h2. Introduction
Cloud Push is an extended push notification mechanism that provides asynchronous notifications to users when they are offline from the originating ICEfaces web-application.
Once a user registers for Cloud Push notifications in the web-application they can receive notifications in one of the supported formats when the web-application detects that they are no longer on-line in the web-application itself. This is determined to be the case anytime the web-application does not have an active push connection to the user's browser, either due to the user closing the browser, navigating away from the web-application, or even navigating to a new page within the web-application that does not have push enabled.
When a user receives a Cloud Push notification message, they can simple click on the notification itself, or an embedded URL within the message to automatically open their browser to the originating web-application page, where the updated status will be displayed for them to review via normal ICEfaces web-application rendering.
h2. Cloud Push Notification Providers
Cloud Push uses a notification provider architecture to support a variety of notification mechanisms. In order to support a particular notification type, its corresponding provider must be configured in the web-application.
The following providers are supported by the ICEfaces ICEpush library:
* Email Notification Provider - Supports notifications via email messages.
[ICEfaces EE|http://www.icesoft.org/java/products/ICEfaces-EE/overview.jsf] extends the standard ICEfaces Email provider with the additional providers:
*Native Mobile Platform Notification Providers* - Supports notifications via Android, iOS, and Windows Phone native device notifications.
* Apple APNS - Sends native iOS notifications via the [Apple Push Notification Service|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3576].
* Google GCM - Sends native Android notifications via [Google Cloud Messaging (GCM)|http://developer.android.com/google/gcm/index.html].
* Microsoft WNS - Sends native Windows notifications via [Windows Push Notification Services|https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh913756.aspx].
The native notification providers work in conjunction with the [BridgeIt|http://bridgeit.mobi/] app. on mobile devices to deliver cloud-based notifications.
*SMS Notification Providers* - Supports notifications via SMS text messages.
* Amazon SNS - Sends SMS messages via the [Amazon SNS|https://aws.amazon.com/sns/] (Simple Notification Service) cloud-based SMS gateway.
* Twilio SMS - Sends SMS messages via the [Twilio|http://www.twilio.com/sms] cloud-based SMS gateway.
The SMS providers require a valid user account on the SMS gateway service to be used.
Cloud Push is an extended push notification mechanism that provides asynchronous notifications to users when they are offline from the originating ICEfaces web-application.
Once a user registers for Cloud Push notifications in the web-application they can receive notifications in one of the supported formats when the web-application detects that they are no longer on-line in the web-application itself. This is determined to be the case anytime the web-application does not have an active push connection to the user's browser, either due to the user closing the browser, navigating away from the web-application, or even navigating to a new page within the web-application that does not have push enabled.
When a user receives a Cloud Push notification message, they can simple click on the notification itself, or an embedded URL within the message to automatically open their browser to the originating web-application page, where the updated status will be displayed for them to review via normal ICEfaces web-application rendering.
h2. Cloud Push Notification Providers
Cloud Push uses a notification provider architecture to support a variety of notification mechanisms. In order to support a particular notification type, its corresponding provider must be configured in the web-application.
The following providers are supported by the ICEfaces ICEpush library:
* Email Notification Provider - Supports notifications via email messages.
[ICEfaces EE|http://www.icesoft.org/java/products/ICEfaces-EE/overview.jsf] extends the standard ICEfaces Email provider with the additional providers:
*Native Mobile Platform Notification Providers* - Supports notifications via Android, iOS, and Windows Phone native device notifications.
* Apple APNS - Sends native iOS notifications via the [Apple Push Notification Service|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3576].
* Google GCM - Sends native Android notifications via [Google Cloud Messaging (GCM)|http://developer.android.com/google/gcm/index.html].
* Microsoft WNS - Sends native Windows notifications via [Windows Push Notification Services|https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh913756.aspx].
The native notification providers work in conjunction with the [BridgeIt|http://bridgeit.mobi/] app. on mobile devices to deliver cloud-based notifications.
*SMS Notification Providers* - Supports notifications via SMS text messages.
* Amazon SNS - Sends SMS messages via the [Amazon SNS|https://aws.amazon.com/sns/] (Simple Notification Service) cloud-based SMS gateway.
* Twilio SMS - Sends SMS messages via the [Twilio|http://www.twilio.com/sms] cloud-based SMS gateway.
The SMS providers require a valid user account on the SMS gateway service to be used.