I am new to using FCM notifications for Android Application at https://firebase.google.com/docs/cloud-messaging/server. I was reading up on it and found that in the About FCM Server page requirements, it says the following:
An app server that you must implement in your environment. This app server sends data to a client app via the chosen FCM connection server, using appropriate XMPP or HTTP protocol
However, I am sorely confused about this. As I read more into the article, I see that there is an API that looks like this:
POST http://fcm.googleapis.com/fcm/send
If I invoke this API using something like OkHttpClient and build my request like so, (provided that I have authentication headers and a POST body included)
private void sendRegistrationToServer(String token) {
OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();
RequestBody body = new FormBody.Builder().add(“Body", "").build();
//Assuming I have authentication and body put in
Request request = new Request.Builder().url("http://fcm.googleapis.com/fcm/send”).post(body).build();
try {
client.newCall(request).execute();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
Would I in theory, be able to send a notification with whatever information I want to that device? I can receive the message through the following class:
public class NotificationService extends FirebaseMessagingService {
...
// [START receive_message]
@Override
public void onMessageReceived(RemoteMessage remoteMessage) {
// TODO(developer): Handle FCM messages here.
Log.d(TAG, "From: " + remoteMessage.getFrom());
// Check if message contains a data payload.
if (remoteMessage.getData().size() > 0) {
Log.d(TAG, "Message data payload: " + remoteMessage.getData());
}
// Check if message contains a notification payload.
if (remoteMessage.getNotification() != null) {
Log.d(TAG, "Message Notification Body: " + remoteMessage.getNotification().getBody());
}
}
I’m sure my understanding is incorrect somewhere as the documentation does say we need an application server, but if someone could please point out where I am misunderstanding how to implement FCM notifications, that would be great. If someone could give an example of where or when we would need an app server, or how it should ACTUALLY be implemented, that would also be much appreciated. Thanks!
String? – Russ