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App Intents
2024/10/26
Swift Developer Podcast - App development and discussion
J
Jeff
使用ChatGPT来改善关系和解决争论
Jeff: App Intents 允许用户通过多种方式与应用交互,无需每次都打开应用。这包括快捷指令、Spotlight、Widgets、Siri 等。App Intents 的核心是将应用的单个原子化操作暴露给系统,以便与其他应用或系统操作结合使用。最初,App Intents 主要与快捷指令结合使用,但其应用范围已扩展到自定义控件、焦点过滤器、Spotlight 操作、实时活动等。一个好的 App Intent 应用场景是用户在无意识中使用它,例如通过 Siri 完成特定操作。在 Bark 应用中,我使用 App Intent 来显示条形码,未来会将其扩展到 Spotlight 搜索。App Intents 的设计理念是将应用设计为一系列操作,而不是 UI,然后构建 UI 来执行这些操作。每个应用操作都应该对应一个 App Intent,以便用户可以重新组合应用的功能。这使得应用更强大,用户体验更好,并且可以跨平台使用。
Jeff: App Intents 的核心是将应用的单个原子化操作暴露给系统,以便与其他应用或系统操作结合使用。我最初为 Bark 应用只提供了有限数量的快捷指令,但未来会添加更多,以提供更细粒度的功能访问。通过将应用功能细粒度地暴露为 App Intents,用户可以构建自己的界面,无需开发者构建复杂的UI。将应用的所有功能暴露给系统,可以让用户在无需打开应用的情况下使用应用的功能。App Intents 可以让小部件更具可定制性,而不是提供大量不同的预设小部件。随着 AI 技术的进步,App Intents 将在用户与设备的自然交互中发挥更大的作用。App Intents 可以简化 UI 设计,并实现跨平台的一致性。
Jeff: 创建 App Intent 的过程非常简单,无需进行额外的注册或配置。可以通过添加属性包装器来为 App Intent 添加额外的配置参数。App Parameter 属性包装器允许从用户处获取额外的参数,例如字符串、数字、文件或 URL。App Entity 是应用中数据的表示,可以通过 App Entity Query 查询。App Entity Query 适用于有限数量的项目,例如用户搜索过的城市,而不是所有城市。App Intent 可以执行应用可以执行的任何操作,包括网络调用,但并非不受限制。可以通过快捷指令访问照片库,而无需在应用中直接请求照片权限。App Entity Query 允许通过标识符查找实体,并提供建议实体列表。可以通过采用 Widget Configuration Intent 协议来为小部件添加自定义功能。App Entity 查询允许应用向系统公开其数据,并在小部件配置中使用。可以通过隐藏参数和 openWhenRun 属性来简化 App Intent 的调用流程。
Peter: App Intents 的应用和开发,以及如何设计以操作为中心的应用。
supporting_evidences
Jeff: 'There is some great Docker containers for doing Swift development...'
Jeff: 'So this week, I think I have finally wrapped up the update for Job Finder Tracker...'
Jeff: 'So what an App Intent is, in a very broad way, is it gives you the ability to, for users in different ways...'
Jeff: 'I would say that app intents are basically a way of exposing a single atomic action...'
Jeff: 'And what the... Biggest benefit and also the biggest curse of doing app intense with shortcuts is that...'
Jeff: 'However, as I've explored more into App Intents and as I've explored more into what they're capable of...'
Jeff: 'I think maybe the definition here of like a really good use of an app intent is when the user doesn't realize they're using one...'
Jeff: 'For example, in my app Bark, I've got a intent that just shows you a given barcode...'
Jeff: 'Being able to configure a widget...'
Jeff: 'And he has a article called Action-Centered Design...'
Jeff: 'So if I'm thinking about my app Bark, for example, I can...'
Jeff: 'And I started scribbling down a list...'
Jeff: 'and I have no idea if I pronounced that name right, so sorry, Michael. Talking about like really, honestly, you really should have every single action that your app can do exposed as an app intent...'
Jeff: 'But I do know that in a future release, I have like 10 more that I want to do because I want every tiny piece of the app available...'
Jeff: 'And so it allows for all of these individual actions all of these individual things that a lot of them are in fact already in the app but you know take a bunch of taps or take a bunch of of uh steps to do and if i expose them as app intense in a very granular fashion users are basically able to build their own interface for it'
Jeff: 'gives them the benefit of your app without you having to build out special features explicitly...'
Jeff: 'I think that would have made a better experience where you are using App Intents to take a more limited user interface...'
Jeff: 'But as things like AI and that come along and you have this more, hopefully, natural conversation with your devices...'
Jeff: 'Having all of this in your actual UI means that you've made your UI more complicated for everyone...'
Jeff: 'Okay, so I'm going to give you a very simple example here based on the videos...'
Jeff: 'But that is all you need to do to get a very basic working app intent that's exposed to the system...'
Jeff: 'So yeah, the basic app intent, as you described, is just a Swift struct with a certain protocol and a few default parameters...'
Jeff: 'And you can take in a bunch of different values...'
Jeff: 'And that's called an app entity...'
Jeff: 'Cricket has a question about can you still define a model? Yes, question mark...'
Jeff: 'So, for example, a better example here would be a weather app...'
Jeff: 'App entities can basically do anything an app can do...'
Jeff: 'But one thing that you can do right now if you really want to have access to your photo library...'
Jeff: 'So yeah, we talked about app entities...'
Jeff: 'So let's go ahead...'
Jeff: 'Is that you are telling the app, hey, here's how my data is exposed to the system and here's what might go in here...'
Jeff: 'So let's go ahead. You've definitely got more experience with that side of things than I do...'
Jeff: 'I guess it's kind of like that writing functions, right? Write a small function that does one thing.'
Deep Dive
This chapter introduces App Intents, explaining their core functionality: enabling users to interact with apps without launching them. It explores various access points like Spotlight, widgets, Siri, and shortcuts, highlighting their potential for enhancing user experience.
- App Intents allow users to interact with apps without opening them.
- Access points include Spotlight, widgets, Siri, Control Center, and shortcut actions.
- They are a way to expose atomic actions for seamless user interaction.
Shownotes Transcript