IOS 8 Local Notification with Actions

Quick note on how to set up local notification with actions in IOS 8:

1. Set up UIMutableUserNotificationAction.  You need to the following properties:

  • identifier (a string that will be used for respond to the action that user requested)
  • title (string to display on the button)
  • activationMode (enum for UIUserNotificationActivationMode: Foreground or Background.  define if the action running in background or bring the app to the foreground)
  • destructive (boolean, if set true the button will be red color)
  • authenticationRequired (boolean, set to true if you are doing some harmful action so that no other people can respond to the action)

2. Set up UIMutableUserNotificationCategory and set the identifier property.   We will group actions into different categories, and we will just use the category identifier to identify which set of actions will be used.

3. set category actions.  define default and minimal actions for different context.

4. Add category and type of notifications that will be used to UIUserNotificationSettings.

5. Register settings.  UIApplication.sharedApplication().registerUserNotifcationSettings(settings) and we are ready to send notification.

6. When creating a UILocalNotification, we will set the following properties:

  • category (category identifier we defined earlier.  actions belong to that category will be added to the notification)
  • alertBody (string, message to be displayed)
  • soundName (optional. sound for the notification)
  • fireDate (if you would like to schedule the notification to be display later, set this property)

7. Now you can call UIApplication.shareApplication().presentLocalNotificationNow(notification) or UIApplication.shareApplication().scheduleLocalNotification(notification)