Suggestion on how to link APN's device token to a registered user (through phonegap or UIWebView)

Question

Similar question here: jQueryMobile, Phonegap and Device Token - iOS

The scenario is, I have this PhoneGap web based application, and the native iOS help me registered t

Answer 1

For the sake of completeness, this is my solution after using @TDeBailleul solution. Ported over to Cordova. (Tested on iOS only. After I have finished Android version I will post a plugin for this:

Environment

• Cordova 1.5.0 (Formerly PhoneGap)
• Xcode 4.3.1
• iOS 5.1
• Mac OS X 10.7.3
• Do not use Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) to avoid compilation error
• Go through this freaking long tutorial to have your Push Notification certificate ready

Working Flow

1. [Native] Application started - APN registration started and device_token is received at server side
2. [Native] Application store the token in AppDelegate, and to get the token, use the PushToken in the following codes
3. [WebView] Whenever a user is login or signup, the token will be called through Cordova (formerly PhoneGap) plugin, hashed and being sent over to the server to do a sign in, matching and link up the user to a particular device.

So below is my complete working codes that do the native pulling of token. Server part is nothing but just linking accounts to devices. You should know how to do it through your favourite server side application.

AppDelegate.h

@interface AppDelegate : NSObject < UIApplicationDelegate, UIWebViewDelegate, CDVCommandDelegate > {
    ...
    NSString* token;
    ...
}
...
...
...
@property (retain, nonatomic) NSString* token;

AppDelegate.m

Note: I'm a Obj-C newbie and I have included my attempt to post token to my server as well. If you do not need the posting mechanism, retain the first 5 lines (til' self.token = dt) in the didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken

...

@synthesize token;

...

- (BOOL) application:(UIApplication*)application didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:(NSDictionary*)launchOptions
{    
...
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] registerForRemoteNotificationTypes:
    (UIRemoteNotificationTypeBadge | UIRemoteNotificationTypeSound | UIRemoteNotificationTypeAlert)];

    return YES;
}

- (void)application:(UIApplication *)application didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken:(NSData *)deviceToken
{
    NSLog(@"Did finish launching with device token %@", deviceToken);
    NSString *dt = [[deviceToken description] stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:@"<>"]];
    dt = [dt stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@" " withString:@""];

    self.token = dt;

    NSString *dv = [[UIDevice currentDevice] systemVersion];
    NSString *dn = [[UIDevice currentDevice] systemName];
    NSString *nick = [[UIDevice currentDevice] name];
    NSString *model = [[UIDevice currentDevice] model];
    NSString *uniqueIdentifier = [[UIDevice currentDevice] uniqueIdentifier];

    NSMutableString *postData = [NSMutableString stringWithString: @"&deviceToken="];

    [postData appendString:dt];
    [postData appendFormat:@"&uniqueIdentifier=%@&application_uuid=5ade8400-e29c-41d4-a716-3641972a2ec6", uniqueIdentifier];
    [postData appendFormat:@"&source=ios&name=%@&model=%@&systemName=%@&systemVersion=%@", nick, model, dn, dv];

    NSString* escapedURLString = [postData stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

    @try {
        NSData *postData = [escapedURLString dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];
        NSMutableURLRequest *request = [[NSMutableURLRequest alloc]
                                        initWithURL: [NSURL URLWithString:@"{YOUR URL TO POST TOKEN TO SERVER}"]
                                        cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy timeoutInterval: 180];
        NSString *postLength = [[NSString alloc] initWithFormat: @"%d", [postData length]];
        [request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
        [request setValue:postLength forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Length"];
        [request setValue:@"application/x-www-form-urlencoded" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Type"];
        [request setHTTPBody:postData];


        NSURLConnection *conn = [[NSURLConnection alloc] initWithRequest:request delegate:self];
        if (conn) {
            //??
        }else{
            //??
        }
    }
    @catch (NSException *exception) {
        NSLog(@"Exception %@", exception);
    }
}
...

PushToken.h

#import 
#import 

@interface PushToken : CDVPlugin {
    NSString* callbackID;
}

@property (nonatomic, copy) NSString* callbackID;

- (void) getToken:(NSMutableArray*)arguments withDict:(NSMutableDictionary*)options;

@end

PushToken.m

#import "PushToken.h"
#import "AppDelegate.h"

@implementation PushToken

@synthesize callbackID;

- (void)getToken:(NSMutableArray *)arguments withDict:(NSMutableDictionary *)options {

    NSLog(@"Did called getToken");
    self.callbackID = [arguments pop];

    NSString *token = ((AppDelegate *)[[UIApplication sharedApplication] delegate]).token;
    CDVPluginResult *pluginResult = [CDVPluginResult resultWithStatus:CDVCommandStatus_OK messageAsString:[token stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

    if (token.length != 0) {
        [self writeJavascript: [pluginResult toSuccessCallbackString:self.callbackID]];
    }else{
        [self writeJavascript: [pluginResult toErrorCallbackString:self.callbackID]];
    }
}

@end

PushToken.js

var PushToken = {
    /**
    * Get token from the device
    * @param {array} types - By default is ['getToken']
    * @param {function} success Success callback, with token
    * @param {function} fail Failure callback, with null
    */
    getToken: function(types, success, fail) {
        return Cordova.exec(success, fail, "PushToken", "getToken", types);
    },

    /**
    * For the sake of iOS, we need an install function
    */
    install: function() {
        window.plugins = window.plugins || {};
        window.plugins.PushToken = PushToken;
    }
};

/**
* For the rest of the devices
*/
window.plugins = window.plugins || {};
window.plugins.PushToken = PushToken;

Usage

document.addEventListener('deviceready', function() {
    if (typeof PushToken == 'object') {
        PushToken.install();
    }

    PushToken.getToken(['getToken'], function(token) {
        callback(token);
    }, function() {
        callback(null);
    });
});

And you should be able to get your token from your Javascript side ;)

Have fun!

Cheers