Push Notifications through BES/BIS , BlackBerry - blackberry

I am trying to use push notifications for OS < 7.X .
I downloaded the sample server / client code. I deployed the client code on my device and the low-level-sample code on the tomcat provided.
For the record , when i registered for push notifications here i registered using the BIS option. Now that i was actually given a blackberry i was informed it is using BES ( i dont think though this is the root of the problem that i am going to describe..).
On the device , in the sample application i put all the correct settings given from the email i received.
Both my pc which is running the tomcat server and my phone are connected to the same wifi.
I am trying from the device browser to connect to the server , eg https://196.84.32.112:8443/low-level-sample
and the browser opens the page normally , meaning that i am able to connect to my server from the mobile.
Now when i hit register from the device sample app ( i have tried both BIS/BES options on the settings ) , i always get the following error :
Request to register failed. Cause by java.io.IOException: Network operation[Subscribe] failed. Make sure that Content Provider URL is accessible.
In the log i get :
Opening URL: my server url appended with info like username/password/model/connection type etc
Content Provider network command [ Subscribe] failed , caused by could not connect to 196.84.32.112:8443
Command "register" failed with error: java.io.IOException: Network operation[Subscribe] failed. Make sure that Content Provider URL is accessible.
A thought is that i should register again for new push keys and use the BIS/BES option instead of only BIS , but here the problem seems to be no connectivity with the local server , not the RIM server. I already tried to register though and i am waiting for the mail with the new settings.
Also i am a bit confused with the BIS / BES option. I have no idea if my users will have BIS or BES enabled so what do i put in my code ?! In the sample application it asks me to select between BIS or BES but when the app is going to production and i need to programmatically make that choice what will i choose?! Or this choice is made only for the evaluation/development of the app and on production there is another server ?

I think all the right things have been said here, but I'm hoping we can consolidate some of the answers, and wrap this question up.
You haven't shared your code, which makes things more difficult, but many people use the RIM/BlackBerry provided PushDemo source, where a connection suffix is hardcoded in /pushdemo/com/rim/samples/device/push/PushUtils.java:
private static String getConnectionSuffix() {
return ";deviceside=false;ConnectionType=mds-public";
}
I'm also guessing this from having read your other question.
By doing this, you've hardcoded the BlackBerry transport type of BIBS. BlackBerry supports many different transports, like BES, BIS, BIBS, or WAP. The BIBS transport will send the request from your device, out to BlackBerry's servers, which are on the internet. (Note: this part is probably confusing to an iOS/Android developer, since those platforms don't provide Apple/Google network intermediaries to relay normal HTTP/S traffic)
Then, the request is relayed to your server, which is at:
196.84.32.112:8443
I'm pretty sure that TCP/IP endpoint is not available from the Internet (I can't reach it). So, that's why it fails for you.
You can take this URL
https://196.84.32.112:8443/low-level-sample
and paste it into your BlackBerry device's browser, and it will work. Your device is configured for BES, which uses your company's internal servers. Those internal servers can reach the 196.84.32.112:8443 endpoint, so it seems to work for you. But, that's because you haven't hardcoded the transport, as you have in the push code that uses getConnectionSuffix(). The device browser is smart enough to figure out a transport that works, and BES works to reach that intranet server.
Hopefully, that explains the confusing part.
Solutions
As others have said, a solution is to get your company's IT people to make IP address 196.84.32.112 and port 8443 accessible through their firewall. That would allow the BlackBerry servers to reach it successfully.
Another solution would be to change the PushUtils.java code to avoid the BIBS transport:
private static String getConnectionSuffix() {
return ";deviceside=false";
}
If you want really flexible code, then I'd suggest rewriting that PushUtils.java code, because it appears to use the pre-5.0 HTTP connection logic. ConnectionFactory in OS 5.0+ makes this easier, and more robust, when supporting multiple transports ...
To answer your question about supporting users with multiple transports, take a look at this blackberry.com example, specifically the MyConnectionFactory class. It allows you to select which transports your app allows, and which it tries first.
Ultimately, the decision to make your server public or not depends on how it's going to be used, and whether you'll have non-corporate internet clients trying to register with your corporate server.

Let me first explain the registration flow for BB Push Demo:
When you click on Register the device will
Inform your web application that the device wants to register. For this it will send the information about the device to your Web Application (the so called ContentProvider). You are expected to store that information in your database. This step happens in the ContentProviderProtocol.performCommand() method of the push demo.
Inform the BB Push Server that the device wants to register for receiving push notifications from your application. This happens in the BpasProtocol.register() method of the push sdk.
Step 1 is only necessary if you want to know who all are registered for push notifications (maybe if you want to send individual push notifications to each device and not broadcast the message to all registered users). In that case, you will probably need other information like that user's preferences etc for customizing the push anyway.
Now the error you are getting is from the step 1. For step 1 to succeed, your device should be able to connect to your web app which it is not able to.
To solve this problem, either you have to make your web app publicly accessible (and be ready to handle the load) or comment out the step 1 from the app by making ContentProviderProtocol.performCommand() return without doing anything.
PS: The webapp used in step 1 need not be same as your push initiator. The webapp is simply being used for tracking who all is registered for receiving the push and should ideally be located in the cloud on a distributed architecture if you expect a lot of users.

Related

Host page locally on iOS

I didn't know it was possible on iOS but lately I went to Japan and one of the free wifi apps wanted to install profile into my iPhone. When I confirmed installation it simply opened Safari with 127.0.0.1. It loaded some page and downloaded profile from there. How do I host some page on iOS?
Creating web server is nothing hard. It is lot of coding of course, but the principle is pretty easy.
There is lot of 3rd party libraries on the github (GCDWebService) just try to search for "ios http server"
To create it manually you need few steps:
1) With the help of CFSocketCreate you open new socket with specific port (standard HTTP 80, or secured one 443 should be forbidden without root access rights) what going to listen on network interface on incomming requests.
2) You need to prepare some receiver what will be triggered as soon as some request income. You can use NSFileHandle class and register NSFileHandleConnectionAcceptedNotification in your notification center. And allow background mode with acceptConnectionInBackgroundAndNotify method. But I recommend to read the manual first
NSFileHandle Apple documentation
3) Process the incoming request. The selector what you register is called and in NSNotification.userInfo property is the incoming request, and you can generate some page here and open it in safari, or in your app or do whatever you want.
4) If you want received some POST data or streams, there is needs to register NSFileHandleDataAvailableNotification what trigger selector as soon as some data to read are available.

How to remote desktop to an iOS device, a.k.a. how do Mobile Device Farms work?

I have been trying to understand how Mobile Device Farms like DeviceConnect, AWS Device Farm, SauceLabs, etc. get to remote control iOS devices, but I can't find anything on the subject. They get to do it without jailbreaking, which baffles me even more.
I love these kind of projects, because at the moment it seems undoable, but I know that it is possible ('they' are doing it).
With remote control I mean: seeing the screen of the iOS device on your computer screen and able to touch and swipe with your mouse.
Can someone please point me in the right direction as to how these technically work?
If you're using an iPad (in particular) or an iPhone (if you think you'll be able to make our any detail on the smaller screen) then using remote access to view and control what's on your friend's Mac is a good option. And the best way to remote-access a Mac from an iPad is to use Google's free Chrome Remote Access service, which lets you remotely use Mac programs from an iOS device.
It's quite an involved process to set it up the first time, but easy if you want to do it again in future. You'll need the Google Chrome web browser for Mac, and a Google account.
Here is link for Chrome Remote access
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chrome-remote-desktop/gbchcmhmhahfdphkhkmpfmihenigjmpp?hl=en
Open Chrome and go to Chrome Remote Desktop on the Chrome Webstore. Click Add to Chrome, then Add App. Click Allow, then Continue.
I will give you one approach and small explanation .
You will need to create application with all possible permissions at first also implementation handlers functions .
For example :
Works with files
Real native Socket connections (not http protocol) + need to have some main server signalling (domain or static ip).
Handle remote touch trigger (main problem for real remote/iOS)
Background part experience
Your app need to be non-Market app (more likely).
You can make Application with all possible options that apple give us.
What can you do remote with your app : -control camera/ Mic read geo data , work with galleries , delete or create files . Socket will be communication line .
Also app must initially started and make (on user request) always allow all permissions .
Use camera :
Send with socket some command example ( openCamera ) . AFTER receive this string perform action for opening camera .
If you can fix programability triggering touch events you can make remoteIOS.
More data links :
Q/A send remote events
Q about touch events
Q/A about Permisions
Sorry for the first quick answer,
All of these: DeviceConnect, AWS Device Farm, SauceLabs use Appium in order to control devices.
The component that execute the command is the WebDriver.
Appium have different WebDriver implementation in order to execute operations to different device.
The iOS WebDriver can be found here: https://github.com/appium/appium-ios-driver.
The protocol in use is the JsonWireProtocol.
more details can be found here:
http://appium.io/,
http://www.seleniumhq.org/
Regards

In Newsstand app how do I find a list of devices that are subscribed?

I can't afford UrbanAirship so I'm trying to program the server side of a Newsstand app myself.
I plan on using the JavaPNS API.
The one thing I can't seem to figure out is how to find a list of users who have a subscription in my app.
Can I query this information from Apple some how?
If I can't then I guess that means that each time a user subscribes they send their device token directly to my server. I hope this is not the case because I was hopping to run the server on my laptop and send out pushes myself without having to keep the laptop running all day listening for new subscribers.
Thanks!
Looks like I do need to register each device with my server: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/mo-ios-push/index.html#resources
You kind of found your answer but just in case you really need a server for not only handling the push notification (for telling your app in Newsstand to check the new issue and download it in the background) but also for subscription and in-app purchasing.
Every time you launch the app you should check few things before you refresh the UI. You should check if the user is a subscriber or has user already bought the issue so you can show view/download button instead of Buy button.
Check out these tutorials if they help to understand these communications better but believe me you will end up with one of those services like Urban Airship (Which I think UA is the best option because it handles all in one not just push notification):
http://ios-blog.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-make-a-magazine-app-in-ios-part-i/
this one is more focus on server part:
http://ios-blog.co.uk/tutorials/how-to-make-a-magazine-app-in-ios-part-ii/
http://www.viggiosoft.com/blog/blog/2011/10/17/ios-newsstand-tutorial
http://www.raywenderlich.com/2797/introduction-to-in-app-purchases
And as always this is the best place for start (it has everything you need):
https://developer.apple.com/devcenter/ios/newsstand/
These are some resources to help you in developing app for Newsstand but still there are not enough people out there to share their experience.
Best of luck.
Edit: Add these two links two this list:
http://www.marco.org/2012/10/11/the-magazine
http://www.marco.org/2012/12/12/the-magazine-future-of-publishing

Internet connection for third party app in blackberry

Is there any specific settings for third party app using internet connection because when i try lo login,app need network connection and it ask for APN.
I gave APN as "blackberry.net" as given by vodafone but it gives me "tunnel failure error" or "DNS error"
What settings are required so that third party apps can use internet
This is not a programming question.
If you are trying to use a third party app, and you are not able to (tunnel failure) set the apn in your phone in the following way.
Some third-party applications might require a direct TCP or HTTP connection to the Internet. For example, a stock price application might require a connection to the Internet to retrieve the latest stock prices. The TCP settings might be required for the third-party application to access the Internet.
Note: Contact your wireless service provider to obtain the Access Point Name (APN), user name, and password.
On the Home screen of the BlackBerry smartphone, click Options.
Note: Depending on the theme running on your BlackBerry smartphone, you may need to click Settings, then Options.
Complete one of the following:
For BlackBerry® Device Software version 4.1 or later, click Advanced Options > TCP/IP
For BlackBerry Device Software version 4.0 or earlier, click TCP/IP.
Enter the APN, user name, and password obtained from your wireless service provider.
Press the Menu key and select Save.
This information is from here
Try using "WWW" as access point for Vodafone. if still not proper check out for connection types. or just add ";deviceside=true" at the end of your url.

Remotely uninstalling application from iPad

Is it possible to uninstall application from an iPad remotely without user's permission?
The client wants an app for secure sharing company data through iPads and some server (something like Dropbox). The requirement form the client also is to wipe all application data from iPad and possibly uninstall application at all when employee is fired :-)
In my opinion neither the data wiping or remote uninstalling is possible. I am just curious if anyone can came with some solution.
I plan simply offer client to open all encrypted documents only inside an app and only when the app is connected to internet. Each time the document is about to be opened (even if the document is cached) authentication is required. When employee is fired documents can't be read.
You're right in your assumption that remote uninstalling is not possible. And data wiping isn't possible without the user's permission. (The only solution I can think of for this is to send a remote notification with instruction to delete files, but the user would have to open the application from that notification, they could just ignore it).
Authentication does sound like a viable solution. Ask the user to sign in when they open the application (and when the app returns from background) and authenticate the sign in remotely on a server. When the user leaves the company, invalidate their login. Encrypt files stored on the device for extra security.
You could do something where your app checks with a server, each time it is run, for a "kill flag". It could still have content on board but it just does not allow access until it has confirmed there is no kill flag. If there is a kill flag then it wipes all sensitive data.
Another thing to consider is that devices connected through Exchange can be remotely wiped by an administrator. If your client uses exchange and is ok with the idea of completely wiping the device this could be a procedure they could implement.

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