Lessons from developing anIphone App + Server backend

Sujee Maniyamhello@sujee.nethttp://sujee.nethttp://DiscountsForMe.netFeb 2010

Quiz

• PRIZE!

• Where was this picture taken?

My Background

• Developer (enterprise, web)• Java / Php / Ruby / obj-C• First iphone app (Apr 2009)

Target Audience

• Iphone app developers• Server backend developers

for mobile apps• Expert level:

Beginner - Intermediate

Why Client-Server Apps?

• Some apps run fine on the device disconnected (Tips calculator)

• “I think” majority of SMART apps in the future will have a server backend

• Some cool apps– Amazon– Yelp– Red Laser– Countless games

Server Backend gives you…

• A community (games, social interactions)• Push Notification• Heavy computational lifting (image

recognition)• Up-to date data (bar code scanners)• ‘collective intelligence’ (most popular item

today is…)

My App: DiscountsForMe

• Shows member benefits• Based on location• V2.0 in app store• Memberships:– Public radio (KQED, WHYY)– Bank of America card– AARP– More…

Architecture

• Server (DiscountsForMe.net) serves data• Server is Rails app• Iphone app talks to the server• <Insert usual

SERVER ---- INTERNET CLOUD ---- IPHONEpicture here>

Web App / Mobile App ?

• What should server side code support?• Are you adding mobile support for an existing

web-app?• Just mobile platform? (simpler ??)• Hybrid (web + mobile) more work– DiscountsForMe is a hybrid app

1) Connectivity : Simple Start

• First cut : App made three server calls at startup– ping()– Get_X()– Get_Y()

• Simulator • Iphone over Wi-fi• Iphone over 3G • LAG-TIME is a problem

Connectivity : Minimize Lag Time

• Noticeable lag time over 3G/Edge• Reducing lag time– Show cached data– Download in background– Condense network calls (especially if the user is waiting

for data)• So, condensed call becomes– Get_X()– Get_Y()get_X_Y()

Iphone Connectivity

• BIG LESSON 1 : – Test on IPHONE (not just simulator)– Test with WiFi OFF! (3G can be slow to connect, EDGE

even worse)– You may need to reorganize the logic to improve

response time (I had to)

• LESSON 2– Test in AirPlane Mode (all RADIOS off)

(a frequent reason network apps are rejected )

Network setup – WIFI

• Home networkover WIFI

• Run local serveron laptop

• Iphone + Simulatorcan connect just fine

Setup for 3G

Network Setup for 3G

• Need a public IP• Use a hosted server• Or use your cable modem public-IP and have

your router do port-forwarding• DYNDNS : http://www.dyndns.com/

2) Talking to Server : Format• Choices : XML, JSON, other (csv, binary – protobuf/thift)

•JSON smaller size than XML (50% less)

• Json : use TouchJSON library http://code.google.com/p/touchcode/wiki/TouchJSON

• JSON String Touch Json NSDictionary (yay!)

• XML : NSXML(sdk) / TouchXML / KissXMLhttp://www.71squared.co.uk/2009/05/processing-xml-on-the-iphone/

• Rails makes it real easy to send Json/xml– Some_obj.to_json– Some_obj.to_xml

Keeping it small• Trim objects

– No need to send all attributes– Active records have extra attributes (created_at, updated_at ..etc)

• Example:# specify attributes to serialize obj.to_json(:only => [:name, :age])

# combine other my_response = {} my_response[:book_name] = book.name my_response[:author_name] = book.author.name render(:json => my_response.to_json())

- Compress (zip) response

GET vs POST

• iPhone SDK has a simple switch to control GET / POST

• What is the difference in Rails?– Post requests have ‘authenticity token’ for cookie

based sessions– Use DB based sessions or turn off authenticity-

protection

Agenda

• Connectivity• Data format• Secure Data transfer• UDIDs, Keys, analytics• Controlling app from server

Secure Data Transfer

• Plain HTTP is fine most of the time• If you want to secure data– Symmetric key encryption (shared ‘seckr3t’ key on

Iphone app and server)– Public-private key encryption (e.g. SSH) : private

key on server, public key on iphone– Enter : HTTPS

Secure data transfer : httpS

• SSL is ‘good enough’ for most of us• Get a proper SSL certificate ($30). Self-signed

certs don’t work by default• Beware connection time is a little longer for

httpS• Verify your ssl certificate is installed properly

http://www.digicert.com/help/

Verify SSL Cert…

Break & Quiz

Agenda

• Connectivity• Data format• Secure Data transfer• UDIDs, Keys, multiple versions, analytics• Controlling app from server

What do I send to the server?

• Think about including– UDID (device id)– And a Key (compiled within the app)

• http://example.com/iphone/foo?udid=xxxx&key=yyyy

• Why?

Unique Device ID (UDID)

• Each iphone has a unique ID, etched in hardware (just like MAC address)

• Your app can send UDID with each request• Uses– metrics on app usage– Easy account creation (no signup)

Identify a User (Device)

• UDID can help you ‘auto –create’ accounts on server– Eg. High scores of games

• Allow users to create a custom user name later

• Beware of a user using multiple devices (multiple UDIDs)

Metrics

• Client Side metrics• Server side metrics

Client Side Metrics

– Code embedded in your iphone app– Usage, Users (new, repeat), session length– Few companies (Flurry, Pinch Media ..etc)– Pretty easy to integrate– Nice dashboards– Free! (mostly)

Metrics : Client Side

Server Side Metrics

– why?– Some things are easily measured on server side– ‘collective intelligence’• Popular discounts

– Security audits• Isolating an IP-address doing too many requests /

scraping– Easy to extract data / graphs ..etc– Needs a bit of work on your side

Sample Server Side log data

• Device_id : iphone, android, web, • Location• Ip_address• Response_time• Response_data_size• Client_key• Created_at• Updated_at

Server Side Metric : Time To Serve

• Want to measure the time spent on each request

• use around_filter in Controllerclass MyController

around_filter :log_access, :only => [:get_A]

Response Time …

def log_access start_time = Time.now yield end_time = Time.now elapsed = ((end_time - start_time)*1000.0).to_intEnd

Server side Metric 2) Response Size

def log_access start_time = Time.now yield end_time = Time.now elapsed = ((end_time - start_time)*1000.0).to_int response_data_size = response.body.lengthEnd

Response Time Chart

Time (ms)

Response Size Chart

• Response size (kbytes)

Access keys

• Keys are random, ‘sekret’ strings compiled into the iphone app

• Sample key = “iphone_v1.0_xklajdfoi2” (human readable + ‘hard to guess’)

• Start using ‘access keys’ from day-1• Each request to server must have a valid key• Uses– Easy to control client access (Prevent scraping, DOS ..etc)– Monitoring (what versions are being used)– Support multiple versions, easy upgrade

Access Keys

In controller: @@keys = [ "iphone_v0.0_foobar” , "iphone_v1.0_afajiu” , "iphone_v2.0_fi98d”, "iphone_v2.0_plus_fsafa” , "android_v1.0_fasjlkuo” ]

@@keys_premium = ["iphone_v2.0_plus_fsfa"]

Supporting multiple versions

• May be supporting 2-3 client versions at a time (users don’t always run the latest)

• Keep old ‘API’ around, build-out new APIif (is_v2_or_later(key)){ do something }else {do some thing else}

• This can get convoluted (see next page…)

Supporting multiple clients…

Supporting Multiple Clients…

• Have different controllers handle different client versions#define SERVER @”https://foo.com/iphone1”#define SERVER @”https://foo.com/iphone2”

• Make sure to avoid code duplication• Plan-B : End-of-life

If ( ! is_supported_version(key)){ send_msg(“please upgrade”);}

Server side : keeping it secure• Make sure ‘secret stuff’ doesn’t get logged in log-files• In Rails :

class Mobile::MobileController < ApplicationControllerfilter_parameter_logging [:key, :uid]

end

• Output:Processing IphoneController#get_memberships_and_discounts (for

166.137.132.167 at 2009-07-02 16:07:41) [POST] Session ID: 126e5a73742f92f85c1158ea63fd960a Parameters: {"loc"=>"39.282440,-76.765693",

"action"=>"get_memberships_and_discounts", "uid"=>”[FILTERED]", "controller"=>"mobile/iphone", "dist"=>"25", "mems"=>"", "key"=>"[FILTERED]"}

Example : Controllers

• MobileController– IPhoneController < MobileController– AndroidController < MobileController

• Most of the shared logic in ‘MobileController’• Sample iPhone controller

Class IphoneController < MobileController def client_type_id 3 end end

Example …Class MobileController @@valid_keys = [……] def ping

to_ret = {} begin

validate to_ret[:status] = “OK”

rescue to_ret[:error] = $1.message

end render (:json => to_ret.to_json)

endend

Example …Def validate #verify the key if (params[:key].blank?) raise DiscountsError, "dude, where is my key?" end if (params[:uid].blank?) raise DiscountsError, "dude, who are you?" end unless (@@valid_keys .has_key?(params[:key])) raise DiscountsError, "un supported version, please upgrade" end endend

Controlling app behavior from Server

Control …

• Apps changes are not easy to ‘get out’– Approval process takes time– Users may not upgrade to latest version

• Server changes are under your control and easy to deploy

• So build in control-switches in the app, that can be directed from server

Control…

• One example: should display ads?– show_ads : {none | admob | tapjoy}

• Alert Messages:– “try our new version that has cool feature XYZ”

Server Logistics

• Choosing a hosting plan• Deploy• monitoring

Hosting

• Shared hosting is fine, but others might swamp your DB, CPU ..etc

• If you can, get a VPS (Virtual Private Server)– Plans start from $20 / month (SliceHost, Hosting-

Rails ..etc)– You have full ROOT access to the server (install

packages, run CRON jobs ..etc)• EC2 is great also (for testing, scaling)

Server : When to get it

• Don’t wait till TESTING phase!• Get it from DAY-1, WEEK-1• Can use DNS services like DYNDNS to test on

your own workstation, during development• Work on easy deploy scripts– Capistrano– Or rsync

Monitoring

• So you know when your server is down• Pingdom / CloudKick

Other Resources

• http://www.slideshare.net/raminf/iphone-backend-servers

by Ramin Firoozye• Restful web services

Thanks!

• Sujee Maniyam– hello@sujee.net– http://sujee.net

• http://DiscountsForMe.net

• Questions?