Push Notifications using GCM on my android app

Question

I want to implement Push Notifications for my android application. I checked online and saw a nice tutorial from androidhive.com. I followed it step by step but ultimately it didnt work. There are 7 php files that i have made to implement the server end. I created my server on 000webhost and also created the database required for it. My device registers successfully with my application server, the entries can also seen in the data base. However, my google api console shows no connection to any device. I feel there may be an error with the connection between my server and GCM but that is only a guess, i dont know the real issue. Here are my 7 php files.

config.php

    <?php
    /**
     * Database config variables
     */
    define("DB_HOST", "mysql9.000webhost.com");
    define("DB_USER", "a4307731_enthu");
    define("DB_PASSWORD", "(my_password)");
    define("DB_DATABASE", "a4307731_GCM");

    /*
     * Google API Key
     */
    define("GOOGLE_API_KEY", "My api key"); 
    ?>

db_connect.php

    <?php

class DB_Connect {

    // constructor
    function __construct() {

    }

    // destructor
    function __destruct() {
        // $this->close();
    }

    // Connecting to database
    public function connect() {
        require_once 'config.php';
        // connecting to mysql
        $con = mysql_connect(DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD);
        // selecting database
        mysql_select_db(DB_DATABASE);

        // return database handler
        return $con;
    }

    // Closing database connection
    public function close() {
        mysql_close();
    }

} 
?>

db_functions.php

    <?php

class DB_Functions {

    private $db;

    //put your code here
    // constructor
    function __construct() {
        include_once './db_connect.php';
        // connecting to database
        $this->db = new DB_Connect();
        $this->db->connect();
    }

    // destructor
    function __destruct() {

    }

    /**
     * Storing new user
     * returns user details
     */
    public function storeUser($name, $email, $gcm_regid) {
        // insert user into database
        $result = mysql_query("INSERT INTO gcm_users(name, email, gcm_regid, created_at) VALUES('$name', '$email', '$gcm_regid', NOW())");
        // check for successful store
        if ($result) {
            // get user details
            $id = mysql_insert_id(); // last inserted id
            $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM gcm_users WHERE id = $id") or die(mysql_error());
            // return user details
            if (mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) {
                return mysql_fetch_array($result);
            } else {
                return false;
            }
        } else {
            return false;
        }
    }

    /**
     * Getting all users
     */
    public function getAllUsers() {
        $result = mysql_query("select * FROM gcm_users");
        return $result;
    }

}

?>

GCM.php

    <?php

class GCM {

    //put your code here
    // constructor
    function __construct() {

    }

    /**
     * Sending Push Notification
     */
    public function send_notification($registatoin_ids, $message) {
        // include config
        include_once './config.php';

        // Set POST variables
        $url = 'https://android.googleapis.com/gcm/send';

        $fields = array(
            'registration_ids' => $registatoin_ids,
            'data' => $message,
        );

        $headers = array(
            'Authorization: key=' . GOOGLE_API_KEY,
            'Content-Type: application/json'
        );
        // Open connection
        $ch = curl_init();

        // Set the url, number of POST vars, POST data
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url);

        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);

        // Disabling SSL Certificate support temporarly
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, false);

        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($fields));

        // Execute post
        $result = curl_exec($ch);
        if ($result === FALSE) {
            die('Curl failed: ' . curl_error($ch));
        }

        // Close connection
        curl_close($ch);
        echo $result;
    }

}

?>
register.php

    <?php

// response json
$json = array();

/**
 * Registering a user device
 * Store reg id in users table
 */
if (isset($_POST["name"]) && isset($_POST["email"]) && isset($_POST["regId"])) {
    $name = $_POST["name"];
    $email = $_POST["email"];
    $gcm_regid = $_POST["regId"]; // GCM Registration ID
    // Store user details in db
    include_once './db_functions.php';
    include_once './GCM.php';

    $db = new DB_Functions();
    $gcm = new GCM();

    $res = $db->storeUser($name, $email, $gcm_regid);

    $registatoin_ids = array($gcm_regid);
    $message = array("price" => "Welcome To Enthusia Updates");

    $result = $gcm->send_notification($registatoin_ids, $message);

    echo $result;
} else {
    // user details missing
}
?>

send_message.php

    <?php
if (isset($_GET["regId"]) && isset($_GET["message"])) {
    $regId = $_GET["regId"];
    $message = $_GET["message"];

    include_once './GCM.php';

    $gcm = new GCM();

    $registatoin_ids = array($regId);
    $message = array("price" => $message);

    $result = $gcm->send_notification($registatoin_ids, $message);

    echo $result;
}
?>

index.php

    <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title></title>
        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
        <script src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.8.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
        <script type="text/javascript">
            $(document).ready(function(){

            });
            function sendPushNotification(id){
                var data = $('form#'+id).serialize();
                $('form#'+id).unbind('submit');                
                $.ajax({
                    url: "send_message.php",
                    type: 'GET',
                    data: data,
                    beforeSend: function() {

                    },
                    success: function(data, textStatus, xhr) {
                          $('.txt_message').val("");
                    },
                    error: function(xhr, textStatus, errorThrown) {

                    }
                });
                return false;
            }
        </script>
        <style type="text/css">
            .container{
                width: 950px;
                margin: 0 auto;
                padding: 0;
            }
            h1{
                font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
                font-size: 24px;
                color: #777;
            }
            div.clear{
                clear: both;
            }
            ul.devices{
                margin: 0;
                padding: 0;
            }
            ul.devices li{
                float: left;
                list-style: none;
                border: 1px solid #dedede;
                padding: 10px;
                margin: 0 15px 25px 0;
                border-radius: 3px;
                -webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.35);
                -moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.35);
                box-shadow: 0 1px 5px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.35);
                font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
                color: #555;
            }
            ul.devices li label, ul.devices li span{
                font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
                font-size: 12px;
                font-style: normal;
                font-variant: normal;
                font-weight: bold;
                color: #393939;
                display: block;
                float: left;
            }
            ul.devices li label{
                height: 25px;
                width: 50px;                
            }
            ul.devices li textarea{
                float: left;
                resize: none;
            }
            ul.devices li .send_btn{
                background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, from(#0096FF), to(#005DFF));
                background: -webkit-linear-gradient(0% 0%, 0% 100%, from(#0096FF), to(#005DFF));
                background: -moz-linear-gradient(center top, #0096FF, #005DFF);
                background: linear-gradient(#0096FF, #005DFF);
                text-shadow: 0 1px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);
                border-radius: 3px;
                color: #fff;
            }
        </style>
    </head>
    <body>
        <?php
        include_once 'db_functions.php';
        $db = new DB_Functions();
        $users = $db->getAllUsers();
        if ($users != false)
            $no_of_users = mysql_num_rows($users);
        else
            $no_of_users = 0;
        ?>
        <div class="container">
            <h1>No of Devices Registered: <?php echo $no_of_users; ?></h1>
            <hr/>
            <ul class="devices">
                <?php
                if ($no_of_users > 0) {
                    ?>
                    <?php
                    while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($users)) {
                        ?>
                        <li>
                            <form id="<?php echo $row["id"] ?>" name="" method="post" onsubmit="return sendPushNotification('<?php echo $row["id"] ?>')">
                                <label>Name: </label> <span><?php echo $row["name"] ?></span>
                                <div class="clear"></div>
                                <label>Email:</label> <span><?php echo $row["email"] ?></span>
                                <div class="clear"></div>
                                <div class="send_container">                                
                                    <textarea rows="3" name="message" cols="25" class="txt_message" placeholder="Type message here"></textarea>
                                    <input type="hidden" name="regId" value="<?php echo $row["gcm_regid"] ?>"/>
                                    <input type="submit" class="send_btn" value="Send" onclick=""/>
                                </div>
                            </form>
                        </li>
                    <?php }
                } else { ?> 
                    <li>
                        No Users Registered Yet!
                    </li>
                <?php } ?>
            </ul>
        </div>
    </body>
</html>

Incase, you need to see the link from where i got the tutorial. Here it is http://www.androidhive.info/2012/10/android-push-notifications-using-google-cloud-messaging-gcm-php-and-mysql/

Answer 1

I too tried the tutorial of android hive but it didnt worked then i did some more google and find this which worked for me.

http://androidexample.com/Android_Push_Notifications_using_Google_Cloud_Messaging_GCM/index.php?view=article_discription&aid=119&aaid=139

Answer 2

Hey have you checked for curl calls??

is 000webhost supports curl calls directly or it uses proxy??

If it uses proxy then it wont send messages to device.

Answer 3

The Google API Console is not going to show you anything even if it's working:

Note: Stats on the Google API Console are not enabled for GCM. You must use the Developer Console. Source

The response your server gets from ther GCM server tells you if your meesages were accepted by GCM. If they were, the problem is not with your server code, so if you don't get the messages on the device, you should include the client code and manifest in your question.