AppDev Push Notifications Backend

This is our backend service which handles Push Notifications across all of our apps.

Setting up database:

Make sure PostgreSQL is installed. After installation, start PostgreSQL and run the command

CREATE DATABASE push-notifications;

If you get a database error, upon running npm run start:dev and you already have the database created try

DROP DATABASE push-notifications;
CREATE DATABASE push-notifications;

Connect to the database by running

psql push-notifications

Required variables & files:

Create a .envrc file in the repository by running the following and setting the correct values:

cp envrc.template .envrc

You will also need a .p8 file which is tied to the Apple Developer account that owns the apps which will be receiving push notifications. Contact an AppDev member to get the .p8 file tied to our account.

Using direnv is recommended. Otherwise, you need to source it using source .envrc.

To run:

Make sure you have Node.js installed, and then run

npm install (first time)
npm run start:dev

Endpoints

/apps/create/ • POST

Description: Registers a new app which can then be tied to users.

Request Body

{
  "name": String
}

required name : String

description	The name of the app.
notes	N/A

Returns: App

class App

Name	Type	Description
id	String	The UUID of the app.
name	String	The name of the app.
createdAt	String	The timestamp of when the app was created at.
updatedAt	String	The timestamp of when the app was last updated.

---

/users/create/ • POST

Description: Creates a new user which can then be sent a push notification to.

Request Body

{
  "appName": String,
  "deviceToken: String,
  "uuid": String
}

required appName : String

description	The name of the app for which this user is tied to.
notes	If appName is the name of an App that has not yet been created, calling this route will create an App with name of appName.

required deviceToken : String

description	The deviceToken that is assigned to an iPhone user by Apple.
notes	Client receives this deviceToken from Apple after the user approves to receiving Push Notifications on the iOS app.

required uuid : String

description	The unique identifier that is used to identify the user for this app.
notes	This should be unique.

Returns: User

class User

Name	Type	Description
id	String	The UUID of the app.
deviceToken	String	The deviceToken that is assigned to an iPhone user by Apple.
isNotificationsEnabled	Boolean	The boolean representing whether push notifications are currently enabled for this user (default: true).
uuid	String	The unique identifier that is used to identify the user for this app.
createdAt	String	The timestamp of when the app was created at.
updatedAt	String	The timestamp of when the app was last updated.

---

/apps/ • GET

Description: Returns a list of all the apps that are currently registered to receive push notifications.

Returns: [App]

---

/notify/ • POST

Description: Send a push notification to a user.

Request Body

{
  "apnPayload": Object,
  "deviceToken: String,
  "uuid": String
}

required apnPayload : String

description	The object containing information about the notification to send to the user. View docs here to see how this object should be formatted.
notes	At minimum, this should contain an alert key which is a String representing the message to be displayed in the push notification and a topic key which is a String representing the app bundle identifier.

required deviceToken : String

description	The deviceToken that is assigned to an iPhone user by Apple.
notes	Client receives this deviceToken from Apple after the user approves to receiving Push Notifications on the iOS app.

required uuid : String

description	The unique identifier that is used to identify the user for this app.
notes	This should be unique.

Returns: PushNotificationResponse

class PushNotificationResponse

Name	Type	Description
successfulTokens	[String]	The list of device tokens to which the notification was sent succesfully.
failedTokens	[String]	The list of objects containing the device token (device) and either an error, or a status and response representing the reason the notification failed to send for this device.

Sample Failed Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
      "failedTokens": [
          {
              "device": "ajklfaskfdlkwneflaknwflknasdlknf",
              "status": "400",
              "response": {
                  "reason": "BadDeviceToken"
              }
          }
      ],
      "successfulTokens": []
  }
}

Sample Successful Response:

{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "failedTokens": [],
        "successfulTokens": [
            {
                "device": "ajklfaskfdlkwneflaknwflknasdlknf"
            }
        ]
    }
}

---

/users/update/ • POST

Description: Updates information about a registered user.

Request Body

{
  "deviceToken": ?String,
  "isNotificationsEnabled": ?Boolean,
  "uuid": String
}

optional deviceToken : String

description	The deviceToken that is assigned to an iPhone user by Apple.
notes	Client receives this deviceToken from Apple after the user approves to receiving Push Notifications on the iOS app.

optional isNotificationsEnabled : Boolean

description	The boolean representing whether push notifications are currently enabled for this user.
notes	N/A

required uuid : String

description	The unique identifier that is used to identify the user for this app.
notes	N/A

Returns: User

---