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Using the IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation (MFP) Xamarin SDK Push Notifications for Android

@ajaychebbi IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation

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Push Notifications - the basics

Notifications come to your device via the Cloud services hosted by the OS vendorGoogle Cloud Messaging service (GCM)

Apple Push Notification service (APNS)

Windows Notification Service (WNS)

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Push Notifications - the basics

You have to do a bunch of handshakes and registrations e.g. above is for GCM

Eventually the notification message goes from “your Server”

There is also the maintenance of devices and users and un-installs etc.

Excellent info on how it works at Xamarin.com

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Push Notifications – pre reqs

This is going to be a long process to understand – so hang in there

More info here http://developer.xamarin.com/guides/cross-platform/application_fundamentals/notifications/android/remote_notifications_in_android/

Setup the Google API project and get the senderID and key

– If you dont have it, get it at https://code.google.com/apis/console

Also make sure you have the “Google APIs” emulator image (a real device works much faster)

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Push Notifications – MFP setup Copy WorklightSample\worklight\WorklightSample\apps\

androidWorklightSample\push.png to Resources\drawable

A sample adapter is shipped with the component that will be used to manage the server side message sending etc

– Copy the component\worklightAssets\PushAdapter sample to WorklightSample\worklight\WorklightSample\adapters

–Create a security test “MySecurityTest” in Xtest\worklight\Xtest\server\conf\authenticationConfig.xml under <securityTests>

<securityTests> <mobileSecurityTest name="MySecurityTest">

<testUser realm="SampleAppRealm"/> <testDeviceId provisioningType="none"/> </mobileSecurityTest>..</securityTests>

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Push Notifications – Worklight setup

Add the Google API Key and sender ID in WorklightSample\worklight\WorklightSample\apps\androidWorklightSample\application-descriptor.xml

Also add the securityTest as “MySecurityTest”<nativeAndroidApp id="androidXtest" platformVersion="6.2.0.00.20140825-1637"

version="1.0" xmlns="http://www.worklight.com/native-android-descriptor" securityTest="MySecurityTest">

<displayName>androidXtest</displayName><description>androidXtest</description><pushSender key="YOUR_GCM_KEY" senderId="YOUR_GCM_ID"/> <publicSigningKey></publicSigningKey><packageName></packageName>

</nativeAndroidApp>

Add the GCMSenderID to assets\wlclient.properties#For Push Notifications,uncomment below line and assign value to itGcmSenderId = YOUR_GCM_ID

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Push Notifications – App

Android application requires the following three things:

•Permissions - An Android application must be granted permission to use the internet and to receive messages from Google Cloud Messaging.

•BroadcastReceiver - A BroadcastReceiver must be configured to listen for the Intents that the Google Services Framework will publish when a message is received from Google Cloud Messaging.

•IntentService - The BroadcastReceiver will not handle the Intents itself, instead it will invoke an IntentService that will process the messages.

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Push Notifications – App Configuration

Define Permissions in Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs// This will prevent other apps on the device from receiving GCM messages for this app

// It is crucial that the package name does not start with an uppercase letter - this is forbidden by Android.[assembly: Permission(Name = "@PACKAGE_NAME@.permission.C2D_MESSAGE")][assembly: UsesPermission(Name = "@PACKAGE_NAME@.permission.C2D_MESSAGE")]

// Gives the app permission to register and receive messages.[assembly: UsesPermission(Name = "com.google.android.c2dm.permission.RECEIVE")]

// This permission is necessary only for Android 4.0.3 and below.[assembly: UsesPermission(Name = "android.permission.GET_ACCOUNTS")]

// Need to access the internet for GCM[assembly: UsesPermission(Name = "android.permission.INTERNET")]

// Needed to keep the processor from sleeping when a message arrives[assembly: UsesPermission(Name = "android.permission.WAKE_LOCK")]

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Push Notifications – App Configuration

BroadcastReceiver and Intent

Define BroadcastReceiver and Intent Service in properties\AndroidManifest.xml

Worklight provides a inbuilt broadcast receiver and Intent service – so just add them to the manifest

<service android:name="com.worklight.wlclient.push.GCMIntentService" /> <receiver android:name="com.worklight.wlclient.push.WLBroadcastReceiver" android:permission="com.google.android.c2dm.permission.SEND"><intent-filter>

<action android:name="com.google.android.c2dm.intent.RECEIVE" /> <category android:name="worklightsample.android" /> </intent-filter>

<intent-filter> <action android:name="com.google.android.c2dm.intent.REGISTRATION" /> <category android:name="worklightsample.android" /> </intent-filter> </receiver>

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Push Notifications – App ConfigurationDefine a IntentFilter for a activity in the app•Make sure app_name in Strings.xml is WorklightSample.Android

•Edit MainActivity.cs and add the following IntentFilter[IntentFilter (new[]{" worklightsample.android.WorklightSample.Android.NOTIFICATION"} ,

Categories=new[]{Intent.CategoryDefault})]

Format: [package].[app_name from Strings.xml].NOTIFICATION

•Override the lifecycle methods of MainActivity.csprotected override void OnResume ()

{base.OnResume(); wlClient.PushService.Foreground = true;

}protected override void OnPause (){

base.OnPause(); wlClient.PushService.Foreground = false;}protected override void OnDestroy (){

base.OnDestroy(); wlClient.PushService.UnregisterReceivers ();}

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Push Notifications – lets send a message Execute the adapter to send a message

C:\dev\workspaces\Xtest\worklight\Xtest>mfp invoke

[?] Which adapter do you want to use? PushAdapter

[?] Enter the comma-separated parameters: "worklight","Hello!"

Eventually you will use APIs in the adapter to send notifications from your server side application

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Push Notifications – the Notification!

If app is in foreground – the Android activity gets the notification

If the app is in the background – you see the notification on the notification bar

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Push Notifications – API

The first step is to create an instance of the WLClient class:IworklightClient wlClient = Worklight.Xamarin.Android.WorklightClient.CreateInstance (this);

WorklightPushService pushService = wlClient.PushService;

You do all push notification operations from the WorklightPushService

ReadyToSubscribe Event – When connecting to a Worklight Server, the app attempts to register itself with the GCM server to receive push notifications. Called when the registration is complete.

InitRegistration() - To initiate the registration sequence.client.PushService.ReadyToSubscribe += HandleReadyToSubscribe;client.PushService.InitRegistration();

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Push Notifications – API

Use the RegisterEventSourceNotificationCallback method to register an alias on a particular event source.void HandleReadyToSubscribe(object sender, EventArgs a){

Console.WriteLine ("We are ready to subscribe to the notification service!!");client.PushService.RegisterEventSourceNotificationCallback

(pushAlias,"PushAdapter","PushEventSource",new NotificationListener ());client.PushService.SubscribeToEventSource(pushAlias,new

Dictionary<string,string>());}

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Push Notifications – API

Listener gets the notificationspublic class NotificationListener:WorklightPushNotificationListener

{public void OnMessage(JsonObject NotificationProperties, JsonObject Payload){

Console.WriteLine ("Got notification!");Console.WriteLine (NotificationProperties.ToString ());

}}

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