Hi buzztouch Members... There are a few ideas to understand as we begin to roll out Push Notification support for buzztouch Members in hosted control panels (the next self hosted release is coming as soon as this is ironed out). The idea is simple, the implementation is complex. There are three working parts to support Push. The app running on the device. A backend server (such as buzztouch.com) and the services operated by Apple and Google. The general flow goes like this... -The device registers with the Apple or Google services - the "Service" -The device sends a registration token provided by the Service to a backend for later use - the "Backend" -The Backend sends messages to the Service -The Service sends these messages along to the device. This relationship seems simple enough but there are lots and lots of gotchas. Example: What happens when somebody deletes your app, how do you know this happened? If you try to send that "device token" a push message through the Service, it will never arrive. The Service won't tell you it never arrived because it doesn't always know the app no longer exists on the end users device. This makes it difficult to keep track of registered devices on the Backend. There are some workarounds and some strategies but none of them are 100% reliable. For these and other reasons, the Service will not guarantee to deliver a Push message to a device. Nobody could do this. This means you should not rely on Push for delivery of critical messages. Credentials: Apple and Google have different rules and requirements to use their Service's. The general flow to begin using their services goes like this... --Google Cloud Messaging (GCM): You register for an API key to use along with a Project Id. You create this on the GCM portal. It takes a few seconds and is very very easy to do. --Apple: You create a Certificate Request (usually two of them, one for development and one for release) using the KeyChain tool on our Mac then you upload this to the iOS Developer Portal. Apple provides you a certificate to use on your push backend server. This takes some patience, it should be much easier than it is! --buzztouch: You upload your Apple Certificate(s), enter your Google Cloud Messaging info, and register some devices. You need at least one registered device in the buzztouch control panel in order to send messages. How do I get devices registered in my buzztouch control panel? You cannot register devices in your control panel manually, the devices do this themselves. This is because you dont' have a way to get a registration token from Apple or Google for each device. Every device has a unique token and it gets this token after contacting the Push Service provided by Apple or Google. When you run your app on your gadget or the simulator (Android simulator supports push, iOS simulator does not), your app will prompt to allow Push messages. If you agree, the app will "call home" and register on the Backend server. You can see the list of registered devices in your control panel. This means your Project (iOS and or Android) will need to be updated with the latest source code when we get it updated on the download server. Expect to see the latest source-code for iOS and Android, along with some additional screens in your control panels magically appear on Tuesday (West Coast, USA) sometime. At that point the questions will begin flying. We'll work through the issues and all will be well in a few days :-) David

Can't wait - I've been looking forward to this one!

Thanks David. Can't wait!

Awesome news, My money is on @Kittsy making a plugin that will enable us to send out push notifications from an app on our phone through our control panels :) Can't wait for the updates self hosted control panel !!

Great news! I'm looking forward to it!

Fantastic

Good to hear, David. Great job! Best Regards, Danny

Good news !

Awesome!

Good news and good work ad usual!

@david. So, this will not require a new version of BT_server? No upgrade on our end? That would be awesome!

Great work, David and Crew! Thanks! Cheers! -- Smug

Yes! Push on iOS has been a massive struggle.

Thank you David @buzztouch! LA

Great jump!.. Looking forward to seeing it... Thanks,

Wow. Seems like you guys put in a ton of work. Thanks.

Almost done with the webinar from Blythe - last paused right after you discussed PN in more detail. You made a great point that the majority of questions about PN will be teaching users how to get certificates. (remember for ios you need 2 DEVELOPMENT and PRODUCTION). There's no way that can be answered in a post, it's 3-4 step process you have to follow. I do not think many users here have used Google Cloud message certs yet. But I think a lot of us have used Apple certs. There really are some awesome tutorials and videos out there to get certs done by Parse, Appoxee and other PN services. Everest's Appoxee guides here: https://www.buzztouch.com/forum/thread.php?tid=37FAB953175EE7E08F95349&command=isSearching&currentPage=1&topicTitle=rich&createdBy=&repliedBy=&minViews=-1&maxViews=-1&minReplies=-1&maxReplies=-1&forumCategory= Has great step by step by instructions for the Apple certs. I would also encouage folks new to PN to sign up at Parse, Appoxee and read their guides on certificates. They are well detailed. The only difference between these instructions and BT will be where you upload the cert at the end. Here's the links to the Appoxee guides that explain it perfectly. http://www.appoxee.com/AppoxeeWebManager/iphoneCode/pushGuideAndroid.html http://www.appoxee.com/AppoxeeWebManager/iphoneCode/pushGuide.html (you may need an account/login to see those) Here's the parse guide: https://parse.com/docs/push_guide#setup/iOS If those docs and vids don't get you up to speed with certs, you may want to wait before trying that feature out until you are up to speed. Can't wait for that new SH package, ready to rebuild lots of apps to get that live/design mode feature! Thanks David!!!!

BT is putting the necessary documentation together for Push Notifications. Great links @ATRAIN53, super useful. Tons and Tons of work going into the Push stuff to make it rock solid. Thanks for the continued support gang!! ian

I can't wait. This is why I'm part of a group that's way ahead of the technology curve. And David: we've got snow here in Britain. You're so lucky just cruising out in your yacht in California!

Awesome David! Tuesday would be next Tuesday right? super excited. This is a little off-topic, but are you planning on releasing the "Usage Map" map feature for self hosted users anytime soon? Some of my clients have been expressing interest in gathering statistical data. Great links @atrain, I'm going to update myself :-) Cheers, David

You did this in your car on the way home from the meetup...CRAZY MAN! Love it...thank you so much for all the hard work. Lot's to be said for what you do !

Thanks for the update, a great upgrade for buzztouch.

Awesome! Thank you for all your hard work David!

Is this coming today?

Great news, Thank you David

Push is "on" in most of your application control panels. A few things to keep in mind while we roll this out. 1) You cannot use the new settings in Core and in Push Notifications (app's main menu) until you re-fetch your project source code. Lots has changed in your iOS and Android project to support this. 2) Android folks: When you build your app using Eclipse, continue to use the Google 2.2 libraries (this has not changed). BUT, you'll need to make sure you have the Google Cloud Messaging libraries installed on your machine before you compile. Do this by opening the Android AVD then choosing "Extras" - you'll see it in that list. YOU MUST ALSO INCLUDE YOUR GOOGLE GCM PROJECT ID IN YOUR PROJECT. BT_gcmConfig.java, line 41. Replace "YOUR-GOOGLE-GCM-PROJECT-ID" with your actual project id you get from the Google Cloud Messaging portal. See this (zoom in, it's a big image): http://www.buzztouch.com/images/android-avd.png 3) iOS folks: The "Production Devices" checkbox is disabled. You'll see what we mean when you see the screen (App > Push Notifications). Figured we should give folks a few day to understand how it works before confusing them on an app they submit to Apple! LOL. 4) A detailed step-by-step .PDF on how to get this working is coming soon - promise :-)

Thank you David!

Thank you David

Wow! Thanks to everyone who made this happen!

woohoo!!!! Thank you David and the Buzztouch team!!!! You guys ROCK!!!

I guess we are waiting for this in 2.1.8 for self hosted? Tim

@Tim yup, I think the EST was a week after this release, but nothing is ever for sure with bug reports and performance tests etc etc. Hang tight, that's what I'm waiting for too :-) Super excited. David https://buzztouchmods.com

Sweet. Got a big project, I'm gonna wait to start it. Tim

When setting up Android Push, I noticed after some trial and error that the instructions above need to be slightly amended to make it work. (Really sorry David!). When you set up Buzztouch Control Panel core properties for push, you need use the Google Android API key and the Google Project Number. You do not use Google Project ID, it doesn't work, it is the Project Number that is needed. This is also what needs to be entered in BT_gcmConfig.java, line 41. Just a small thing; I hope it saves potential frustration! Alan

Hey Everyone. Did I miss the PDF step by step? I dont see the link for it. Thanks!

It's in the how to section. It's also in a post in this thread up above

OK everyone, detailed guide on Android Push, hot of the word processer - let me know if this helps! I incorporated David's png file, added some words and included some extra on how to set up GCM. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/44302941/HowTo%20Android%20Push%20with%20GCM%20for%20BuzzTouch%20Push.pdf

Any update on Push for self-hosted control panels? Andy

@AlanMac I think the URL is broken, the url resolves to a 404 error page.

@Jake Make just add an "f" to the end of the link and it will work. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/44302941/HowTo%20Android%20Push%20with%20GCM%20for%20BuzzTouch%20Push.pd

@andydahi Perfect: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/44302941/HowTo%20Android%20Push%20with%20GCM%20for%20BuzzTouch%20Push.pdf Thank you!

Thank you andy dahl! you are the best!!!

I've updated the link too. If anyone uses my howto and spots anything that should be added or corrected, please let me know. Thanks, Alan