MDKFriend App – Let’s Connect

Hello #SapCommunity,

In order to promote the usage of MDK and improve the quantity of material/sample source code currently on the community, i’ve decided to create an app from scratch. Based on the current official SAP tutorials (served as inspiration and also some of their code), i had the idea to create an app of such “let’s meet” type of requirement (but of course, a DEMO app).

So then the MDKFriend app 📲 was born, with the objetive of sharing your location (profile) with your friends, so that you can now meet in person.🙌😷

It has the following functionalities:

• A profile page, that uses your current location latitude and longitude, to execute a API call (LocationIQ reverse Geocoding) to get the address for that location. With that info, displays your “profile” on the page.
• Share your profile option, that generates a QR Code to be shared with your friends, that has your current location in it.
• “Got a friend?” button, that opens a QR Code reader, so you can read your friend’s QR Code (also generated with the MDKFriend app) and get his current location. With his current location now the map is displayed, with your location and his, so you can (with the help of the map, displaying your speed and precision) go meet in person. 🤝🤝🤝

In order to execute the API call, you need to create a free API key here, we’re going to use the option below:

You can get the full app and custom client source code here: GitHub:

Before you can continue, you need to be able to reproduce the official SAP tutorial on creating a branded MDK client here. In step 2 of the tutorial, you can use my MDKFriend.mdkproject folder instead (but don’t forget to place your URLs, AppID, ClientID, etc…).

Now, you need to setup your trial Mobile Services and BAS (Business Application Studio) to be able to create your app project, please follow the tutorials:

1. Initial Setup for MDK.
2. Start MDK Application (just to see how to create an app in BAS and how to deploy it to Mobile Services).

When you’re successfully inside your BAS workspace, you can clone the Git repository above and deploy the app to your Mobile Services trial instance. You’ll notice on the code, where you need to insert your API Key:

Also, if you’re planning on using the app in your Android device, you need to get a Google Maps API key, as described here.

And of course, it’s a base project… you should change to your profile image/name, etc.

If you’re curious to see the app in action, here is the screen flow on IOS:

On IOS in Dark Mode:

On Android will look something like this:

And you can see in action here, meeting a friend:

And in Dark Mode:

What else can you do with this app idea? Create dynamic profiles (images, names, etc), calculate distance between friends, other types of profile sharing, app interactions, etc. All with the objective to increase your MDK skills.

If you got any questions drop a comment below.

Also if you want to dig deeper into MDK, don’t forget to study the official tutorials here.

Regards.