last app went over so big that the suits have asked for more.

They've asked for another internal app that will step a user through a sequence of steps to install a device. The steps look like:

Choose an entry from a list of locations to install a device (each entry has information in it for later use - let's call that "configuration information")
Pick a box and scan a barcode off of that box (let's call this "device information"). If certain parts of the device information match corresponding parts of the configuration information, the process continues...
The user is told to plug in the device. Meanwhile, the app in the background is attempting to wirelessly connect to the device using other parts of the device information (e.g., MAC address).
Once the app connects to the device, various configuration actions take place, some automated and some requiring intervention.

... and the procedure continues until it's complete. It's about 9 distinct steps requiring user action, with numerous other actions taken autonomously on behalf of the user by the app.

I don't like the idea of having a bunch of subview controllers, each handling a single step, but I can't really think of a better approach.

The main controller is the one that steps the user through the various steps, showing progress and a highlight of the upcoming steps. I saw a user interface example in the source code examples (TableViewUpdates) where table view cells programmatically changed size, # rows, and content. Something like this feels very germane to this approach, but I don't know what to do about the other aspects.

I'm sorry this is vague, but I'm looking for some thoughts from people with more experience than me. Am I way off target? Are there any apps you know of that work this way from which I can borrow some ideas?