On Jul 13, 2013, at 10:54 AM, Matthias Wessendorf <matzew@apache.org> wrote:

Hi,
today I played with Apache Cordova, the PushPlugin, AeroGear.js (Notifier branch) and our UnifiedPush Server.

Setup
These steps from the iOS Tutorial are required for an iOS-Cordova app as well:

Apple App ID and SSL Certificate for APNs

Apple Provisioning Profile
The AeroGear Unified Push Server
TL;DR: You need a new App-ID, a SSL-cert and a provisioning profile (for that APP-ID). On the UnifiedPush Server, you need a PushApplication and an iOS Variant :-)

Cordova stuff

PushPlugin
Get the Cordova PushPlugin (there is a downloadable tarball) and extract the tarball to some location.

Cordova App
Creating a Corodva app is simple:
cordova create FolderOfTheApp com.my.id.AppName AppName
cd FolderOfTheApp
cordova platform add ios
cordova plugin add folder_of_PushPlugin-1.3.3
HINT: Make sure your Apple ID matches the above "com.my.id.AppName" value...

Install aerogear.js (checkout (and build) the Notifier branch) and jquery.min.js -> I basically copied the files into the "www" folder;

afterwards build the project:
cordova build
Now open the generated Xcode project, and start "hacking".

In the index.html I just linked the "required" JavaScript sources.

The index.JS contains some JavaScript, that takes care of:

Trigger the PushPlugin/UnifiedPush setup
Setup of the Cordova PushPlugin

The received (APNs) device-token is "submitted" to the UnifiedPush Server (using AeroGear.js)

Handling iOS/APNs notifications
This all works well. However, I had to do some "hack" to be able to use the registerWithPushServer()function:
var tokenContainer = {};
tokenContainer.channelID = deviceToken;
That is because the JS does expect the token/channelID as the above ".channelID". I am sure that can be made a bit more flexible.
Also, the "metadata" currently is only able to specify the following values:

deviceToken
alias

category
I am sure we can make it more generic here as well.
So again, without too much work, I got it working:https://twitter.com/mwessendorf/status/356027736780836865
However I had some issues.
PushPlugin:
I had to copy the ObjC bits by hand. See here.

AeroGear.js

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'simplePushServerURL' of undefined aerogear.js:955 (anonymous function) aerogear.js:955 (anonymous function)

at least in the browser.... However, I could remove it, on the Corodva app .... and the app still seams to work.... So, not sure :-)
looks like the Notifier branch requires sockjs Uncaught ReferenceError: SockJS is not defined aerogear.js:942 (anonymous function)
But again in the browser...., I could remove that "import" in my Cordova app. So, not sure here too :-)

The (ugly) code is posted on my GH account.
I guess we could convert this into a more "official" guide/tutorial at some point. This email should give some hints on getting started.
Another question:
Perhaps we want to fork the PushPlugin and stick our AeroGear.js bits in there? So that all is ready ? I am not sure, just some idea.

So This plugin is actually part of phone gap build, Which means people can get it easy. but at the same time, these types of plugins aren't as fast to upgrade