IBM Worklight 5.0.6.1 - Not getting Push Notifications when phone/app is closed

Question

I have a Worklight hybrid app with basic push notification working in android. If the app is running and in focus when the notification is pushed, it behaves exactly as I would expect. The notification callback in my app is called, and it pops up a SimpleDialog. All Good.

If I dismiss the app by clicking on the Home Button, and a new message arrives, I see the notification in the Android notification area, and when I click on the item in the android notification list, the item gets dismissed from the list (but the app does not come back into focus) If I then launch my app from the Apps menu, it is sitting where I left it and the SimpleDialog is showing. (my notification handler was called) Mostly good, but I expected the app to come into focus when I selected the notification in the android notification list.

If I dismiss the app by clicking on the Back Button, and a new message arrives, I see the notification in the Android notification area, and when I click on the item in the android notification list, the item gets dismissed from the list (but the app does not come back into focus) If I then launch my app from the Apps menu, it launches the app fresh (I have to log in again) and my notification handler is never called. Not so good.

If I force stop the app, or turn the phone off while the notification is being sent (but leave the subscription in place), the notification never shows up on the phone. I don't see it in the Android Notification area when I restart the phone, and the notification handler in my app is never called when I launch the app. Very bad.

Is this the expected behavior?

I'm using Worklight 5.0.6.1, and I've seen this behavior on Android emulator at platform 4.2.2 and a physical phone at platform 4.1.2

EDT: Adding the code.

The adapter:

WL.Server.createEventSource({
    name : "MyPushEventSource",
    securityTest: "MyApp-strong-mobile-securityTest"
});

function submitNotification(userId) {

    var userSubscription = WL.Server.getUserNotificationSubscription(
            'MyPushNotification.MyPushEventSource', userId);

    if (userSubscription == null) {
        return {
            result : "No subscription found for user :: " + userId
        };
    }

    var notification = WL.Server
            .createDefaultNotification("There's work to be done!", 1, {});

    WL.Server.notifyAllDevices(userSubscription, notification);

    return {
        result : "Notification sent to user :: " + userId
    };
}

and in the app:

WL.Client.Push.onReadyToSubscribe = function() {

    var pushSubscribe_Success_Callback = function(response) {
        WL.Logger.debug("Enter: pushSubscribe_Success_Callback");
    };

    var pushSubscribe_Fail_Callback = function(response) {
        WL.Logger.debug("Enter: pushSubscribe_Fail_Callback");
    };

    var pushNotificationReceived = function(props, payload) {

        WL.SimpleDialog.show("Notification", props.alert, [
                { text : "OK" }]);
    };

    WL.Client.Push.registerEventSourceCallback("myPush",
            "MyPushNotification", "MyPushEventSource",
            pushNotificationReceived);

    if (!WL.Client.Push.isSubscribed("myPush")) {

        WL.Client.Push.subscribe("myPush", {
            onSuccess : pushSubscribe_Success_Callback,
            onFailure : pushSubscribe_Fail_Callback
        });
    }
 };

As I said, if the app is in focus, this all works without a hitch, so I know I have the Google messaging account and keys set up correctly. But for some reason I'm seeing unexpected results if the app isn't in focus when the notification is published.

Answer 1

OK. It took me long enough to figure this one out, so in case anyone follows, here is the problem:

I had renamed the app by opening [android project]/res/values/strings.xml and changing the value of app_name.

That causes the app to not launch when a push notification for the app is selected.

I fixed this by changing app_name back to its original value, and adding a new String named app_label for the friendly name. I then went into AndroidManifest.xml, and changed the 2 instances of android:label="@string/app_name" to: android:label="@string/app_label" And sha-zam! My app had a friendly name AND clicking on notifications launched it.

For good measure I modified push_notification_title in strings.xml to be the friendly name, and that improved the display of the notification and did not break the launching of the app.

Answer 2

All four scenarios work for me as expected.
Tested with Worklight v5.0.6.1 and the accompaning PushNotifications project.

After setting up the project with a GCM Key and GCM ID, deploying the adapter and application and launching the app on my Galaxy S4 running Android 4.2.2:

1. I have logged-in, subscribed and sent a notification
2. I have logged-in, subscribed, tapped the Home button to send the app to the background and sent a notification
3. I have logged-in, suscribed, tapped the Back button to close the app and sent a notification
4. I have logged-in, subscribed, closed the app, turned off the device

---

1. While the app was in the foreground, the dialogs of the received notification were displayed
2. While the app was in the background, I received the notification in the notification bar. Tapping it brought the app to the foreground and the dialogs of the received notification were displayed
3. While the app was closed, I received the notification in the notification bar. Tapping it launched the app, after logging-in the dialogs of the received notification were displayed
4. Turned on the device, waited for it to connect to the network, I received the notification in the notification bar. Tapping it it launched the app, after logging-in the dialogs of the received notification were displayed

---

If this is a push notifications app you have written yourself, I suggest that you review your code. You can use the sample app as guidance.