Push Notification for BOTH W8 + WP8 with Azure Mobile Services
You may already have an application for Windows Phone 7/8 that uses Push Notification and now you want to extend that to your Windows 8 app. Good News!!! Azure Mobile Services provide the functionality to enable you to do this.
References
- Azure Mobile Services https://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/mobile/
- You can get Free Trial of Windows Azure
Dynamic Image Generation
You can generate images dynamically if you so desire. But you can also use HTTP Request module from within the mobile service and invoke a web API service to generate the image.
Scheduled Tile Notifications
You may have the need to send tile notifications on a specific schedule. This can be accomplished either via data triggers or with the Windows Azure Mobile Services Scheduler. The scheduler will allow you to execute scripts on a given schedule.
References:
- Scheduler Tutorial: Shows you how to use the job scheduler functionality in the Management Portal to define server script code that is executed based on a schedule that you define.
- Scheduler Webcast: In this video Nick Harris demonstrates how you can use the Windows Azure Mobile Services Scheduler to execute a script every 15 minutes.
- Code Sample: This sample demonstrates how you can offload work from your Windows Store app to be processed on a scheduled basis using Windows Azure Mobile Services
Notifications based on HttpWebRequest
The HTTP Request module can be used to perform an HTTP request and then you can use push.wns.* and push.mpns.* respectively to send notifications to both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.
Conclusion
Azure Mobile Service provides SDK for both Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. You can find several tutorials specific for each platform click on the link below.
Try it!
If you want to experiment with the sample code included, here are resources you will need.
- Install Windows 8 90-day free trial
- Install Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8
- Get Free design and development guidance from Microsoft experts
If you want to do the same for Windows Phone 8
- Install Windows 8 90-day free trial
- Install Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8
- Join GenerationApp for Windows Phone 8
- Download the Windows Phone 8 SDK
There has NEVER been an easier way to build a Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 app. Join GENERATIONAPP !
It is all ABSOLUTELY FREE ! You can sign up to:
- Build Windows Store Apps
- Build Windows Store Games
- Build Windows Phone 8 Apps
- Build with Web Technologies
- Build using App Frameworks