How to show a loader in CarPlay Parking App

Is it possible to show a UIActivityIndicatorView or other loader class in a CarPlay Parking app?

I saw that one doesn't have access to the CPWindow in a Parking app -- only in navigation apps. So there doesn't seem to be a way to attach a subView to something.

I also went through the CPTemplates that are available to Parking apps searching for functions that might suggest that they would display a loader but couldn't find anything.

In the interface guidelines it mentions showing loaders in CarPlay apps. So I'm thinking there must be a way to do so. Unless this human interface guideline page only applies to navigation apps only.
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sschmitt
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All CarPlay Apps have access to the CPWindow in iOS 14. See Our WWDC20 Session for more information.
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ricob
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All CarPlay Apps have access to the CPWindow in iOS 14. See Our WWDC20 Session for more information.
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ricob
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I tried to access the CPWindow that is attached to templateApplicationScene inside the following callback:

Code Block 
func templateApplicationScene(_ templateApplicationScene: CPTemplateApplicationScene, didConnect interfaceController: CPInterfaceController)


But the debugger consistently prints <uninitialized> when examining the object.
Here a gist that includes a screenshot to further illustrate this.

The description of the CPWindow also reads:

Navigation apps use a window to render their maps, and CarPlay provides one via the scene delegate’s templateApplicationScene(:didConnect:to:)method. For all other categories of apps, you use templates exclusively to draw your user interface, and your scene delegate must implement templateApplicationScene(:didConnect:)instead.

The app I'm working on is a CarPlay parking app.

Is the description of CPWindow not up to date? I'm using Xcode Version 12.0.1 (12A7300)
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sschmitt
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I watched the video but it doesn't make any reference to Window access or how to display a spinner in Templates like CPPointOfInterestTemplate. The only Template that seems to support spinners without requiring access to CPWindow is CPListTemplate (as shown in the video).
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sschmitt
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@sschmitt, did you find out any solution to this?

Looking into the documentation of CPTemplateApplicationSceneDelegate method,
templateApplicationScene(:didConnect:to:) says


@note This method is provided only for navigation apps; other apps should use the variant that does not provide a window.

So I am assuming CPWindow is not accessible for non-navigation Carplay apps. Which seems to contradict the official answer of ricob.

What are your thoughts on this?





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razvantheman
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