I've a made a really basic chat application(no need to see the code)(from the course of Angela Yu, flutter)it is integrated with google firebase which uses firebase_core, firebase_auth & cloud_firestore packages for authentication and uploading chat data in cloud Firestore.
I've installed the app through debug.APK( 1. would it matter if it was release.APK?) in my & my friend's phone both android ( let's take a neutral approach i.e the phone could be either IOS or Android).
What I aim is if I change my code( or we say update my app) I would want my app on both the phones to get updated( either automatically if possible or send a alert when user opens the app to update it), all this should be done with free of cost. 2. How can I achieve this in simplest manner?. I know there is a standard way for this if the app was in Google play store or App store but I don't want to upload it on stores.
My guess for this is that we integrate our app with a server so that every time the app starts it checks for a update with the server and ask the user to update and gets updated. If this is achievable can someone please guide me with these two methods mentioned below:
3(A). through free online server( can we use github or firebase?)
3(B). and can I make my own laptop as the server and code the app such that it doesn't need the server to be always online.( as in if my server is online it checks for update else it continues)
3(C). through paid servers ( just for information)
(4) Also please tell me why we chose cloud firestore over real time database for a chatting application?
(I don't want to create a web app)
I've no idea how would any of this be achievable like nothing like what server would be used or is this even possible. So please help me with a detailed explanation on all( 1,2,3(A),3(B),3(c) ). Any help would be really appreciated!
Since you already use Cloud Firestore, consider creating a document in there with a field that contains the version number of the latest app release.
In your application code you then read this document upon startup, and check it against the app's own version. If the version from the database is newer, tell the user to upgrade.
You could even include instructions on where/how to get the latest version in the database too. That can come in really handy of you suddenly have to change your release mechanism in between versions.
Related
I am learning about google actions and made a basic, google-keep like app which records notes for logged in users. it has a mobie client and a firebase server. i wish to know if assistant could be made to interact in such a manner that notes could be created via an assistant session without opening the mobile client at all.
For example:
User (on any screen): "hey google"
AI - "hi , how can i help?"
U - " place a note to call david in customNotter" ( suppose)
Ai - "am sorrry, customnotter does not exist on your mobile , download it from playstore http"//www.link..."
U - *downloads customNotter app , installs, logs himself in*
U - " place a note to call david in customNotter"
Ai - "Ok, your note is saved"
*saves note "call david" in customNotter (by somehow calling some code to interact with customNotter's server?)*
I can imagine a kotlin code that could be included in my app , which the assistant could trigger which could simply add the note to server, but cannot imagine how assistant could trigger that code with user's auth details and the note data?
PS: Also i wish to know if google home could also be integrated for such app. And if not , what are the key factors that would limit google home to not interact with my server ? like suppose am building a complete business model for CustomNotter , where there is a unified server and many clients like ios / android / web apps . can google home be able to act like another authenticated client, interacting directly with the server?
The best option is to use Actions on Google to directly make calls to your Firebase server and update the database that way. The hooks into Android apps are not deep at the moment. Android Actions were announced, but are not available right now.
The benefit of doing this is that your Action will work on any Assistant surface, beyond an Android phone, and will not require the user to install your app.
Since you can run Actions on Google on Firebase Functions, it is easy to incorporate into your Firebase database.
You're making a couple of assumptions here, but before I make different assumptions, I want to clarify something. You said "it has a mobile client and a firebase server". I assume the "firebase server" is what stores the user's notes?
If so, then you don't really need to have the app installed locally at all for the Assistant to work with it. You just need to make sure your mobile app and your Action both have the same user account reference, so they can update and read from the same records in the database. This would work anywhere the Assistant can run Actions - on a mobile device or on a speaker such as Google Home.
In this case, your conversation might look like this:
User: Hey Google, ask Custom Notter to remind me to call David.
Assistant: Getting Custom Notter
[Earcon, indicating your Action is running]
Action: Hi there. I've added a note to call David.
[Earcon, indicating the Action is done]
This is a very simple example of the conversation. Other conversation flows may also want to indicate if the user hasn't connected such an app to the account, or you may need to prompt them for permission to use their account, etc.
You will need to write server code to handle the processing - all Actions interact with a webhook running on a server in the cloud. You can write this in any language you wish, including Kotlin, and on any service you wish - however Google provides libraries and other support if you run it in node.js using Firebase Cloud Functions or on Google's Cloud.
All the details are available at https://developers.google.com/actions/
If you do have a mobile app, and you want to look into how to get the Assistant to launch things in that app, you can look into App Actions, which are coming soon for Android.
I am new to Android Studio and I am developing an application like College Management System.
Basically, in my app, there are two logins- one for faculty and one for students.If any faculty uploading any file to the server, then on student side on the same time they should get a notification.
Not sure where to start, so any suggestion about where to look would be really appreciated.
Thanks!
Use Firebase.
Specifically you'd need Cloud Messaging and maybe Authentication.
Both services are completely free and easy to set up (especially if you're developing using Android Studio, because it is integrated with Firebase and allows you to copy/paste code already configured for your FB account).
There's also a well made documentation.
And if your college wants something more the prices are really cheap.
P.S.
I'm no way affiliated with Firebase or Google.
I am a new Android app developer and I have a freelance android app project as task for me
the app idea is something like social networking app
I don't know from where to start .. after I did some research and found parse. com as backend server cloud but then I found that it is temporarily closed then I found google cloud platform as an alternative,
but I don't know how to start what to do
example I want first to create login screen how I can save login data to the server?
Is it right to create mysql database as usually then import them to the platform
really I need a help and don't know how to start
and this is my first freelance app project if I success in it I can be an employer to the company I
need some tutorial or reference or sample code to understand the idea.
Parse.com is going to shutdown it's services in next January, why don't you go for Backendless or App24 (Both have tutorial on their websites for android and other platforms). Both of them are free with complete backend data control without any required special server side still.
I am to build an android app that needs a central cloud storage (along with some server coding). My app is somewhat in the footsteps of
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.justyo
I mean i should be able to store a login and registration (possibly FB login in the future too). Then, i will also have to maintain and fetch users' 'friends' in the app along with a status (that can be changed any time by the friends).
I am not new with android dev. I also know ample amount of web development. However, i don't know the approach to this kind of an app that is to use some server side code and online db for android.
I have search a lot on the internet and have found a bunch of stuff, but i am just not getting the confidence as to which approach is what i need here.
Is there something pre-built and given by Google themselves?
Do i have to by a domain, deploy a hidden (UI-less) web service and access it through the android app?
is there a free option out there by google?
Is there a sample demonstration android app out there?
I don't need the code or anything. I am just confused; afraid of starting off in the wrong direction. Please answer so it is easy to understand.
Thank you in advance :)
There is the Google Cloud Platform, specifically App Engine. You can read the Docs here.
You dont't need to register a domain to use the platform. Yes, you will need to deploy a (not necessary UI-less) web service to the cloud, accessed from the Android client through endpoints. Additionally, the service is free up to certain limits.
Sample apps are available for deployment once you create a project from here.
Currently I am working on android e-commerce project, I am using sqlite database to store data.
I need to update my database each and every time. My question is if i upload my app in android market, how can i update my database every day.I know about android versioning concept if i update version of the my apk , how people who are using my app will know that my app is updated.
Please give me a clear idea on this . Thanks in advance.
I have a better solution for this problem. It will be better if you host a web service that will serve the update information. You can do it for free. GoogleAppEngine provides this feature. Serve JSON file from web, parse it in you application. Each time your app launches, write code to check for update information. OR check once in week or some other strategy. This might be tougher way of doing but you can provide more efficient and flexibility through this.
if i upload my app in android market, how can i update my database
every day
You can do this stuff using Web services call to your data server .
now you might have a question in your mind about users devices battery ,
if you continually call those web services your device battery gonna loose lot.
or
if you call this web service in some specific interval then app user might miss the actuate time when data has loaded already .
so i suggest to use GCM for could push notification .
How its works in your project :
When you data will update on server , then there should be one script on server side which send message to GCM server with some required field of identification of that application package
when you device receive that message using your GCM receiver you may need to update your database as you did so far .