0

NOTE : Don't say it's possible duplicate of this, Read through.

Think of a simple TASK Management application which can have n number of users. Say User A can create a task & assign it to User B. I want to show a notification to User B.

I am using Firebase as BAAS and following code-snippet prints on console only when there is a task assigned to User B. To simplfy, Users collection in Firebase has a node called tasksAssignedToThisUser array and callback function will be watching tasksAssignedToThisUser location. Whenever a new task gets added to that array, callback function gets executed. Here is the code snippet:

var rootRef = firebase.database().ref();

rootRef.child('users').child(loggedInUserID).child('tasksAssignedToThisUser')
        .on('child_added', function (newMessageSnapshot) {
          console.log('Someone assigned a task to this user.');
          console.log(newMessageSnapshot.val);
        });

Everything works fine until here.

What I have understood by reading Firebase docs & other post's on SO about Push notifications or Firebase Cloud Messaging is:

Firebase Notifications lets users easily send messages to reengage and retain users, foster app growth, and support marketing campaigns.

Before you can write client apps that use Firebase Cloud Messaging, you must have an app server that meets the following criteria:

...

You'll need to decide which FCM connection server protocol(s) you want to use to enable your app server to interact with FCM connection servers. Note that if you want to use upstream messaging from your client applications, you must use XMPP. For a more detailed discussion of this, see Choosing an FCM Connection Server Protocol.

This is definitely not what I want and maintaining a server for sending push notifications makes sense when bulk messages needs to be pushed to large number of devices. So I didn't name my question as Real Time Push Notifications.

I see a function being executed, which meets my use-case and I just want app to display a notification to the user in his mobile system tray on that callback function execution.

I am using Ionic 1 for developing app, completely new to Firebase and Ionic too. If there is a simple serverless approach that Firebase itself provides which can suffice my requirement, then I would be more than happy to hear about it.

Community
  • 1
  • 1
BeingSuman
  • 3,015
  • 7
  • 30
  • 48
  • 1
    If you can rely on the app remaining active, you can use the Firebase Realtime Database for communicating the notifications. Otherwise you'll need to use Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM). Sending downstream notifications (=notifications to a device) with FCM requires that you specify the so-called Server API key. As its name implies, this key should not be present in client apps. For this reason sending downstream messages requires that you run code on an app server. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/37634046/is-it-possible-to-send-pushnotifications-using-firebase-cloud-messaging-fcm-t – Frank van Puffelen Oct 10 '16 at 09:00
  • @FrankvanPuffelen thanks for reply sir. I would say app remains active for now & is there any sample or post or doc of Firebase Realtime Database for communicating the notifications ? – BeingSuman Oct 10 '16 at 09:22
  • Realtime communication is the standard when you use the Firebase Database. See the [docs](https://firebase.google.com/docs/database/web/start) and our [codelab](https://codelabs.developers.google.com/codelabs/firebase-web/#0) for an example. – Frank van Puffelen Oct 10 '16 at 09:38
  • Realtime communication is syncing of data from Firebase to all client listeners right ? It has got nothing to do with sending notifications or stuff, isn't it ? – BeingSuman Oct 10 '16 at 10:29
  • Sending notifications to users that don't have the app active, is done through Firebase Cloud Messaging. See my first comment. – Frank van Puffelen Oct 10 '16 at 12:57
  • Looks like a big learning curve ahead. How FCM works and how to integrate it with Ionic apps. thanks @Frank :) – BeingSuman Oct 10 '16 at 13:29

0 Answers0