PM80470: LAUNCHING AN IOS APPLICATION FAILS WITH ERROR: APPLICATION FAILED TO CONNECT TO THE SERVICE.

IBM Worklight V5.0.5.1 and IBM Mobile Foundation V5.0.5.1

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• When an iOS application is launched and installed, it doesn't
  start properly and an error similar to the following is present
  in the log.
  [ERROR] Client init failed. Connection to the service is not
  available.
  However, the service is up and running fine.
  

Local fix

• On the last line of postInitOnMainThread in
  WLCordovaAppDelegate, the following line may be added:
  
  [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter]
  postNotificationName:@"finishLoadingWebView" object:nil];
  
  This will let user register the event of finishLoadingWebView.
  

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED:  Users with iOS applications that load       *
  *                  remote content from the server              *
  *                  very early during startup.                  *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION: In an attempt to get an iOS             *
  *                      application                             *
  *                      to start up quickly, steps are often    *
  *                      taken in a separate thread to get work  *
  *                      done in parallel.  If this is the       *
  *                      case, and an attempt is made to         *
  *                      load remote content from the            *
  *                      server, there is a chance that the      *
  *                      webview used to display the content     *
  *                      will not yet be initialized.  That      *
  *                      will result in the error "Connection    *
  *                      to the service is not available" being  *
  *                      present in the log.                     *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
  ****************************************************************
  This problem was discovered in sample
  module_45_2_ContainerForAdvancedPages.  Changes
  that caused this problem were triggered by trying to get the
  application to load as quickly as possible (iOS guidelines
  limitations), and do all the heavy work in the background in a
  separate thread.  When trying to access the webview
  on didFinishLoadWithOptions the webview is null because the
  application loaded quickly but the webview was loaded on
  separate thread.
  

Problem conclusion

• On the last line of postInitOnMainThread in
  WLCordovaAppDelegate the following line was added
  [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter]
  postNotificationName:@"finishLoadingWebView" object:nil];
  
  This will let user register the event of finishLoadingWebView.
  
  The application code will be for example:
  
  //Additional method used to determine URL for remote loading
  - (NSString*) getRemoteURL{
    NSString* plistLoc =[[NSBundle
  mainBundle]pathForResource:@"worklight" ofType:@"plist"];
    if(plistLoc == nil){
    [NSException raise:@"[Remote Load I
  Error]" format:@"Unable to locate worklight.plist"];
    }
    NSDictionary* wlProps = [NSDictionary
  dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:plistLoc];
    NSString* proto = [wlProps valueForKey:@"protocol"]
    NSString* host = [wlProps valueForKey:@"host"];
    NSString* port = [wlProps valueForKey:@"port"];
    //Ensure all required keys are in the plist
    if(proto == nil || host == nil || port == nil){
    [NSException raise:@"[Remote Load I
  Error]" format:@"host, port and protocol are all required keys
  in worklight.plist"];
    }
    NSString* baseURL = [NSString
  stringWithFormat:@"%@://%@:%@%@", proto, host, port,
  @"/conference"];
    return baseURL;
  }
  
  -(void) loadRemoteURL:(NSNotification *)notification {
    NSURL* remoteURL = [NSURL URLWithString:[self
  getRemoteURL]];
    NSURLRequest* request = [NSURLRequest
  requestWithURL:remoteURL];
    [self.viewController.webView loadRequest:request];
  }
  //Used to remotely load starting page
  -(BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application
  didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary *)launchOptions
  {
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self
  selector:@selector(loadRemoteURL:)
  name:@"finishLoadingWebView" object:nil];
    BOOL superResult = [super application:application
  didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:launchOptions];
    return superResult;
  }
  
  
  The fix for this APAR is currently targeted for inclusion in
  fixpack 5.0.5.1.
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  MOBILE FNDTN EN

• Fixed component ID

  5725G9200

Applicable component levels

• R500 PSY

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