The concept
I've participated recently on a proof of concept using Sybase Mobile Workflow for Business Suite and I was in charge of finding out how to teach the customer on developing the code required for sending notifications to devices.
After research on the topic I found this excellent documentation on sending General DCN Requests and how they differ from a DCN Workflow request. Oh, BTW the DCN anachronism stands for Data Change Notification and the the process in which SUP receives a notification that a change has been made to a data source and required SUP's attention.
If you are interested on developing the code, please take a look at the following documentation:
Mobile Workflow Data Change Notification: Sybook where you will find detailed information on how DCN for Workflow works
and
Developer Reference for Mobile Workflow Packages: This package contains an excellent example written in Java which shows not just the HTTP request, but also the DCN request.
Both are for version 1.5.5, but the information is also valid for 2.0
JSON in Java: I've found this was pretty helpful in construction the DCN request which is in JSON format.
Here is a sample code I've manage to put in codex on how to ease the DCN request creation in Java using JSON.
The challenge
Up to here it's all pretty much research job - no big deal. But the first time I decided to run a test, I ended up frustrated, because my code didn't work at all.
I used the device user - the one we use to register the device. But the servlet kept telling me that there were no devices associated to that user.
So I'm back at research when I found a frustrating information on a text note - I shouldn't be using that user anyway. But get even more frustrated it didn't tell me which user it was or where to create it.
Luck of me I was not alone. Thanks to my buddy Lucas Araujo I realized that there is a User Repository in SUP specifically designed for authenticating mobile users.
He told me to look for the installations instructions on Sybase Mobile Workflow for SAP Business Suite.
There I found out how to create users on OpenDS (Apache LDAP Server).
OK, now I know where the user must be created, but how to I assign a device to that particular user?
The answer
The same document provided what I needed. Again, thanks to my friend Davi Correa I now know that users created in OpenDS and authenticated against SUP will appear on Sybase Control Center as assigned to a device.
Since I am able to look into the Workflow package from Sybase for Business Suite I was able to unveil the mystery.
All I needed to do was understand how the authentication happens within Workflow's context.
So here is the overall picture on how things work within SUP:
On part II I will deep dive into Mobile Worklow to show how to get things done.
So stay tuned for more.
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