how to set valid time period for android c2dm message? - android

I would like to implement a feature that only delivers messages to devices at specific periods. After the valid time, messages would be abandoned. Can anyone suggest me how to do this?

C2DM itself doesn't have such a facility so you have two choices:
Your server app only sends messages during certain times
or
Your Android app receives the C2DM messages all the time, but during certain times you ignore/handle as appropriate.

Google just released a new version of c2dm called "Google Cloud Messaging (GCM)" at I/O 2012. With GCM its possible to define a timeout for your messages.
GCM ttl section: http://developer.android.com/guide/google/gcm/adv.html#ttl
You can find my answer to a similiar question here:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/9709944/789738

Related

What should I use for push notification(No Google Cloud Message)

I want a push notification, when there is data in server change,delete or added etc The notification is associated with the user. And the Google Cloud Messaging notification is associated for the application running in device. Also there is a lot of over head for developers, when developer are creating the system using google cloud message. Therefore I decide not to use Google Cloud Message.
I know is using XMPP or WebSocket can fulfill my requirement but it is battery inefficient. My question is there a better approach to fulfill my requirement.
You can send the GCM registration Id in the login request to the server and remove it once the user logs out. This way you can send a GCM message to a particular user.
If you want to use a GCM alternative you can try Pushy.me, its also a very good service that uses MQTT protocol and have less headaches as compared to GCM.
Depending on your specific needs, using an alarm and intent service to poll your server every so often - say 24 hours - can work. Then create a local notification if needed. This way no third parties are needed, but you won't have real time notifications.

Can I depend on GCM service to create a big instant messaging application ?

If I want to create an instant messaging application using android, is it a good and efficient to use the Google Cloud Messaging API ?
There are a lot of mentions in GCM documentation and tutorial saying that is no guarantee of order and success receive of messages. Like here:
Note that since there is no guarantee of the order in which messages
get sent, the "last" message may not actually be the last message sent
by the application server.
I suggest you use this as a call to update user chat e.g. when your app get a GCM you request your server-side to get the new messages but not transfer messages by GCM itself also because you have some dayly limits as well.
See more here: http://developer.android.com/google/gcm/index.html
I found the mention above here: http://developer.android.com/google/gcm/server.html. At description of collapse_key here: http://developer.android.com/google/gcm/server.html#params
Yes, it works for Google and you won't have to maintain servers. If your message is short, in can be included in the GCM message. Otherwise the GCM could be a payload to notify your app to check for a new message.

Can an android work on both GCM and C2DM?

I have an app that currently uses C2DM for push notifications. I would like to inquire if I update the app to GCM and if some users do not upgrade their app, will Google allow me to use both the C2DM and GCM for the two versions of my app?
Or will the users on my previous app never receive a PUSH notification altough I still have the push logic implemented for C2DM?
I've completely replaced C2DM with GCM in the app, and left support for both protocols in the server side. Works like a charm; details are here.
They will still receive them as long as you don't remove any authorisation keys, ids etc. as GCM uses the Project ID while C2DM uses the registered e-mail address.
More on it here: C2DM to GCM Migration
Once the C2DM service was deprecated recently I advice you to migrate your pushes system to GCM service.
The best way to deal with it is doing the thing like Google says. Take a look at this topic in the official GCM's documentation.
While not the original question, an interesting one would be: Can one app simultaneously use C2DM and GCM.
C2DM uses the Sender-Account while GCM uses the Project-ID to register. The only thing they both might share is the App-package name (and obviously the google account of the device, but that shouldn't matter as there are multiple apps which can use gcm/c2dm in parallel anyway).
In my experience registering C2DM and GCM in the same app can cause some serious problems.
Reason to have both in one app might be that you want to use GCM in the app, but can't everywhere because a legacy backend might not be able to switch to GCM yet. Probably a rather rare scenario - but currently happening for our app.

C2DM - How to push messages to several devices with one sender ID?

I have one single Gmail account signed up for C2DM.
What I would like is that my app, thanks to this account (after having requested registration IDs and auth tokens for each device), could be able to provide messages to all the devices in which the app is installed.
I want to know if is it possible to use the C2DM in this way..
Thanks a lot
(for any details, just ask me.. )
ps I made the c2dm work on the emulator, but of course I cannot try what written before because I would need several phones..
Going off your question and comments, it sounds like you're just wondering if you can send c2dm notifications to an indeterminate number of devices using only one sender id.
That is exactly the way c2dm is supposed to work. You create one sender id to use on your backend servers, and that sender id is used in your app to register for c2dm notifications. Your backend then gathers all registrations ids and uses your one sender id to push notifications interested parties.
If I understood your issue correctly, the answer is: you can't.
You will have to send one http request, to google servers, for each device you want to reach.
There's no way to broadcast a message to all the users who have registered to your service.
It' frustrating because in my case I send a newsletter for all my users, so opening a connection to millions of users is expensive.
To solve the scalability issue I have created a simple appengine map-reduce task that loops through all the user registrations and create the http connection to the google services, it's the fastest you can go because it dynamically instantiate new servers for your delivery needs.
C2DM has been deprecated. GCM has replaced it, and it allows you to send messages to 1000 devices with one HTTP POST.
C2DM->GCM Migration Guide:
http://developer.android.com/guide/google/gcm/c2dm.html

How to set a timeout/expiration on a C2DM message?

Is there a TTL or expiration or some sort of timeout feature for C2DM messages?
I would like the C2DM message to be received within 10 minutes by the device, any longer (ie: if their phone is off) and the C2DM message should not be received by the device.
I could probably implement something in the device to ignore any C2DM messages if they are old, but I'm not sure how accurate that would be with different device time settings.
A TTL flag on the C2DM message sent to google would be perfect, but not sure if they support this.
Cheers!
Dave
C2DM does not have such a feature. Please have a look here:
how to set valid time period for android c2dm message?
Update:
Google just released a new version of c2dm called "Google Cloud Messaging (GCM)". With GCM it is possible to use a timeout for your messages:
I really recommend the Google I/O 2012 "Google Cloud Messaging for Android" session available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoaP6hcDctM
Additionally you can read through the GCM ttl section: http://developer.android.com/guide/google/gcm/adv.html#ttl

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