How to: Automatic/programmable push notifications

[bernhardt1]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Handling automatic push notifications seems to require somewhat hacky solutions. I have not been able to find a conventional approach to handle these notifications within amplify/ AWS mobile.

Describe the solution you'd like
A tutorial or article explaining the conventional solution to automatic push notifications within amplify/AWS mobile suite.

Describe alternatives you've considered
Based on tutorials and articles I've pieced together a solution. Something like:
track if user is online/offline -> use appsync local resolver to catch desired notification and send to lambda -> use lambda to generate a 1-time pinpoint message.

Thanks in advance.

[vparpoil]

I would like to send a push notification to certain users from a server programmaticaly. I feel like it's not yet supported (see here, push notifs are not listed). Is this being working on ?
Thanks a lot!

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[bernhardt1]

@vparpoil Are you still looking for a solution to send push notifications programatically?

I've implemented them in my project and could detail my approach if you would like.

[vparpoil]

@bernhardt1 I'm interested in how you did. I ended up using Google Firebase Cloud Messaging system, I would be happy to know other approaches

[bernhardt1]

I did something close to this: @vparpoil

1. Set up pinpoint notifications in the project + ensure test messaging is working for iOS and android
2. I use appsync in my project - By attaching a resolver to a field you can send the resulting data from a mutation to lambda.
3. Once the data is in lambda you can generate the push notifications

var AWS = require('aws-sdk');

exports.handler = (event, context, callback) => {
    const pinpoint = new AWS.Pinpoint({ apiVersion: '2016-12-01', region: process.env.PINPOINT_REGION });
    
    let whoSent;
    let whoReceive;
    let content = "tap to view message";

    event && event.Records && event.Records.forEach((record) => {
        console.log('Stream record: ', JSON.stringify(record, null, 2));
        
        if (record.eventName == 'INSERT') {
            whoSent = record.dynamodb.NewImage.senderUserId.S;
            whoReceive = record.dynamodb.NewImage.receiverUserId.S;
            content = record.dynamodb.NewImage.content.S;
        }
    });
    
    // console.log(`executing push notification with content: ${content}, & receiver ${whoReceive}`);
    const sendMessagesParams = {
        ApplicationId: process.env.PINPOINT_APP_ID,
        SendUsersMessageRequest: {
            Users: {
                [whoReceive]: {}
            },
            MessageConfiguration: {
                APNSMessage: {
                    Action: 'OPEN_APP',
                    Title: 'You have a new message',
                    SilentPush: false,
                    Body: content
                },
                GCMMessage: {
                    Action: 'OPEN_APP',
                    Title: 'You have a new message',
                    SilentPush: false,
                    Body: content
                }
            }
        }
    };

    pinpoint.sendUsersMessages(sendMessagesParams, (err, data) => {
        // console.log('sendUsersMessages returned');
        if (err) {
        //   console.log('AN ERROR OCCURED');
          console.log(err, err.stack); // an error occurred
          callback(null, 'error')
        }
        else {
        //   console.log('SEND MESSAGES SUCCEEDED');
        //   console.log(JSON.stringify(data));           // successful response
          callback(null, 'success')
        }
    });
};

Does that make sense?

[abdallahshaban557]

Hello! We have launched a new version of
https://docs.amplify.aws/lib/push-notifications/getting-started/ for React Native, Swift, Android, and Flutter. You can follow this tutorial to learn more about programatically sending push notifications from your backend.

https://dev.to/codebeast/take-advantage-of-aws-amplifys-push-notification-feature-in-a-react-native-app-2cd2