I recently started using Google App Engine, and I want to make a Android client for the server. I searched this topic, and I found multiple tutorials on how to make a "backend." Is this the same thing as a client?
Thanks
The "backend" is typically the App Engine server. It is what sends your GCM notifications, hosts your API calls, etc.
The "client" is typically the Android application that interacts with the App Engine server.
I think they have 3 definitions of backend. The more general, informal use of the term would be the server that your Android client talks to (as described in accepted answer).
But GAE also supports 'backends, which are a special type of GAE instances:
https://developers.google.com/appengine/docs/java/backends/overview
And now they have introduced 'mobile backends' which seem to be pre-packaged GAE configurations for use with Android clients. Those are specifically not GAE backends.
Related
I have an android application that is designed to receive push notifications via GCM. When I initially designed the application, I used a "deprecated" tutorial (merely because it was one of the most in-depth I found) and my dev phone was running API 2.4, so I was able to get the service up and running without much issue.
Now, my development device is running Android version 4.4.2, so my goal is to "upgrade" my application to handle GCM properly for all devices (for now, lets ignore the fact that I'll have to differentiate how to handle Push Notifications depending on API level).
I attempted to follow the Android Developer tutorial for creating a demo client app for Google Cloud messaging, which can be found here. https://developer.android.com/google/gcm/client.html
While I hate to sound like I want to ignore to smart coding practices, this official walk through was a little big in terms of scope (My application supports Phonegap, and while I think implementing native GCM is much easier than using the PushPlugin for Phonegap, I don't want to handle more than is absolutely necessary in my Java code)
As a last ditch effort, I simply downloaded the demo gcm code from the source they provided here: https://code.google.com/p/gcm/source/browse/samples/?r=1ca8e646c517310e2d46a6a6eda74106b8084fc5
I attempted to import the gcm-demo-client application, and although I know my SENDER_ID, I don't understand anything about the SERVER_URL. The documentation provided by Android Developers talks very generally about HTTP vs. CCS, and I'm struggling to grasp where this server fits into the grand scheme of all that is Google Cloud Messaging.
Assuming I download the gcm-demo-server project directory they included (which seems to be some kind of Java Project), how do I host it? My previous deprecated GCM simply used a basic android application in which I would submit a form containing the device Registration Id, and a message with a title and context. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to import their demo-server into Eclipse (since Eclipse doesn't think it contains ANY project files), AND I cannot seem to understand how this server connects with my application in any capacity.
TL/DR Summary of questions:
1.) How can I go about "hosting" the gcm-demo-server from URL #2 above?
2.) If I can just copy the Registration Id from my client app to the clipboard, can I just use my "android server" application to send my messages?
3.) Maybe it's just me, but I don't see anything resembling a Receiver class in the gcm-demo-client project directory, only a GcmIntentService. How can there be an intent when the application can't even properly handle messages?!
Thank you for your patience and help!
(P.S. - I cannot provide any code- however since the code in question is merely the provided Android Developer GCM demo code, this hopefully won't be a big issue)
1) There are many companies that offer server hosting services. You should choose one.
2) If you copy the registration Id manually, and hard code it in an application that serves as a "server", you don't need to host a real server, though that would only work in development. In production, assuming you'll have multiple users who install you app, you'll need a real server that receives and stores the registration IDs of all of them.
3) The demo client project you are referring to is old, and relies on a deprecated library (gcm.jar) which contains a default implementation of the BroadcastReceiver, which receives the messages from GCM server and starts the intent service. If you refer to the current demo app, you'll find a BroadcastReceiver class.
The demo app might not work because it is a gradle project and you should preferably open it in Android Studio. That might be why it could not see it as an Android project at all.
I have recently started implementing GCM myself and it is not difficult at all. I am using AppEngine for holding the backend part of my app. In Android studio, there is a very quick and easy way to generate both the android client and the backend part including the cloud endpoints and even a web interface for sending the messages (you don't need to use it though).
I followed this tutorial https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/gradle-appengine-templates/tree/master/GcmEndpoints
Maybe this is not a fully satisfying answer for you, but I found the code very much readable and I understood how this stuff works.
I would like to provide syncing to cloud feature to an Android app.
I had read the tutorial at http://developer.android.com/training/cloudsync/index.html & http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2013/06/adding-backend-to-your-app-in-android.html
The examples being shown is using Google App Engine as backend storage.
I was wondering, is it possible not to tie to Google App Engine platform? For instance, using Amazon EC2?
Yes it is possible but you have to do more work on hosting a web service in EC2. Then your Android app will connect to it like this Android example. To write data instead of reading, use HTTP POST or PUT instead of GET. You would also have to implement your own user authentication.
Sure you can. Here's the Amazon AWS SDK for Android:
http://aws.amazon.com/sdkforandroid/
Yes, you will lose a little of the ease and integration of GAE, but you will gain something in flexibility. The GAE features (e.g. user authentication) tie you into Google's Android, making it harder to support Amazon or BB Android. And GAE limits you to their transactional HTTP model of communication.
What I'm trying to do is have an Android app that connects to a Google App Engine backend in order to get data from a database stored in the cloud. I've looked up some documentation and figured that Google Cloud Messaging is the best way for this. I'm stuck on trying to integrate Google App Engine with the Android app.
GCM is great for sending small messages from GAE to the app, and particularly for waking the app and getting a message to it even if it isn't running.
Sending a request from Android to GAE via GCM is new and is not the normal way of making requests. In my personal experience with new Google stuff, I would suggest you stay far away and stick to the normal way which is to do an HTTP/REST/JSON request from an Android to a servlet on GAE.
There many Android libraries for doing this including Volley from Google (this was in use long before it was release so is not as scary as the GCM thing I was mentioning). On the server you could do it with Google Endpoints for easier authentication and cross-platform support, but it too is quite wonky (it is not fully released), so if you don't need those two features I would avoid it.
I'm looking for a client version for android to use the appengine channel API on my app. I've seen some other people developed, but none of them seems stable. Some have to use a web view for the JavaScript, etc. I don't want something like that.
Any resource about it, or any wise approach I could use?
By the way, I'm using appengine with python.
There's and official C2DM service to receive updates from the cloud on mobile devices, which works in a way similar to channels, by opening a socket and listening for updates. Is there any reason why you don't want to use C2DM?
I'm planning to develop an Android application with an app-engine backend.
However I would like to refrain from using authentication (either with Google accounts or Open ID). Since the data will be sent only from my app and not any other client, and will be over SSL connection, I consider the data safe and trusted.
So my question is two-fold:
Is there any security issue I'm missing here ?
All the examples I found use some sort of authentication. Is it at all possible to use the android appengine infrastructure (RequestFactory, etc) without authenitcation ?
An app engine application is just a regular web application deployed on app engine. If you need to authenticate your users, do so. If you don't need to, then don't.
You're missing something, though: once a web app is deployed on app engine, it's accessible from anywhere on the web, and so anyone (and not just your app) could send requests to this application, whether you use SSL or not. SSL will just make the communication encrypted, and ensure the client that they're talking to your web app, and not to a rogue web app maskerading as yours.