[aerogear-dev] AeroGear Push Message Format

[Matthias Wessendorf]

This document is devided in two sections:

   - Native Push (Android and iOS)
   - SimplePush (web-based Push)

<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#native-push>Native Push

The Unified Push Server allows two different ways to send message to the
native Push API, of the supported devices:

   - broadcast
      - to all MobileVariants and their MobileVariant Instances (devices)
      - to one specific MobileVariant and its MobileVariant Instances
       (devices)
   - seletive Send

<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#broadcast>Broadcast

curl -v -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json"
   -H "ag-push-application: {PushApplicationID}
   -H "ag-mobile-variant: {MobileVariantID}
   -X POST
   -d '{"key":"value", "key2":"other value", "alert":"HELLO!",
"sound":"default", "badge":7}'
http://localhost:8080/ag-push/rest/sender/broadcast

If the ag-push-application header is used, a message is send to a
PushApplication and *ALL*MobileVariantIncances will receive the message.

If the ag-mobile-variant header is used, a message is send to a particular
MobileVariant and *ALL* of its MobileVariantIncances will receive the
message.
<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#message-format>Message
Format

The message format is very simple: A generic JSON map is used to send
messages to Android and iOS devices. The applications on the devices will
receive the JSON map and are responsible for performing a lookup to read
values of the given keys.
<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#ios-special-keys>iOS
special keys

If the JSON map contains on of the following reserved keywords, Apple
specific hooks will be invoked on the device:

   - alert (triggers a dialog, displaying the value - no iOS API needs to
   be invoked by the app developer)
   - sound (plays a given sound - no iOS API needs to be invoked by the app
   developer)
   - badge (sets the value of the badge icon - no iOS API needs to be
   invoked by the app developer)

<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#android-special-keys>Android
special keys

None! The JSON map is submitted as it is, directly to the device. There are
no Android specific keywords.
<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#selective-send>Selective
Send

A message is send to a restricted number of MobileVariantIncances, based on
a given criteria. The following example shows the correspondent HTTP
interface:

curl -v -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json"
   -X POST

   -d '{
      "alias" : ["user at account.com", "jay at redhat.org", ....],

      "deviceType" : ["iPad", "AndroidTablet"],

      "message": {"key":"value", "key2":"other value", "alert":"HELLO!"}
   }'
http://localhost:8080/ag-push/rest/sender/selected/{PushApplicationID}

<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#message-format-1>Message
Format

Besides the actual payload the the API accepts a few *classifiers* to
select a subset of registered devices.
<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#query-component>Query
component

Currently the Server will support the following query criterias:

   - alias: A list of email address (or usernames) to send messages to
*ALL* devices
   of the users. Thealias needs to be stored, when the device is
   registering itself with the server. See here for
details<https://github.com/matzew/ag-client-push-sdk/blob/master/push-sdk/AGClientDeviceInformation.h#L48-L52>
   - deviceType: A list of raw devices types that should receive the
   message (e.g. Coupon only for iPad and AndroidTablets). The deviceType needs
   to be stored, when the device is registering itself with the server. See
   here for details<https://github.com/matzew/ag-client-push-sdk/blob/master/push-sdk/AGClientDeviceInformation.h#L43-L46>

<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#message-payload>Message
Payload

The message format is very simple: A generic JSON map is used to send
messages to Android and iOS devices. The applications on the devices will
receive the JSON map and are responsible for performing a lookup to read
values of the given keys. Like above, iOS specific keywords are honored.
<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#simplepush>SimplePush

The Unified Push Server allows two different ways to send message to
SimplePush-enabled devices:

   - broadcast
   - seletive Send

<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#broadcast-1>Broadcast

Sends a message to all connected devices of a SimplePush variant. The
message (aka version) will be received on the *broadcast* channel (AeroGear
specific broadcast channel, not part of the official spec).

curl -v -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json"

    -X POST
    -d '{"version":1234}'
http://localhost:8080/ag-push/rest/sender/simplePush/broadcast/{SimplePushVariantID}

<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#message-format-2>Message
Format

The message format is very simple: The version number is send to the
server, as a JSON object.
<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#selective-send-1>Selective
Send

A message is send to a selected number of channels, connected against a
specific SimplePush variant

curl -v -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-type: application/json"
    -X POST
  -d '{
      "channelIDs":["someID", "moreID...."],
      "version":1909
      }'http://localhost:8080/ag-push/rest/sender/simplePush/selected/{SimplePushVariantID}

<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#message-format-3>Message
Format

The message format is very simple: A JSON object, containing the actual
payload (version) and an array, containing all the different channels.
<https://gist.github.com/matzew/98762c8d3f516e1abd38#discussion>Discussion

SimplePush and NativePush do have different APIs / endpoints. However,
that's mainly because the SimplePush is really.... simple.... and not 100%
compliant with the richer APIs for Android/iOS.

We *could* (later?) try to unify the API and simply *IGNORE* everything
besides the version, when talking toSimplePush Variant.

-- 
Matthias Wessendorf

blog: http://matthiaswessendorf.wordpress.com/
sessions: http://www.slideshare.net/mwessendorf
twitter: http://twitter.com/mwessendorf
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.jboss.org/pipermail/aerogear-dev/attachments/20130527/9cd0627d/attachment-0001.html