Integrating native mobile client with cloud backend

When a backend system is involved that requires user authentication, users often need to create a new user account for the system. The number of different accounts and thus user credentials, often usernames and passwords, becomes a burden on the user's memory. Push notification systems are available for all major mobile platforms to help the back-end systems notify the client software of updates.

A ready push notification server has been deployed to allow the backend to easily notify mobile clients on various mobile platforms of updated content. The backend can notify the mobile app of new content using push notifications. A big thank you to my fiancee, Anna, for her patience, and to her and my daughter, Ella, for bringing joy and distraction when sometimes life seemed to involve only work or a thesis.

Introduction

Cloud computing

Cloud as execution environment

• Cloud structure
• Deployment models
• Cloud characteristics

Cloud services can be divided into different models (table 2.1), where the basic models are the building blocks for the more abstract models. IaaS Infrastructure as a service The consumer has access to processing, storage, network and other. Private cloud can be operated by a single organization, by a third party, or by a combination of them.

By definition, a cloud becomes public when it can be accessed over a network that is public and offers its infrastructure for open use by the general public. There are many reasons why services are rushing to the cloud from traditional hosting platforms. Both can be hacked, but major cloud providers spend a lot of resources to keep their services secure.

Technologies

• HTTP
• REST
• JSON

HEAD is also useful because it can be used to get only the header section associated with a resource if a client is only interested in a resource's metadata. A server requesting authentication for a request can respond with 401 (unauthorized) code and provide at least one challenge that can be used for authentication. One-time nonces require more resources from the server because a new nonce has to be created each time and it avoids the use of pipelined requests where multiple requests can be on the line at the same time.

However, it is important that the server defines which resources can be cached to prevent misinformation flows. Intermediate servers can be used to improve scalability using Content Delivery Networks (CDN) or shared caches. If multiple views of the resource exist at the time it is accessed, a content selection algorithm can be used to dynamically select a view that best fits that client's capabilities.

Security

• Authentication
• Third party authentication
• Session
• Authorization

Authorization is achieved through delegated access: the client first receives an Authorization Grant from the resource owner (A-B). The Access Token is issued to the third party (client) by an Authorization server that allows access to restricted resources specified by the third party and accepted by the resource owner at the time of issuance (E-F). Access can be granted on behalf of a resource owner or a third-party application can access resources on its behalf.

Authorization Credential An Authorization Credential is a credential representing the authority of a resource owner (to access its protected resources .) that a client uses to obtain an access token. Authorization Endpoint An authorization endpoint is used to interact with the resource owner and obtain authorization approval. Access token endpoint The token endpoint is used by the client to obtain an access token by presenting its authorization approval or.

Redirection Endpoint URI where the authorization server redirects the resource owner's client after the authorization interaction. User credentials can be securely stored on the mobile phone and used every time a resource that requires authentication is accessed. Because a mobile device is a personal device, it can be trusted to hold authentication credentials so they don't have to be entered every time.

An end user can be a person using software, software on a device, or another device connected to the device. Public access can be allowed when all unauthenticated consumers have a certain level of access. User access levels can be used to facilitate authorization management by assigning registered users a role that gives them a certain level of authorization.

An example of user levels can be taken from most discussion boards (forums) of the web where guests can read others' posts, registered users can post their own messages and comments on others and may have access to a private section, moderators can edit anyone's content and admin users are allowed to do everything like delete and create new sections.

Mobile applications

Mobile application types

• Native application
• HTML5 application
• Hybrid application

For iOS devices, this means applications developed with Objective-C, for Android with Java, and the native language for Windows Phone applications is C#. When working with native applications, the release is closely linked to platform-dependent application markets, especially on Windows Phone and iOS [22][23]. A new release in the iOS App Store can take weeks due to Apple's review process [24].

If the application is rejected, it must go through the review process again. Mobile tailored websites have often been prefixed with the "m" subdomain to create subpages specific to mobile users. In this method, CSS and JavaScript options are used to offer different user interfaces to mobile and desktop users.

The HTML5 application is the easiest to implement as all that is required for a user to run the latest version is to refresh the web page. A hybrid application consists of a user interface made with HTML(5) technologies that runs on top of the native device's web view. Disadvantages of hybrid applications include poor performance, user interface that is "not quite native" even if it remains unified across platforms.

One of the industry's biggest failures was Facebook's hybrid messenger, which ran into serious performance issues [30]. There are also cross-platform solutions like Qt1 or Titanium2 that don't fit well into any of the three categories. These solutions use a few programming languages ​​and a single code base to create an app that runs on multiple platforms.

While both can work well for some projects, there are still limitations in APIs and user interface that make it harder for these solutions to function or look as good.

Cloud integration

Initiating a direct one-to-one communication from the mobile application to the authentication provider is also possible, but this requires the mobile client to send the complete user identification data to the server.

System requirements

• Current system
• Requirements
• Architecture
• Push notification system comparison
• Interface
• Integrations

This can also be filtered using, for example, an automated phonebook search. Much of the improvement can be achieved through the use of customer relationship management (CRM) software. However, there is no clear lead generation solution (point 3) that is open to everyone.

The leads created should then be distributed to sales for further processing and the system should enable the sales team to respond quickly and make notes on the leads. The usability of the web pages will also respond to mobile device screen sizes. Using push notifications allows the system to break away from the client-server paradigm where only the client can initiate connections.

Due to time and money concerns, push notification ready software is used to simplify and speed up development. There are many choices for developers who don't want to deal with low-level push notification communication. Push notification systems that have not been introduced include Blackberry Push Access Protocol (PAP) [35], Mozilla's SimplePush [36], and Amazon Device Messaging (ADM) [37], which allows push notifications for Kindle devices.

The best choice for the developed system is to use a standalone server running with the main server on a separate virtual instance. It must be able to communicate with the existing systems and be easily integrated with future systems. Examples of integrations are with the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system BIT (Business Intelligence Toolkit) developed in-house by Vincit Oy and the CRM system Pipedrive [38].

The system is also designed with Fonecta or similar number search service in mind.

Implementation

• Technology selection
• Server
• Mobile client
• Registration
• Lead generation
• Deployment
• Evaluation

MongoDB was selected simply because it is easy to use with the rest of the technology stack. Node.js is a platform built on Chrome's (Google-developed web browser based on the Chromium open-source project) JavaScript runtime that can be used to build fast and scalable network applications. The push module encapsulates the pushd server so that it can be used via JavaScript function calls from the application.

There is no enumeration in JavaScript, but enumeration-like behavior can be achieved with frozen objects with indexed names. Endpoint14 requests provide URIs of authorization, token, user information, and public key endpoints. Once setup is complete, you can access /login/google to start OpenID Connect authentication.

The hd parameter is only used for accounts hosted by Google Apps, but can be used to simplify the login process: the app only needs to confirm that the domain is correct. The text display of the domain in the right column should be replaced by an icon display in the future. These integrations can be easily added at any point and are not included in the MVP system.

For the badges to work properly, the Lead Generator needs to handle the counter reset and the mobile client needs to send the server information about the number of leads that have been read. The badge behavior has been omitted from the MVP version of the application, but should be added as soon as possible. Android applications can be easily packaged and installed on any device that has access to the package.

Once the identifiers of the mobile devices are registered, distribution can be done via email or via a web link. The same API can be used on the mobile client and the web front end. Developing new features on top of the system created in this thesis is easy now that all basic configurations are done.

Conclusions

24] Shiny Development Ltd.App Store Times Average Review.url:http://app reviewtimes.com/ios/distribution-chart(Received. 35] Blackberry.Push Service for BlackBerry 10 OS - Push Access Protocol.url: http : //docs.blackberry.com/en/developers/deliverables/.