InterConnect2017

BMO-3337: Creating Effective Mobile Applications with IBM Bluemix

Andrew Ferrier,Bluemix Solution Architect,IBM Bluemix Garage

andrew.ferrier@uk.ibm.com

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Agenda• Some History & Context

• Sidenote: What’s IBM Bluemix?

• Mobile Foundation

• Mobile Services (Push Notification, Analytics, App ID)

• Bluemix Developer Console

• So what should I do today?

Some History & Context

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Mobile Middleware / MEAP / BFF

Apple Push Notification Service /

Google Cloud Messaging / etc.

System of Record 2

System of Record 3

System of Record 1

Auth Dir

What is a mobile application, really?

Analytics

Web-native continuum

• HTML5, JS, and CSS3 (full site or m.site)

• Quicker and cheaper way to mobile

• Sub-optimal experience

• HTML5, JS, and CSS

• Usually leverages Cordova

• Downloadable, app store presence, push capabilities

• Can use native APIs

• As previous• + more

responsive, available offline

• Web + native code

• Optimized user experience with native screens in startup and during runtime, controls, and navigation

• App fully adjusted to OS

• Some screens are multi-platform (web) when makes sense

• App fully adjusted to OS

• Best attainable user experience

• Unique development effort per OS, costly to maintain

HybridPure web Pure native

Mobile web site (browser access)

Native shell

enclosing external m.site

Pre-packaged

HTML5 resources

HTML5 + native UI

Mostly native, some

HTML5 screens

Pure native

Different ways to write an app...

• ApacheCordova-http://cordova.apache.org/

• PreviouslyknownasPhoneGap

• Providesawrapperaroundwebcontenttomakeitappearasanativeapp

• AlsoprovidesaccesstodeviceAPIs

• NeedtochooseaJStoolkit(popularchoicesareReactJS,Angular+Ionic)

Hybrid

iOS Native

• For all apps (not just native), you need to register to deploy to “real” devices

• Also need Xcode development environment (only supported on Mac)

• Prefer Swift to Objective-C

Android Native

• Install Android Studio (http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/studio.html) - based on IntelliJ

• Eclipse plugins are gone

Sidenote: What is Bluemix?

10 © Copyright IBM Corporation 2016

Third Party

IBM

Your Own

Open Source

What is Bluemix?

A managed platform to design, deploy and run enterprise applications

?

Virtual Servers

“Abstraction”

“Control”

Bare Metal

Dedicated Compute

High Memory

Intensive Disk I/O

Isolation

Familiar

Full OperatingSystem Control

Containers

Portable

Flexible

Light-weight

CF Apps

Speed

Manage code,not infrastructure

OpenWhiskStateless

Event-Driven

Short-lived

…m

eets

you

r dev

elop

er n

eeds

…

PaaSCaaSIaaS

Bluemix Compute Models

So what’s available?

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Bluemix Services… Being replaced with: IBM Watson Content Hub

(also on-prem)

Where we are coming from… IBM MobileFirstPlatform Foundation

• Pre-6.3, was known as Worklight or Worklight Foundation.

• On-premise Mobile Enterprise Application Platform• Been through 5.0.5, 5.0.6, 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 7.0, 7.1• Now at 8.0

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Mobile Foundation: What does it do?

Provides client-side APIs for hybrid and native code for:

• Encrypted local store• Adapter invocation• Device management• Authentication• Etc…

Provides server-side facilities for:

• Adapter development (connect to HTTP/REST/SOAP/JMS/Cast Iron/etc.)

• Operational Analytics, including security

• Unified push notification management

• Unified authentication (with OAuth from 7.0+)

• Cloudant Local• Application Authenticity

• … and so on...

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But there are some trends affecting all of this…

• Focus on cloud as a development platform

• Esp. for mobile and multichannel• Decreased focus on client-side innovation – smartphones are mostly a

“solved problem”

• So folks want to migrate to a lighterweight approach…

Mobile Services on Bluemix

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Mobile Analytics

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Why Push Notifications?

• Complex Infrastructure

• Multiple interfaces must be coded in the back-end.

• Routing: to route the notifications to the correct devices, the app back-end must maintain a registry that associates interest groups with device tokens.

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Mobile Push Notifications Service• Unified API for sending push notifications on

Android and iOS

• Provides a single server-side API for notification sending, an a single client-side one for managing subscriptions

• Also supports Firefox / Chrome / Safari web push

• Tagging of notifications (for grouping)

• Monitoring / analytics of notifications

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App ID• Unifying way to support authentication for

apps

• Supports iOS, Android, and NodeJS (server-side)

• Provides activity log

• Provides authentication via Facebook and Google login

• Sign-in widget for Facebook / Google experience – can be tailored

• Can be used to protect backend endpoints

Bluemix Developer Console

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Bluemix Developer Console• Was known as “Mobile App Builder”, then

“Bluemix Mobile Dashboard”.

• As of 16th March: now supports

• Concept of “Projects” which tie together UI, Data, and Services

• Next-gen of Bluemix-based App Construction

• Build app from scratch or use template

• Useful to “get started” following best practices

https://console.ng.bluemix.net/developer/getting-started/

Mobile Code Starters

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• Either complete application or SDK artifacts (SDK+config)

Can download code…

Backends for Frontends (Compute)• Modern approach to building mobile

applications

• Think of building them in NodeJS, Swift, or Java using Cloud Foundry, Containers, or OpenWhisk

• If built in CF, a specially configured CF app that exposes an Open API (Swagger) spec for a RESTful interface can be auto-added through compute panel

https://www.ibm.com/devops/method/content/architecture/mobileArchitecture

Cloudant Integration (Data)• Auto-integrates and configures integration

with Cloudant using CouchDB API:

So what should I do today?

Creating Effective Applications – What to think about• Overall: Keep it simple – think client / server

• Client: How do I implement? (Native vs. Hybrid)? – skills and tools

• Client: Consider if the Developer Console can help you get started – use the patterns provided for BFFs and microservices

• Server: Focus only on using microservices that support your app

• Server: Use additional supporting services e.g. Push Notifications, Analytics

• Server: Think multichannel, build only a thin BFF layer

Some other things we haven’t spoken about, but you need to think about

• Server: Think about authentication – App ID (or SSO/APIC)

• Server: Think about hybrid (how to connect to existing on-premise data)

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Related sessionsIBM Mobile Server Migration from On-Premise to IBM BluemixMonday, 4:15 PM - 5:00 PM | Islander H | Session ID: 5361A

Zero Downtime is Possible with IBM Mobile Foundation on Bluemix

Tuesday, 4:45 PM - 5:30 PM | South Pacific D | Session ID: 4818A

Social and Cognitive User Engagement with Push Notification Service on IBM Bluemix

Wednesday, 3:15 PM - 4:00 PM | South Pacific D | Session ID: 3050A

From Mobile First to Offline First

Thursday, 9:30 AM - 10:15 AM | Islander H | Session ID: 5658A

InterConnect2017

Thank You – Any Questions?

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