windows phone 8 - 9 push notifications

Oliver Scheer

Senior Technical Evangelist

Microsoft Deutschland

http://the-oliver.com

Push Notifications

Push Notifications

04/10/2023

Push Notifications and Live Tiles

• Push Notifications offer developers a way to send

timely information relating to their applications

even when they are not running

+•Windows phone has the unique ability to provide

the end user glanceable access to the information

they care most about, via Live Tiles

Push Notifications

Server-initiated communication

Enable key background scenarios

Preserve battery life and user experience

Prevent polling for updates

Three Kinds of Notifications

• Raw• Notification message content is application-specific• Delivered directly to app only if it is running

• Toast• Specific XML schema• Content delivered to app if it is running• If app is not running, system displays Toast popup using notification message content

• Tile• Specific XML schema• Never delivered to app • If the Tile is currently pinned to the Start screen, system updates it using notification

message content

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Push Notification Data Flow

URI to the service:"http://notify.live.com/throttledthirdparty/01.00/

AAFRQHgiiMWNTYrRDXAHQtz-AgrNpzcDAwAAAAQOMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDA"

Push enabled applications

Notifications service

HTTP POST the message

Push endpoint is established. URI is created for the endpoint.

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2

3

Third-party

service

MPNS:Microsoft

hosted server

Send PN Message

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Push Notification Features

• Tile updates can update any display element of each of the Tile templates• Be careful to downgrade updates sent to 7.1 clients

• 30 subscription endpoints allowed per phone

•Maximum size of a notification is 1KB for the header and 3KB for the payload.

•Unauthenticated Web Service limited to 500 push notifications per subscription

per day

• Authenticated Web Services are recommended• Communication uses HTTPS channel•No limit• Able to register a callback request

Toast Message Content

•Used by system to display Toast message if app not running

•Navigates to page specified in <Param> (if supplied)

• If app is already running• ShellToastNotificationReceived event fires•<Text1> and <Text2> values in event args as Dictionary<string, string>

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Toast Message Content

•Use the following HTTP headers:

• Where <batching interval> is 3 – Immediate delivery, 13 – delivered within 450

seconds, 23 – delivered within 900 seconds

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string toastMessage = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>" +

"<wp:Notification xmlns:wp=\"WPNotification\">" +

"<wp:Toast>" +

"<wp:Text1>WEATHER ALERT</wp:Text1>" +

"<wp:Text2>Stormy</wp:Text2>" +

"<wp:Param>/page1.xaml?value1=1234<wp:Param>" +

"</wp:Toast>" +

"</wp:Notification>";

sendNotificationRequest.ContentType = "text/xml";sendNotificationRequest.Headers.Add("X-WindowsPhone-Target", "toast");sendNotificationRequest.Headers.Add("X-NotificationClass", "<batching interval>");

Tile Message Content

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• Tile messages are never delivered to the app

• There are specific schemas for the a Tile update message for each of the

three Tile Templates: Flip, Cycle and Iconic• Only Tiles using Flip and Iconic templates can be updated with images at remote

URLs

• Remote Images limited to 80KB and must download in 30 seconds or less

• V7.x clients cannot consume these new templates. Recommend you:• In your app, capture the device unique ID, the push URI, the OS version and the app

version. Send this data to your Web service registration method• Make sure you only send the new templates to compatible new OS versions/app

versions!

• Use the following HTTP headers:sendNotificationRequest.ContentType = "text/xml";sendNotificationRequest.Headers.Add("X-WindowsPhone-Target", “token");sendNotificationRequest.Headers.Add("X-NotificationClass", "<batching interval>");

FlipTile Template Tile Message Schema

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<wp:Notification xmlns:wp="WPNotification" Version="2.0">

<wp:Tile Id="[TileId]" Template="FlipTile">

<wp:SmallBackgroundImage Action="Clear">[sm tile img URI]</wp:SmallBackgroundImage>

<wp:WideBackgroundImage Action="Clear">[front of wd tile img URI]</wp:WideBackgroundImage>

<wp:WideBackBackgroundImage Action="Clear">[back of wd tile img

URI]</wp:WideBackBackgroundImage>

<wp:WideBackContent Action="Clear">[back of wd tile content text]</wp:WideBackContent>

<wp:BackgroundImage Action="Clear">[front of med tile img URI]</wp:BackgroundImage>

<wp:Count Action="Clear">[count]</wp:Count>

<wp:Title Action="Clear">[title text]</wp:Title>

<wp:BackBackgroundImage Action="Clear">[back of med tile img URI]</wp:BackBackgroundImage>

<wp:BackTitle Action="Clear">[back of tile title text]</wp:BackTitle>

<wp:BackContent Action="Clear">[back of med tile content text]</wp:BackContent>

</wp:Tile>

</wp:Notification>

04/10/202311

CycleTile Template Tile Message Schema



<wp:Tile Id="[TileId]" Template="CycleTile">

<wp:SmallBackgroundImage Action="Clear">[sm tile img URI]</wp:SmallBackgroundImage>

<wp:CycleImage1 Action="Clear">[photo 1 img URI]</wp:CycleImage1>











</wp:Tile>

</wp:Notification>

04/10/202312

IconicTile Template Tile Message Schema



<wp:Tile Id="[TileId]" Template="IconicTile">

<wp:SmallIconImage Action="Clear">[sm icon img URI]</wp:SmallIconImage>

<wp:IconImage Action="Clear">[med/wd icon img URI]</wp:IconImage>

<wp:WideContent1 Action="Clear">[wd tile content line 1]</wp:WideContent1>





<wp:BackgroundColor Action="Clear">[hex ARGB background color of tile]</wp:BackgroundColor>

</wp:Tile>

</wp:Notification>

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Raw Message Content

•Use the following HTTP headers:

• Where <batching interval> is 3 – Immediate delivery, 13 – delivered within 450

seconds, 23 – delivered within 900 seconds

•Message Content is application-specific – only gets delivered to running app

• For example use XML to format data

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string tileMessage = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>" + "<root>" + "<Value1>SomeUserValue<Value1>" + "<Value2>SomeOtherUserValue<Value2>" + "</root>";

sendNotificationRequest.ContentType = "text/xml";sendNotificationRequest.Headers.Add("X-NotificationClass", "<batching interval>");

Demo: Push Notifications

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Response Custom Headers

• Response Code: HTTP status code (200 OK)

• Notification Status• Notification received by the Push Notification Service• For example: “X-NotificationStatus:Received”

• DeviceConnectionStatus• The connection status of the device• //For example: X-DeviceConnectionStatus:Connected

• SubscriptionStatus• The subscription status• //For example: X-SubscriptionStatus:Active

• More information • http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff402545(v=VS.92).aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff402545(v=VS.92).aspx

Review

• Push Notifications are an efficient and battery-friendly way of sending

notifications from a server to an app on a phone

• Raw notifications go only to a running app

• Toast notifications go to the app if it is running, otherwise display as a popup on

the phone

• Tile notifications are used only to update tiles on the Start Screen

The information herein is for informational purposes only an represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be

interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation.

© 2012 Microsoft Corporation.

All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.

MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

windows phone 8 - 9 push notifications

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