[aerogear-dev] AeroGear UnifiedPush Registration Client Spec (DRAFT 0.0.3)

[Deepali Khushraj]

On Jun 7, 2013, at 4:01 PM, Matthias Wessendorf <matzew at apache.org> wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> following up on the previous drafts...
> 
> This document describes the functionality of a client SDK that works with the AeroGear UnifiedPush Server.
> 
> Motivation / Purpose
> 
> The AeroGear UnifiedPush Server is accessible via HTTP. Instead of having to manually register a device (MobileVariantInstance) with the HTTP interface, a client library should be offered.
> 
> Goal: A client library to register a mobile application (MobileVariantInstance) with the UnifiedPush Server.
> 
> Background: Push Network Token
> 
> To receive native push notifications from a Push Network (e.g. APNs, GCM or SimplePush), the mobile device is identified with a unique device-token, assigned by the actual Push Network. Thisdevice-token is passed, by the underlying Operating-System, to the mobile application. Details are different on each platform and not part of this document.
> 
> The device-token needs to be registered with the AeroGear UnifiedPush Server, to indicate there is a new MobileVariantInstance for a MobileVariant. More details about the server-side part of this can be found in the AeroGear Unified Push Server spec.
> 
> Functionality
> 
> WARNING: The focus of this specification is to describe the generic minimum and not any platform-specific requirements
> 
> The client SDK offers the following features:
> 
> Registration and Updating of a MobileVariantInstance
> Unregistration of a Mobile Variant Instance (optional, due to platform specific restrictions)
> Registration and Updating of a Mobile Variant Instance
> 
> Everytime when a mobile application launches it receives the above mentioned device-token, via aplatform-specific method (or callback). Since the Push Network (e.g. APNs or GCM) may assign a newtoken to a device, it is recommended to always (re)register the device-token with the AeroGear UnifiedPush Server.
> 
> Besides the device-token the AeroGear UnifiedPush Server is able to store some of the below device- or user-specific metadata:
> 
> deviceToken: Identifies the device/user-agent within its Push Network.
> deviceType: The device type of the device or the user agent.
> mobileOperatingSystem: The name of the underlying Operating System.
> osVersion: The version of the used Operating System.
> alias: _ Application specific alias to identify users with the system. For instance an email addressor a username._
> category: Used tp apply a "tag". Mainly usful for the SimplePush channel(s).

Wondering why the "category" feature is only available with SimplePush and not for iOS and Android? It seems like filtering notifications by category could help iOS & Android users too. 

It would be good if user's "timezone" can be an optional field passed at registration (similar to Parse). This can help avoid sending notifications to users at odd hours. Plus, if scheduled notifications is implemented in future, then the actual send could be customized by user's timezone.

> Besides the slight chance that the `device-token may change, some of the above metadata is more likely to change. Therefore another reason to always send this metadata to the AeroGear UnifiedPush Server.
> 
> Reachability
> 
> The client SDK needs to check if the device can establish a connection to the internet (PushNetwork and UnifiedPush Server). It should make use of the platform-specific APIs to check the reachablility of the services.
> 
> Unregistration of client device information
> 
> Optional method that helps to unregister the client device information with the AeroGear Unified Push Server. Note: The method is optional, since not all supported Push Networks recommend having a client application actively performing an _unregister. Apple for instance has a Feedback Service, which theAeroGear Unified Push Server needs to freequently query for inactive tokens. Tokens, with Apple, areinactive when the user:
> 
> Disables Push (Settings)
> Deinstalls the app
> Reachability
> 
> The client SDK needs to check if the device can establish a connection to the internet (PushNetwork and UnifiedPush Server). It should make use of the platform-specific APIs to check the reachablility of the services.
> 
> Auth/Security
> 
> To be discussed.....
> 
> Platform specific details
> 
> Every client platform has it's own base APIs, to receive Push Message from it's Push Network. The AeroGear client SDK may offer utilities to even more simplify this process. For example: In Android a custom Intent is required, therefore it would make sense if the "AeroGear Android Push Client Library" offers a convenience implementation for this class.
> 
> BTW... Current, EARLY, implementations:
> * JavaScript (to register SimplePush Variant Instance):
> https://github.com/aerogear/aerogear-js/blob/Notifier/src/unified-push/aerogear.unifiedpush.js
> 
> * iOS (to register iOS Variant Instance):
> https://github.com/matzew/ag-client-push-sdk
> 
> 
> 
> -Matthias
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Matthias Wessendorf 
> 
> blog: http://matthiaswessendorf.wordpress.com/
> sessions: http://www.slideshare.net/mwessendorf
> twitter: http://twitter.com/mwessendorf
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