BMSCore

BMSCore is the core component of the Android SDKs for IBM® Bluemix® Mobile services.

Table of Contents

• Summary
• Requirements
• Installation
• Example Usage
• Release Notes
• License

Summary

BMSCore provides the HTTP infrastructure that the other Bluemix Mobile Services (BMS) client SDKs use to communicate with their corresponding Bluemix services. These other SDKs include BMSAnalytics, BMSPush, FacebookAuthentication, and GoogleAuthentication.

You can use this SDK to make network requests to any resource using Request. The Request class can be used for typical network requests as well as uploading and downloading large amounts of data with the option to monitor the upload/download progress. BMSCore also provides a NetworkMonitor API that can detect and monitor changes in the type of network connection that is available to the Android device.

BMSCore is also available for iOS/watchOS and Cordova.

Requirements

• Android API 15+
• Android 4.0.3+

Installation

Add the following line to your app's build.gradle (substituting the version for the one you want):

compile 'com.ibm.mobilefirstplatform.clientsdk.android:core:3.0.0'

Example Usage

• Import the library
• Initialize the client
• Monitor the network connection
• Make network requests

View the complete API reference here.

---

Import the library

import com.ibm.mobilefirstplatform.clientsdk.android.core.api.*;

---

Initialize the client

Before using BMSCore, first initialize the BMSClient:

    BMSClient.getInstance().initialize(getApplicationContext(), BMSClient.REGION_US_SOUTH); // Replace the region with the Bluemix region you are using

---

Monitor the network connection

With the NetworkMonitor API, you can monitor the status of the Android device's connection to the internet. You can use this information to decide when to send network requests and to handle offline or slow network conditions.

Before using this API, ensure that the AndroidManifest.xml contains the following permissions: android.permission.INTERNET and android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE.

(Optional) Create a NetworkConnectionListener to get notified of network connection changes.

NetworkConnectionListener networkListener = new NetworkConnectionListener() {
    @Override
    public void networkChanged(NetworkConnectionType newConnection) {
        Log.i("MyApp", "Network connection changed to " + newConnection.toString());
    }
};

Next, create a new instance of the NetworkMonitor. Only one instance is needed per app. If you do not want to use a NetworkConnectionListener, use null for the second parameter.

NetworkMonitor networkMonitor = new NetworkMonitor(getApplicationContext(), networkListener);

For the NetworkConnectionListener to start or stop receiving network change broadcasts, use the following methods.

networkMonitor.startMonitoringNetworkChanges();
networkMonitor.stopMonitoringNetworkChanges();

To get the current type of network connection (WiFi, mobile data, no connection, etc.), use networkMonitor.getCurrentConnectionType().

If the device has a mobile data enabled, you can see whether they have access to 4G, 3G, or 2G with networkMonitor.getMobileNetworkType(). Important: this method requires the android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE permission in the AndroidManifest.xml, as well as obtaining user permission at runtime, as described in the Android developer's guide for Requesting Permissions at Run Time.

---

Make network requests

First, create a new Request with the URL and an HTTP verb (and, optionally, a timeout).

String resourceURL = "http://httpbin.org/GET";
int timeout = 500; // milliseconds
Request request = new Request(resourceURL, Request.GET, timeout);

You can also add headers and query parameters as follows.

Map<String, String> queryParameters = new HashMap<>();
queryParameters.put("key", "value");
request.setQueryParameters(queryParameters);
request.addHeader("Content-Type", "text/plain");

Define a ResponseListener.

class MyResponseListener implements ResponseListener {

    @Override
    public void onSuccess(Response response) {
        if (response != null) {
            Log.i("MyApp", "Response status: " + response.getStatus());
            Log.i("MyApp", "Response headers: " + response.getHeaders());
            Log.i("MyApp", "Response body: " + response.getResponseText());
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void onFailure(Response response, Throwable t, JSONObject extendedInfo) {
        if (response != null) {
            Log.i("MyApp", "Response status: " + response.getStatus());
            Log.i("MyApp", "Response body: " + response.getResponseText());
        }
        if (t != null && t.getMessage() != null) {
            Log.i("MyApp", "Error: " + t.getMessage());
        }
    }
}

Finally, send the request with the request body and ResponseListener.

String requestBody = "Request body text";
ResponseListener responseListener = new MyResponseListener();
request.send(getApplicationContext(), requestBody, responseListener);

Monitoring upload/download progress

Network requests can alternatively be sent using one of the upload() or download() methods. These work the same way as send() while providing an additional listener for monitoring the progress of the upload or download as it proceeds.

To use one of these methods, first define a ProgressListener.

class MyProgressListener implements ProgressListener {

    @Override
    public void onProgress(long bytesSoFar, long totalBytesToSend) {
        double progress = (double)bytesSoFar / (double)(totalBytesToSend) * 100;
        Log.i("MyApp", String.format("Progress: %.1f%%", progress));
    }
}

Then download.

ProgressListener progressListener = new MyProgressListener();
ResponseListener responseListener = new MyResponseListener();

String url = "https://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archives/images/screen/heic1502a.jpg";
Request request = new Request(url, Request.GET);
request.download(getApplicationContext(), progressListener, responseListener);

Or upload.

ProgressListener progressListener = new MyProgressListener();
ResponseListener responseListener = new MyResponseListener();

byte[] uploadData = new byte[1000000];
new Random().nextBytes(uploadData);

String url = "http://httpbin.org/post";
Request request = new Request(url, Request.POST);
request.upload(getApplicationContext(), uploadData, progressListener, responseListener);

---

Automatically resend requests

There is a Request constructor that accepts an autoRetries parameter. This specifies the number of times that the request will be automatically resent if it fails. These automatic retries occur if no response was received (possibly due to a lost network connection), the request timed out, or a 504 (gateway timeout) response was received.

Request request = new Request("www.example.com, Request.GET, 500, 3); // Automatically retry the request up to 3 times

If a Request is created without the autoRetries parameter, no automatic retries will occur.

---

License

Copyright 2017 IBM Corp.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.