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iOS SDK

The iOS SDK consists of two parts:

  1. Cloud SDK - an API wrapper that enables your mobile app to interact with internet-connected hardware through the Particle Device Cloud.
  2. Device Setup Library - a library which provides an easy setup wizard for your app users to set up their Particle-powered devices.

Requirements

Cloud SDK supports iOS 8.0 and up, Device Setup Library supports iOS 9.0 and up.

Support and Contributions

  • If you need help, visit the mobile category in our community forums for discussion, troubleshooting, and feedback around the iOS Cloud SDK and Device Setup library.
  • If you found a bug, and can provide steps to reliably reproduce it, open an issue in the appropriate repo on GitHub, and apply the bug label.
  • If you have a feature request, open an issue in the appropriate repo on GitHub, and apply the enhancement label.
  • If you want to contribute, submit a pull request. Also be sure to check out the contribution guidelines, and sign our CLA.

Beta notice

While iOS Cloud SDK and Device Setup Library are ready for production use, as seen in the Particle iOS app, it is still under development and is currently in beta. The API is mostly stable, but may be subject to further changes prior to leaving beta. Once the SDK leaves beta, the API should never change outside of "major" version updates.

iOS Cloud SDK

Introduction

Particle iOS Cloud SDK enables iOS apps to interact with Particle-powered connected products via the Particle Cloud. It’s an easy-to-use wrapper for Particle REST API. The Cloud SDK will allow you to:

  • Manage & inject user sessions for the Particle Cloud (access tokens, encrypted session management)
  • Claim/Unclaim devices for a user account
  • Get a list of Particle devices claimed by user
  • Read variables from devices
  • Invoke functions on devices
  • Publish events from the mobile app and subscribe to events coming from devices
  • Get data usage information for Electron devices

All cloud operations take place asynchronously and use the well-known completion blocks (closures for swift) design pattern for reporting results allowing you to build beautiful responsive apps for your Particle products and projects. iOS Cloud SDK is implemented as an open-source CocoaPods static library and also as Carthage dynamic framework dependency. See Installation section for more details. It works well for both Objective-C and Swift projects.

Rebranding notice

Spark has been rebranded as Particle. Code that previously used Spark keyword as class prefix now uses Particle keyword. CocoaPods library Spark-SDK has been deprecated in favor of Particle-SDK library. GitHub repository particle-iot/spark-sdk-ios has been deprecated in favor of particle-iot/particle-sdk-ios too.

Swift support

One of the great things about Swift is that it transparently interoperates with Objective-C code, both existing frameworks written in Objective-C and code in your app. However, in Swift there’s a strong distinction between optional and non-optional references, e.g. NSView vs. NSView?, while Objective-C represents both of these two types as NSView *. Because the Swift compiler can’t be sure whether a particular NSView * is optional or not, the type is brought into Swift as an implicitly unwrapped optional, NSView!. In previous Xcode releases, some Apple frameworks had been specially audited so that their API would show up with proper Swift optionals. Starting Xcode 6.3 there's support for this on your own code with a new Objective-C language feature: nullability annotations. The new nullability annotations have been integrated into the Particle iOS Cloud SDK library so now it plays nicely with Swift projects.

All SDK callbacks return real optionals (ParticleDevice?) instead of implicitly unwrapped optionals (ParticleDevice!). See Swift examples below. Basically only a simple change required from the SDK user: to replace your callback argument types from ! suffix to ? suffix.

Getting Started

  • Perform the installation step described under the Installation section below for integrating in your own project
  • You can also Download Particle iOS Cloud SDK and try out the included iOS example app
  • Be sure to check Usage before you begin for some code examples

Usage

Cloud SDK usage involves two basic classes: first is ParticleCloud which is a singleton object that enables all basic cloud operations such as user authentication, device listing, claiming etc. Second class is ParticleDevice which is an instance representing a claimed device in the current user session. Each object enables device-specific operation such as: getting its info, invoking functions and reading variables from it.

Return values

Most SDK functions will return an NSURLSessionDataTask object that can be queried by the app developer for further information about the status of the network operation. This is a result of the SDK relying on AFNetworking which is a networking library for iOS and macOS (OS X). It's built on top of the Foundation URL Loading System, extending the powerful high-level networking abstractions built into Cocoa. The Particle Device Cloud SDK has been relying on this powerful library since the beginning, but when version 3.0 was released not long ago it contained some breaking changes, the main change from 2.x is that NSURLConnectionOperation was deprecated by Apple and NSURLSessionDataTask was introduced to replace it. You can ignore the return value (previously it was just void) coming out of the SDK functions, alternatively you can now make use of the NSURLSessionDataTask object as described.

Error handling

Starting SDK version 0.8.0

If there's an error while executing API request, completion block will have non-null error object. userInfo dictionary has 2 custom values:

  • ParticleSDKErrorResponseBodyKey is the NSDictionary representation of JSON server response.
  • ParticleSDKErrorLocalizedStringKey contains human readable error message.

NSError.code contains HTTP status code. NSError.localizedDescription contains best attempt trying to explain what happened in human readable language based on ParticleSDKErrorLocalizedStringKey and NSError.code.

Here are few examples for the most common use cases to get your started:

Logging in to Particle cloud

You don't need to worry about access tokens and session expiry, SDK takes care of that for you

Objective-C

[[ParticleCloud sharedInstance] loginWithUser:@"username@email.com" password:@"userpass" completion:^(NSError *error) {
    if (!error)
        NSLog(@"Logged in to cloud");
    else
        NSLog(@"Wrong credentials or no internet connectivity, please try again");
}];

Swift

ParticleCloud.sharedInstance().login(withUser: "username@email.com", password: "userpass") { (error:Error?) -> Void in
    if let _ = error {
        print("Wrong credentials or no internet connectivity, please try again")
    }
    else {
        print("Logged in")
    }
}

Injecting a session access token (app utilizes two legged authentication)

If you use your own backend to authenticate users in your app - you can now inject the Particle access token your back end gets from Particle cloud easily using one of the new injectSessionAccessToken functions exposed from ParticleCloud singleton class. In turn the .isLoggedIn property has been deprecated in favor of .isAuthenticated - which checks for the existence of an active access token instead of a username. Additionally the SDK will now automatically renew an expired session if a refresh token exists. As increased security measure the Cloud SDK will no longer save user's password in the Keychain.

Objective-C

if ([[ParticleCloud sharedInstance] injectSessionAccessToken:@"9bb9f7433940e7c808b191c28cd6738f8d12986c"])
    NSLog(@"Session is active!");
else
    NSLog(@"Bad access token provided");

Swift

if ParticleCloud.sharedInstance().injectSessionAccessToken("9bb9f7433940e7c808b191c28cd6738f8d12986c") {
    print("Session is active")
} else {
    print("Bad access token provided")
}

Get a list of all devices

List the devices that belong to currently logged in user and find a specific device by name:

Objective-C

__block ParticleDevice *myPhoton;
[[ParticleCloud sharedInstance] getDevices:^(NSArray *particleDevices, NSError *error) {
    NSLog(@"%@",particleDevices.description); // print all devices claimed to user

    for (ParticleDevice *device in particleDevices)
    {
        if ([device.name isEqualToString:@"myNewPhotonName"])
            myPhoton = device;
    }
}];

Swift

var myPhoton : ParticleDevice?
ParticleCloud.sharedInstance().getDevices { (devices:[ParticleDevice]?, error:Error?) -> Void in
    if let _ = error {
        print("Check your internet connectivity")
    }
    else {
        if let d = devices {
            for device in d {
                if device.name == "myNewPhotonName" {
                    myPhoton = device
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Read a variable from a Particle device (Core/Photon/Electron)

Assuming here that myPhoton is an active instance of ParticleDevice class which represents a device claimed to current user:

Objective-C

[myPhoton getVariable:@"temperature" completion:^(id result, NSError *error) {
    if (!error) {
        NSNumber *temperatureReading = (NSNumber *)result;
        NSLog(@"Room temperature is %f degrees",temperatureReading.floatValue);
    }
    else {
        NSLog(@"Failed reading temperature from Photon device");
    }
}];

Swift

myPhoton!.getVariable("temperature", completion: { (result:Any?, error:Error?) -> Void in
    if let _ = error {
        print("Failed reading temperature from device")
    }
    else {
        if let temp = result as? NSNumber {
            print("Room temperature is \(temp.stringValue) degrees")
        }
    }
})

Call a function on a Particle device (Core/Photon/Electron)

Invoke a function on the device and pass a list of parameters to it, resultCode on the completion block will represent the returned result code of the function on the device. This example also demonstrates usage of the new NSURLSessionDataTask object returned from every SDK function call.

Objective-C

NSURLSessionDataTask *task = [myPhoton callFunction:@"digitalWrite" withArguments:@[@"D7",@1] completion:^(NSNumber *resultCode, NSError *error) {
    if (!error)
    {
        NSLog(@"LED on D7 successfully turned on");
    }
}];
int64_t bytesToReceive  = task.countOfBytesExpectedToReceive;
// ..do something with bytesToReceive

Swift

let funcArgs = ["D7",1]
var task = myPhoton!.callFunction("digitalWrite", withArguments: funcArgs) { (resultCode : NSNumber?, error : Error?) -> Void in
    if (error == nil) {
        print("LED on D7 successfully turned on")
    }
}
var bytesToReceive : Int64 = task.countOfBytesExpectedToReceive
// ..do something with bytesToReceive

Retrieve current data usage (Electron only)

Starting SDK version 0.5.0

Assuming here that myElectron is an active instance of ParticleDevice class which represents an Electron device:

Objective-C

[myElectron getCurrentDataUsage:^(float dataUsed, NSError * error) {
    if (!error) {
        NSLog(@"device has used %f MBs of data this month",dataUsed);
    }
}];

Swift

self.selectedDevice!.getCurrentDataUsage { (dataUsed: Float, error :Error?) in
    if (error == nil) {
        print("Device has used "+String(dataUsed)+" MBs this month")
    }
}

List device exposed functions and variables

Functions is just a list of names, variables is a dictionary in which keys are variable names and values are variable types:

Objective-C

NSDictionary *myDeviceVariables = myPhoton.variables;
NSLog(@"MyDevice first Variable is called %@ and is from type %@", myDeviceVariables.allKeys[0], myDeviceVariables.allValues[0]);

NSArray *myDeviceFunctions = myPhoton.functions;
NSLog(@"MyDevice first Function is called %@", myDeviceFunctions[0]);

Swift

let myDeviceVariables : Dictionary? = myPhoton.variables as? Dictionary<String,String>
print("MyDevice first Variable is called \(myDeviceVariables!.keys.first) and is from type \(myDeviceVariables?.values.first)")

let myDeviceFunction = myPhoton.functions
print("MyDevice first function is called \(myDeviceFunction!.first)")

Get an instance of a device

Get a device instance by its ID:

Objective-C

__block ParticleDevice *myOtherDevice;
NSString *deviceID = @"53fa73265066544b16208184";
[[ParticleCloud sharedInstance] getDevice:deviceID completion:^(ParticleDevice *device, NSError *error) {
    if (!error)
        myOtherDevice = device;
}];

Swift

var myOtherDevice : ParticleDevice? = nil
    ParticleCloud.sharedInstance().getDevice("53fa73265066544b16208184", completion: { (device:ParticleDevice?, error:Error?) -> Void in
        if let d = device {
            myOtherDevice = d
        }
    })

Rename a device

you can simply set the .name property or use -rename() method if you need a completion block to be called (for example updating a UI after renaming was done):

Objective-C

myPhoton.name = @"myNewDeviceName";

_or_

[myPhoton rename:@"myNewDeviecName" completion:^(NSError *error) {
    if (!error)
        NSLog(@"Device renamed successfully");
}];

Swift

myPhoton!.name = "myNewDeviceName"

_or_

myPhoton!.rename("myNewDeviceName", completion: { (error:Error?) -> Void in
    if (error == nil) {
        print("Device successfully renamed")
    }
})

Logout

Also clears user session and access token

Objective-C

[[ParticleCloud sharedInstance] logout];

Swift

ParticleCloud.sharedInstance().logout()

Events sub-system

You can make an API call that will open a stream of Server-Sent Events (SSEs). You will make one API call that opens a connection to the Particle Device Cloud. That connection will stay open, unlike normal HTTP calls which end quickly. Very little data will come to you across the connection unless your Particle device publishes an event, at which point you will be immediately notified. In each case, the event name filter is eventNamePrefix and is optional. When specifying an event name filter, published events will be limited to those events with names that begin with the specified string. For example, specifying an event name filter of 'temp' will return events with names 'temp' and 'temperature'.

Subscribe to events

Subscribe to the firehose of public events with name that starts with "temp", plus the private events published by devices one owns:

Starting SDK version 0.8.0

Public event stream no longer accepts* nil or empty string as the eventNamePrefix

Objective-C

// The event handler:
ParticleEventHandler handler = ^(ParticleEvent *event, NSError *error) {
        if (!error)
        {
            dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
                NSLog(@"Got Event %@ with data: %@",event.event,event.data);
            });
        }
        else
        {
            NSLog(@"Error occured: %@",error.localizedDescription);
        }

    };

// This line actually subscribes to the event stream:
id eventListenerID = [[ParticleCloud sharedInstance] subscribeToAllEventsWithPrefix:@"temp" handler:handler];

Swift

var handler : Any?
handler = ParticleCloud.sharedInstance().subscribeToAllEvents(withPrefix: "temp", handler: { (event :ParticleEvent?, error : Error?) in
    if let _ = error {
        print ("could not subscribe to events")
    } else {
        DispatchQueue.main.async(execute: {
            print("got event with data \(event?.data)")
        })
    }
})

Note: You can have multiple handlers per event name and/or same handler per multiple events names.

Subscribe to all events, public and private, published by devices the user owns (handler is a Obj-C block or Swift closure):

Objective-C

id eventListenerID = [[ParticleCloud sharedInstance] subscribeToMyDevicesEventsWithPrefix:@"temp" handler:handler];

Swift

var eventListenerID : Any?
eventListenerID = ParticleCloud.sharedInstance().subscribeToMyDevicesEvents(withPrefix: "temp", handler: handler)

Subscribe to events from one specific device (by deviceID, second parameter). If the API user owns the device, then he will receive all events, public and private, published by that device. If the API user does not own the device he will only receive public events.

Objective-C

id eventListenerID = [[ParticleCloud sharedInstance] subscribeToDeviceEventsWithPrefix:@"temp" deviceID:@"53ff6c065075535119511687" handler:handler];

Swift

var eventListenerID : Any?
eventListenerID = ParticleCloud.sharedInstance().subscribeToDeviceEvents(withPrefix: "temp", deviceID: "53ff6c065075535119511687", handler: handler)

other option is calling same method via the ParticleDevice instance:

Objective-C

id eventListenerID = [device subscribeToEventsWithPrefix:@"temp" handler:handler];

Swift

var eventListenerID : Any?
eventListenerID = device.subscribeToEvents(withPrefix : "temp", handler : handler)

this guarantees that private events will be received since having access device instance in your app signifies that the user has this device claimed.

Unsubscribing from events

Very straightforward. Keep the id object the subscribe method returned and use it as parameter to call the unsubscribe method:

Objective-C

[[ParticleCloud sharedInstance] unsubscribeFromEventWithID:eventListenerID];

Swift

if let sid = eventListenerID {
    ParticleCloud.sharedInstance().unsubscribeFromEvent(withID: sid)
}

or via the ParticleDevice instance (if applicable):

Objective-C

[device unsubscribeFromEventWithID:self.eventListenerID];

Swift

device.unsubscribeFromEvent(withID : eventListenerID)

Publishing an event

You can also publish an event from your app to the Particle Device Cloud:

Objective-C

[[ParticleCloud sharedInstance] publishEventWithName:@"event_from_app" data:@"event_payload" isPrivate:NO ttl:60 completion:^(NSError *error) {
    if (error)
    {
        NSLog(@"Error publishing event: %@",error.localizedDescription);
    }
}];

Swift

ParticleCloud.sharedInstance().publishEvent(withName: "event_from_app", data: "event_payload", isPrivate: false, ttl: 60, completion: { (error:Error?) -> Void in
    if error != nil
    {
        print("Error publishing event" + e.localizedDescription)
    }
})

Delegate Protocol

Starting version 0.5.0

You can opt-in to conform to the ParticleDeviceDelegate protocol in your ViewController code if you want to register for receiving system events notifications about the specific device. You do it by setting device.delegate = self where device is an instance of ParticleDevice.

The function that will be called on the delegate is: -(void)particleDevice:(ParticleDevice *)device didReceiveSystemEvent:(ParticleDeviceSystemEvent)event;

and then you can respond to the various system events by:

func particleDevice(device: ParticleDevice, receivedSystemEvent event: ParticleDeviceSystemEvent) {
        print("Received system event "+String(event.rawValue)+" from device "+device.name!)
        // do something meaningful
    }

The system events types are:

  • CameOnline (device came online)
  • WentOffline (device went offline)
  • FlashStarted (OTA flashing started)
  • FlashSucceeded (OTA flashing succeeded - new user firmware app is live)
  • FlashFailed (OTA flashing process failed - user firmware app was not updated)
  • AppHashUpdated (a new app which is different from last one was flashed to the device)
  • EnteredSafeMode (device has entered safe mode due to firmware dependency issue )
  • SafeModeUpdater (device is trying to heal itself out of safe mode)

OAuth client configuration

If you are creating an app, you are required to provide the ParticleCloud class with OAuth clientId and secret. Those are used to identify users coming from your specific app to the Particle Device Cloud. Please follow the procedure described in our guide to create those strings, then in your AppDelegate class you can supply those credentials by setting the following properties in ParticleCloud singleton:

@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *OAuthClientId;
@property (nonatomic, strong) NSString *OAuthClientSecret;

Important Those credentials should be kept as secret. We recommend the use of Cocoapods-keys plugin for cocoapods (which you have to use anyways to install the SDK). It is essentially a key value store for environment and application keys. It is a good security practice to keep production keys out of developer hands. CocoaPods-keys makes it easy to have per-user config settings stored securely in the developer's keychain, and not in the application source. It is a plugin that once installed will run on every pod install or pod update.

After adding the following additional lines your project Podfile:

plugin 'cocoapods-keys', {
    :project => "YourAppName",
    :keys => [
        "OAuthClientId",
        "OAuthSecret"
    ]}

go to your project folder in shell and run pod install - it will now ask you for "OAuthClientId", "OAuthSecret" - you can copy/paste the generated keys there and from that point on you can feed those keys into ParticleCloud by adding this code to your AppDelegate didFinishLaunchingWithOptions function which gets called when your app starts:

Swift example code

func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplicationLaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool {

    var keys = YourappnameKeys()
    ParticleCloud.sharedInstance().OAuthClientId = keys.oAuthClientId()
    ParticleCloud.sharedInstance().OAuthClientSecret = keys.oAuthSecret()

    return true
}

Be sure to replace YourAppName with your project name.

Installation

CocoaPods

Particle iOS Cloud SDK is available through CocoaPods. CocoaPods is an easy to use dependency manager for iOS. You must have CocoaPods installed, if you don't then be sure to Install CocoaPods before you start: To install the iOS Cloud SDK, simply add the following line to your Podfile on main project folder:

source 'https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git'

target 'YourAppName' do
    pod 'Particle-SDK'
end

Replace YourAppName with your app target name - usually shown as the root item name in the XCode project. In your shell - run pod update in the project folder. A new .xcworkspace file will be created for you to open by Cocoapods, open that file workspace file in Xcode and you can start interacting with Particle cloud and devices by adding #import "Particle-SDK.h". (that is not required for swift projects)

Support for Swift projects

To use iOS Cloud SDK from within Swift based projects read here. For a detailed step-by-step help on integrating the Cloud SDK within a Swift project check out this Particle community posting.

The Apple documentation is an important resource on mixing Objective-C and Swift code, be sure to read through that as well.

There's also an example app, this app also demonstrates the Particle DeviceSetup library usage, as well as several Cloud SDK calls.

Carthage

The SDK is now also available as a Carthage dependency since version 0.4.0.

Before CocoaPods v1.5.0 use_frameworks! flag was mandatory for dependencies written in Swift. This has caused a lot of problems while compiling projects that had dependencies written in both languages. To counter this problem, we added Carthage support and marked it as recommended way for quite a while. This is no longer the case as both dependency managers work well now.

Be sure to install Carthage before you start. Then to build the iOS Cloud SDK, simply create a Cartfile on your project root folder, containing the following line:

github "particle-iot/particle-sdk-ios" "master"

and then run the following command: carthage update --platform iOS --use-submodules --no-use-binaries. A new folder will be created in your project root folder - navigate to the ./Carthage/Build/iOS folder and drag all the created .frameworks file into your project in XCode. Go to your XCode target settings->General->Embedded binaries and make sure the ParticleSDK.framework and the AFNetworking.framework are listed there. Build your project - you now have the Particle SDK embedded in your project.

Carthage example

A new example app demonstrating the usage of Carthage installation method is available here. This app is meant to serve as basic example for using the Particle Device Cloud SDK and Device Setup Library in the Carthage dependencies form. To get this example app running, clone it, open the project in XCode and:

  1. Flash the firmware.c (included in the repo project) firmware to an online photon available under your account, use Build or Dev or CLI.
  2. Set Photon's name to the constant deviceName in the testCloudSDK() function
  3. Set your username/password to the appropriate constants, same place
  4. Go the project root folder in your shell, run the setup shell script (under the /bin folder) which will build the latest Particle SDK 1. Carthage dependencies
  5. Drag the 3 created .framework files under /Carthage/Build/iOS to your project
  6. Go to XCode's target general settings and also add those frameworks to "embedded binaries"
  7. Run and experiment!

Reference

ParticleCloud class

@property (nonatomic, strong, nullable, readonly) NSString* loggedInUsername

Currently logged in user name, nil if no valid session

@property (nonatomic, readonly) BOOL isAuthenticated

Currently authenticated (does a access token exist?)

@property (nonatomic, strong, nullable, readonly) NSString *accessToken

Current session access token string, nil if not logged in

@property (nonatomic, nullable, strong) NSString *oAuthClientId

oAuthClientId unique for your app, use 'particle' for development or generate your OAuth creds for production apps (/reference/api/#create-an-oauth-client)

@property (nonatomic, nullable, strong) NSString *oAuthClientSecret

oAuthClientSecret unique for your app, use 'particle' for development or generate your OAuth creds for production apps (/reference/api/#create-an-oauth-client)

+ (instancetype)sharedInstance

Singleton instance of ParticleCloud class

  • Returns: initialized ParticleCloud singleton

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)loginWithUser:(NSString *)user password:(NSString *)password completion:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Login with existing account credentials to Particle cloud

  • Parameters:

    • user — User name, must be a valid email address
    • password — Password
    • completion — Completion block will be called when login finished, NS/Error object will be passed in case of an error, nil if success

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)createUser:(NSString *)username password:(NSString *)password accountInfo:(nullable NSDictionary *)accountInfo completion:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Sign up with new account credentials to Particle cloud

  • Parameters:

    • user — Required user name, must be a valid email address
    • password — Required password
    • accountInfo — Optional dictionary with extended account info fields: firstName, lastName, isBusinessAccount [NSNumber @0=false, @1=true], companyName
    • completion — Completion block will be called when sign-up finished, NSError object will be passed in case of an error, nil if success

    -(nullable NSURLSessionDataTask *)createCustomer:(NSString *)username password:(NSString *)password productId:(NSUInteger)productId accountInfo:(nullable NSDictionary *)accountInfo completion:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Sign up with new account credentials to Particle cloud

  • Parameters:

    • username — Required user name, must be a valid email address
    • password — Required password
    • productId — Required ProductID number should be copied from console for your specific product
    • accountInfo — Optional account information metadata that contains fields: first_name, last_name, company_name, business_account [boolean] - currently has no effect for customers
    • completion — Completion block will be called when sign-up finished, NSError object will be passed in case of an error, nil if success

    -(void)logout

Logout user, remove session data

-(BOOL)injectSessionAccessToken:(NSString * _Nonnull)accessToken

Inject session access token received from a custom backend service in case Two-legged auth is being used. This session expected not to expire, or at least SDK won't know about its expiration date.

  • Parameters: accessToken — Particle Access token string

  • Returns: YES if session injected successfully

    -(BOOL)injectSessionAccessToken:(NSString *)accessToken withExpiryDate:(NSDate *)expiryDate

Inject session access token received from a custom backend service in case Two-legged auth is being used. Session will expire at expiry date.

  • Parameters:
    • accessToken — Particle Access token string
    • expiryDate — Date/time in which session expire and no longer be active - you'll have to inject a new session token at that point.

  • Returns: YES if session injected successfully

    -(BOOL)injectSessionAccessToken:(NSString *)accessToken withExpiryDate:(NSDate *)expiryDate andRefreshToken:(NSString *)refreshToken

Inject session access token received from a custom backend service in case Two-legged auth is being used. Session will expire at expiry date, and SDK will try to renew it using supplied refreshToken.

  • Parameters:
    • accessToken — Particle Access token string
    • expiryDate — Date/time in which session expire
    • refreshToken — Refresh token will be used automatically to hit Particle cloud to create a new active session access token.

  • Returns: YES if session injected successfully

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)requestPasswordResetForCustomer:(NSString *)email productId:(NSUInteger)productId completion:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Request password reset for customer (in product mode) command generates confirmation token and sends email to customer using org SMTP settings

  • Parameters:

    • email — user email
    • productId — Product ID number
    • completion — Completion block with NSError object if failure, nil if success

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)requestPasswordResetForUser:(NSString *)email completion:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Request password reset for user command generates confirmation token and sends email to customer using org SMTP settings

  • Parameters:

    • email — user email
    • completion — Completion block with NSError object if failure, nil if success

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)getDevices:(nullable void (^)(NSArray<ParticleDevice *> * _Nullable particleDevices, NSError * _Nullable error))completion

Get an array of instances of all user's claimed devices offline devices will contain only partial data (no info about functions/variables)

  • Parameters: completion — Completion block with the device instances array in case of success or with NSError object if failure

  • Returns: NSURLSessionDataTask task for requested network access

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)getDevice:(NSString *)deviceID completion:(nullable void (^)(ParticleDevice * _Nullable device, NSError * _Nullable error))completion

Get a specific device instance by its deviceID. If the device is offline the instance will contain only partial information the cloud has cached, notice that the the request might also take quite some time to complete for offline devices.

  • Parameters:
    • deviceID — required deviceID
    • completion — Completion block with first argument as the device instance in case of success or with second argument NSError object if operation failed

  • Returns: NSURLSessionDataTask task for requested network access

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)claimDevice:(NSString *)deviceID completion:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Claim the specified device to the currently logged in user (without claim code mechanism)

  • Parameters:
    • deviceID — required deviceID
    • completion — Completion block with NSError object if failure, nil if success

  • Returns: NSURLSessionDataTask task for requested network access

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)generateClaimCode:(nullable void(^)(NSString * _Nullable claimCode, NSArray * _Nullable userClaimedDeviceIDs, NSError * _Nullable error))completion

Get a short-lived claiming token for transmitting to soon-to-be-claimed device in soft AP setup process

  • Parameters: completion — Completion block with claimCode string returned (48 random bytes base64 encoded to 64 ASCII characters), second argument is a list of the devices currently claimed by current session user and third is NSError object for failure, nil if success
  • Returns: NSURLSessionDataTask task for requested network access

-(NSURLSessionDataTask *)generateClaimCodeForProduct:(NSUInteger)productId completion:(nullable void(^)(NSString *_Nullable claimCode, NSArray * _Nullable userClaimedDeviceIDs, NSError * _Nullable error))completion

Get a short-lived claiming token for transmitting to soon-to-be-claimed device in soft AP setup process for specific product and organization (different API endpoints)

  • Parameters:
    • productId — - the product id number
    • completion — Completion block with claimCode string returned (48 random bytes base64 encoded to 64 ASCII characters), second argument is a list of the devices currently claimed by current session user and third is NSError object for a failure, nil if success

  • Returns: NSURLSessionDataTask task for requested network access

    -(nullable id)subscribeToAllEventsWithPrefix:(nullable NSString *)eventNamePrefix handler:(nullable ParticleEventHandler)eventHandler

Subscribe to the firehose of public events, plus private events published by devices one owns

Starting SDK version 0.8.0

Public event stream no longer accepts* nil or empty string as the eventNamePrefix

  • Parameters:
    • eventHandler — ParticleEventHandler event handler method - receiving NSDictionary argument which contains keys: event (name), data (payload), ttl (time to live), published_at (date/time emitted), coreid (device ID). Second argument is NSError object in case error occured in parsing the event payload.
    • eventName — Filter only events that match name eventName

  • Returns: eventListenerID function will return an id type object as the eventListener registration unique ID - keep and pass this object to the unsubscribe method in order to remove this event listener

    -(nullable id)subscribeToMyDevicesEventsWithPrefix:(nullable NSString *)eventNamePrefix handler:(nullable ParticleEventHandler)eventHandler

Subscribe to all events, public and private, published by devices one owns

  • Parameters:
    • eventHandler — Event handler function that accepts the event payload dictionary and an NSError object in case of an error
    • eventNamePrefix — Filter only events that match name eventNamePrefix, for exact match pass whole string, if nil/empty string is passed any event will trigger eventHandler

  • Returns: eventListenerID function will return an id type object as the eventListener registration unique ID - keep and pass this object to the unsubscribe method in order to remove this event listener

    -(nullable id)subscribeToDeviceEventsWithPrefix:(nullable NSString *)eventNamePrefix deviceID:(NSString *)deviceID handler:(nullable ParticleEventHandler)eventHandler

Subscribe to events from one specific device. If the API user has the device claimed, then she will receive all events, public and private, published by that device. If the API user does not own the device she will only receive public events.

  • Parameters:
    • eventNamePrefix — Filter only events that match name eventNamePrefix, for exact match pass whole string, if nil/empty string is passed any event will trigger eventHandler
    • deviceID — Specific device ID. If user has this device claimed the private & public events will be received, otherwise public events only are received.
    • eventHandler — Event handler function that accepts the event payload dictionary and an NSError object in case of an error

  • Returns: eventListenerID function will return an id type object as the eventListener registration unique ID - keep and pass this object to the unsubscribe method in order to remove this event listener

    -(void)unsubscribeFromEventWithID:(id)eventListenerID

Unsubscribe from event/events.

  • Parameters: eventListenerID — The eventListener registration unique ID returned by the subscribe method which you want to cancel

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)publishEventWithName:(NSString *)eventName data:(NSString *)data isPrivate:(BOOL)isPrivate ttl:(NSUInteger)ttl completion:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Subscribe to events from one specific device. If the API user has the device claimed, then she will receive all events, public and private, published by that device. If the API user does not own the device she will only receive public events.

  • Parameters:

    • eventName — Publish event named eventName
    • data — A string representing event data payload, you can serialize any data you need to represent into this string and events listeners will get it
    • private — A boolean flag determining if this event is private or not (only users's claimed devices will be able to listen to it)

    • ttl — TTL stands for Time To Live. It it the number of seconds that the event data is relevant and meaningful. For example, an outdoor temperature reading with a precision of integer degrees Celsius might have a TTL of somewhere between 600 (10 minutes) and 1800 (30 minutes).

      The geolocation of a large piece of farm equipment that remains stationary most of the time but may be moved to a different field once in a while might have a TTL of 86400 (24 hours). After the TTL has passed, the information can be considered stale or out of date.

  • Returns: NSURLSessionDataTask task for requested network access

ParticleDevice class

typedef void (^ParticleCompletionBlock)(NSError * _Nullable error)

Standard completion block for API calls, will be called when the task is completed with a nullable error object that will be nil if the task was successful.

@property (strong, nonatomic, readonly) NSString* id

DeviceID string

@property (strong, nullable, nonatomic) NSString* name

Device name. Device can be renamed in the cloud by setting this property. If renaming fails name will stay the same.

@property (nonatomic, readonly) BOOL connected

Is device connected to the cloud? Best effort - May not accurate reflect true state.

@property (strong, nonatomic, nonnull, readonly) NSArray<NSString *> *functions

List of function names exposed by device

@property (strong, nonatomic, nonnull, readonly) NSDictionary<NSString *, NSString *> *variables

Dictionary of exposed variables on device with their respective types.

@property (strong, nonatomic, readonly) NSString *version

Device firmware version string

-(NSURLSessionDataTask *)getVariable:(NSString *)variableName completion:(nullable void(^)(id _Nullable result, NSError* _Nullable error))completion

Retrieve a variable value from the device

  • Parameters:

    • variableName — Variable name
    • completion — Completion block to be called when function completes with the variable value retrieved (as id/Any) or NSError object in case on an error

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)callFunction:(NSString *)functionName withArguments:(nullable NSArray *)args completion:(nullable void (^)(NSNumber * _Nullable result, NSError * _Nullable error))completion

Call a function on the device

  • Parameters:

    • functionName — Function name
    • args — Array of arguments to pass to the function on the device. Arguments will be converted to string maximum length 63 chars.
    • completion — Completion block will be called when function was invoked on device. First argument of block is the integer return value of the function, second is NSError object in case of an error invoking the function

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)signal:(BOOL)enable completion:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Signal device Will make the onboard LED "shout rainbows" for easy physical identification of a device

  • Parameters: enable — - YES to start or NO to stop LED signal.

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)refresh:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Request device refresh from cloud update online status/functions/variables/device name, etc

  • Parameters: completion — Completion block called when function completes with NSError object in case of an error or nil if success.

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)unclaim:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Remove device from current logged in user account

  • Parameters: completion — Completion block called when function completes with NSError object in case of an error or nil if success.

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)rename:(NSString *)newName completion:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Rename device

  • Parameters:

    • newName — New device name
    • completion — Completion block called when function completes with NSError object in case of an error or nil if success.

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)getCurrentDataUsage:(nullable void(^)(float dataUsed, NSError* _Nullable error))completion

Retrieve current data usage report (For Electron only)

  • Parameters: completion — Completion block to be called when function completes with the data used in current payment period in (float)MBs. All devices other than Electron will return an error with -1 value

    -(nullable NSURLSessionDataTask *)flashFiles:(NSDictionary *)filesDict completion:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Flash files to device

  • Parameters:

    • filesDict — files dictionary in the following format: @{@"filename.bin" : , ...} - that is a NSString filename as key and NSData blob as value. More than one file can be flashed. Data is alway binary.
    • completion — Completion block called when function completes with NSError object in case of an error or nil if success. NSError.localized descripion will contain a detailed error report in case of a

    -(NSURLSessionDataTask *)flashKnownApp:(NSString *)knownAppName completion:(nullable ParticleCompletionBlock)completion

Flash known firmware images to device

  • Parameters:

    • knownAppName — NSString of known app name. Currently @"tinker" is supported.
    • completion — Completion block called when function completes with NSError object in case of an error or nil if success. NSError.localized descripion will contain a detailed error report in case of a

    -(nullable id)subscribeToEventsWithPrefix:(nullable NSString *)eventNamePrefix handler:(nullable ParticleEventHandler)eventHandler

Subscribe to events from this specific (claimed) device - both public and private.

  • Parameters:

    • eventNamePrefix — Filter only events that match name eventNamePrefix, for exact match pass whole string, if nil/empty string is passed any event will trigger eventHandler
    • eventHandler — Event handler function that accepts the event payload dictionary and an NSError object in case of an error

    -(void)unsubscribeFromEventWithID:(id)eventListenerID

Unsubscribe from event/events.

  • Parameters: eventListenerID — The eventListener registration unique ID returned by the subscribe method which you want to cancel

Device Setup library

Introduction

The Particle Device Setup library is meant for integrating the initial setup process of Particle devices in your app. This library will enable you to easily invoke a standalone setup wizard UI for setting up internet-connected products powered by a Particle device (Photon, P0, P1). The setup UI can be easily customized by a customization proxy class, that includes: look & feel, colors, texts and fonts as well as custom brand logos and custom instructional video for your product. There are good defaults in place if you don’t set these properties, but you can override the look and feel as needed to suit the rest of your app.

The wireless setup process for the Photon uses very different underlying technology from the Core. Where the Core used TI SmartConfig, the Photon uses what we call “soft AP” — i.e.: the Photon advertises a Wi-Fi network, you join that network from your mobile app to exchange credentials, and then the Photon connects using the Wi-Fi credentials you supplied.

With the Device Setup library, you make one simple call from your app, for example when the user hits a “Setup my device” button, and a whole series of screens then guide the user through the setup process. When the process finishes, the app user is back on the screen where she hit the “setup my device” button, and your code has been passed an instance of the device she just setup and claimed. iOS Device setup library is implemented as an open-source Cocoapod static library and also as Carthage dynamic framework dependancy.

Rebranding notice

Spark has been rebranded as Particle. Code that previously used Spark keyword as class prefix now uses Particle keyword. CocoaPods library SparkSetup has been deprecated in favor of ParticleSetup library. Github repository particle-iot/spark-setup-ios has been deprecated in favor of particle-iot/particle-setup-ios too.

Usage

Cocoapods

Import ParticleSetup.h in your view controller implementation file, use bridging header for Swift projects (See Installation section for more details).

Carthage

Use #import <ParticleDeviceSetupLibrary/ParticleDeviceSetupLibrary.h> in Obj-C files or import ParticleDeviceSetupLibrary for Swift files.

and then invoke the device setup wizard by:

Objective-C

ParticleSetupMainController *setupController = [[ParticleSetupMainController alloc] init];
setupController.delegate = self; // why? see "Advanced" section below
[self presentViewController:setupController animated:YES completion:nil];

Swift

if let setupController = ParticleSetupMainController()
{
    setupController.delegate = self
    self.presentViewController(setupController, animated: true, completion: nil)
}

Alternatively if your app requires separation between the Particle cloud authentication process and the device setup process you can call:

Objective-C

ParticleSetupMainController *setupController = [[ParticleSetupMainController alloc] initWithAuthenticationOnly:YES];
[self presentViewController:setupController animated:YES completion:nil];

Swift

if let setupController = ParticleSetupMainController(authenticationOnly: true)
{
    self.presentViewController(setupController, animated: true, completion: nil)
}

This will invoke Particle Device Cloud authentication (login/signup/password recovery screens) only after user has successfully logged in or signed up, control will be returned to the calling app. If an active user session already exists control will be returned immediately.

Configure device Wi-Fi credentials without claiming it

If your app requires the ability to let users configure device Wi-Fi credentials without changing its ownership you can also do that via initWithSetupOnly, and by allowing your users to skip authentication (see allowSkipAuthentication flag in customization section) if you present the authentication stage. If an active user session exists - it'll be used and device will be claimed, otherwise it won't. So invoking setup without an active user session will go thru the setup steps required for configuring device Wi-Fi credentials but not for claiming it. However, calling -initWithSetupOnly: method with an active user session is essentially the same as calling -init:. Usage:

Objective-C

ParticleSetupMainController *setupController = [[ParticleSetupMainController alloc] initWithSetupOnly:YES];
[self presentViewController:setupController animated:YES completion:nil];

Swift

if let setupController = ParticleSetupMainController(setupOnly: true)
{
    self.presentViewController(setupController, animated: true, completion: nil)
}

Password manager extension support

Starting library version 0.6.0 the 1Password manager extension support has been added to the signup and login screens - no action is required from the developer - if 1Password is installed on the iOS device the lock icon will appear in the password fields on those screen and will allow user to fill in his saved password (login) or create a new one (signup). Only recommendation is adding LSApplicationQueriesSchemes = org-appextension-feature-password-management key-value to your info.plist file in your app project.

For additional information read here.

Customization

Customize setup look and feel by accessing the ParticleSetupCustomization singleton appearance proxy [ParticleSetupCustomization sharedInstance] and modify its default properties. Setting the properties in this class is optional. These properies are shown in Objective-C syntax for convenience but work the same for Swift projects - use String, Bool instead of NSString and BOOL.

In v0.9 brandImageBackgroundImage has been introduced in order to improve support for iPhone X. With introduction with iPhone X, the status bar is no longer fixed at 20px as it was since the original iPhone. To keep changes to API small brandImage should remain at 64px height (@1x). Top 20px (@1x) should still remain clear and the logo should be in the lower 44px (@1x). We suggest keeping this image with transparent background. If your design requires pattern or color under the logo, please use brandImageBackgroundColor or brandImageBackgroundImage respectively.

Product/brand info:

 NSString *deviceName;                  // Device/product name
 UIImage *productImage;                 // Custom product image to display in "Get ready" screen *new*
 NSString *brandName;                   // Your brand name
 UIImage *brandImage;                   // Your brand logo to fit in header of setup wizard screens
 UIColor *brandImageBackgroundColor;    // brand logo background color
 UIImage *brandImageBackgroundImage;    // brand logo background image (introduced in v0.9)
 NSString *instructionalVideoFilename;  // Instructional video shown landscape full screen mode when "Show me how" button pressed on second setup screen

Technical data:

 NSString *modeButtonName;              // The mode button name on your product
 NSString *listenModeLEDColorName;      // The color of the LED when product is in listen mode
 NSString *networkNamePrefix;           // The SSID prefix of the Soft AP Wi-Fi network of your product while in listen mode

Links for legal/technical info:

 NSURL *termsOfServiceLinkURL;      // URL for terms of service of the app/device usage
 NSURL *privacyPolicyLinkURL;       // URL for privacy policy of the app/device usage

Look & feel:

 UIColor *pageBackgroundColor;     // setup screens background color
 UIImage *pageBackgroundImage;     // optional background image for setup screens
 UIColor *normalTextColor;         // normal text color
 UIColor *linkTextColor;           // link text color (will be underlined)
 UIColor *elementBackgroundColor;  // Buttons/spinners background color
 UIColor *elementTextColor;        // Buttons text color
 NSString *normalTextFontName;     // Customize setup font - include OTF/TTF file in project
 NSString *boldTextFontName;       // Customize setup font - include OTF/TTF file in project
 CGFloat fontSizeOffset;           // Set offset of font size so small/big fonts can be fine-adjusted
 BOOL tintSetupImages;             // This will tint the checkmark/warning/wifi symbols in the setup process to match text color (useful for dark backgrounds)
 BOOL lightStatusAndNavBar;        // Make navigation and status bar appear in white or black color characters to contrast the selected brandImage color // *New since v0.6.1*

Product creators

If you're developing an app for your product / you're a product creator you should set productMode to YES (or true for Swift) - this will enable product mode which uses different API endpoints to allow adding/setting up devices assigned to your product.

If you set productMode to YES / true be sure to also provide the productId (and productName) - please read here about how to find your productId number.

Make sure you inject the ParticleCloud class with scoped OAuth credentials for creating customers, so app users could create an account. Read here on how to do it correctly.

 BOOL productMode;              // enable product mode
 NSString *productName;         // product display name
 NSUInteger productId;              // Product Id number from Particle console

Skipping authentication:

 BOOL allowSkipAuthentication;          // Allow user to skip authentication (skip button will appear on signup and login screens)
 NSString *skipAuthenticationMessage;   // Message to display to user when she's requesting to skip authentication (Yes/No question)

Advanced

You can get an active instance of the set up device - ParticleDevice by making your viewcontroller conform to protocol <ParticleSetupMainControllerDelegate> when setup wizard completes successfully:

Objective-C

-(void)particleSetupViewController:(ParticleSetupMainController *)controller didFinishWithResult:(ParticleSetupMainControllerResult)result device:(ParticleDevice *)device;

Swift

func particleSetupViewController(controller: ParticleSetupMainController!, didFinishWithResult result: ParticleSetupMainControllerResult, device: ParticleDevice!)

method will be called, if (result == ParticleSetupMainControllerResultSuccess) or (or simply (result == .Success) in Swift) the device parameter will contain an active ParticleDevice instance you can interact with using the iOS Cloud SDK. In case setup failed, aborted or was cancalled you can determine the exact reason by consulting the documentation of the enum value ParticleSetupMainControllerResult. See here for additional details.

If setup failed and you can still determine the device ID of the last device that was tried to be setup and failed by conforming to the @optional delegate function: (new since 0.5.0)

Objective-C

- (void)particleSetupViewController:(ParticleSetupMainController *)controller didNotSucceeedWithDeviceID:(NSString *)deviceID;

Swift

func particleSetupViewController(controller: ParticleSetupMainController!, didNotSucceeedWithDeviceID deviceID: String)

Example

Cocoapods usage example app (in Swift) can be found here. Example app demonstates - invoking the setup wizard, customizing its UI and using the returned ParticleDevice instance once setup wizard completes (delegate). Feel free to contribute to the example by submitting pull requests.

Reference

Check out the Reference in Cocoadocs website or consult the javadoc style comments in ParticleSetupCustomization.h and ParticleSetupMainController.h for each public method or property. If the Device Setup library installation completed successfully in your XCode project - you should be able to press Esc to get an auto-complete hints from XCode for each public method or property in the library.

Installation

Cocoapods

Particle Device Setup library is available through CocoaPods. Cocoapods is an easy to use dependency manager for iOS. You must have Cocoapods installed, if you don't then be sure to Install Cocoapods before you start: To install the iOS Device Setup library, create a text file named Podfile on main project folder, it should contain:

source 'https://github.com/CocoaPods/Specs.git'

target 'YourAppName' do
    pod 'ParticleSetup'
end

Replace YourAppName with your app target name - usually shown as the root item name in the XCode project, then run pod update in your shell. A new .xcworkspace file will be created for you to open by Cocoapods, open that workspace file in Xcode and you can start invoking a new instance of the setup process viewcontroller - refer to the examples above. Don't forget to add #import "ParticleSetup.h" to the source file in which you want to invoke setup in (that is not required for swift projects).

Support for Swift projects

To use Particle Device Setup library from within Swift based projects - you'll need to configure a bridging header - please read here, as an additional resource you can consult official Apple documentation on the matter.

Carthage

Starting version 0.4.0 Particle iOS device setup library is available through Carthage. Carthage is intended to be the simplest way to add frameworks to your Cocoa application. Be sure to install Carthage before you start. Then to build the Particle iOS device setup library, simply create a Cartfile on your project root folder (that's important), containing the following line:

github "particle-iot/particle-setup-ios" ~> 0.6.0

and then run the following command: carthage update --platform iOS --use-submodules --no-use-binaries.

you can also re-use/copy the bin/setup shell script in your project, find it here

A new folder will be created in your project root folder - when Carthage checkout and builds are done, navigate to the ./Carthage/Build/iOS folder and drag all the created .frameworks files into your project in XCode. Go to your XCode target settings->General->Embedded binaries and press + and add all the .framework files there too - make sure the ParticleDeviceSetupLibrary.framework, ParticleSDK.framework and the AFNetworking.framework are listed there. Build your project - you now have the Particle SDK embedded in your project. Use #import <ParticleDeviceSetupLibrary/ParticleDeviceSetupLibrary.h> in Obj-C files or import ParticleDeviceSetupLibrary for Swift files to gain access to ParticleSetupMainController (see usage example).

No need for any special process or operation integrating the Device Setup Library with Swift-based or Swift-dependant projects.

License

Particle Cloud SDK and Particle Device Setup library are available under the Apache License 2.0.