Android :Get Online or Offline status through SERVER

Question

I am creating a app in android 4.0.3 ie ICS version, which connects to the server when client gets login into the app.I am trying to get status of an client when he gets online or offline through server & seen onto the app screen.I am unable to proceed. Can anyone say me:

Is it possible to get the status of an user through server?

1-- How to proceed for first step...?

2-- How should I get a response from the server that the client is connected & viewed to other client example - when we login into skype our status shows available with green radio button, In same way how can I get it.?

It ll be very help full, If anybody guide me. Many Thanks..

Answer 1

I'm assuming you're trying to develop a chat app ?

If this is the case, try using an XMPP library. XMPP is widely used for chat apps, including Facebook chat (and Google talk I think) and there are plenty of open source libraries available.

Otherwise, if you only want real-time notifications as a part of a bigger picture, try using push notifications. Google supports Cloud to Device Messaging (C2DM) for android. It allows to have push notifications to a specific device without you having to deal with persistent connections, battery and CPU use .etc.

C2DM approach comes down to this. When a client connects to your server, get a list of his friends and their 'C2DM IDs' and fire a C2DM push to their devices. This push is delivered to your app, and you can respond to it by firing a notification, or update UI .etc. (Your app doesn't necessarily have to be running. Push notification is delivered via a specific broadcast, and your app can register a receiver for it to wake up.)

Keep in mind that there is a quota for C2DM messages per device, per app and also a limit for the payload per message. So you're not supposed to send massive files via this. Just a notification to your app, so it can call your server and get an updated list, instead of polling.

You can get more info on C2DM and code samples here. https://developers.google.com/android/c2dm/

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

You may have moved on, but I'm posting for anyone who would run into this one in the future.

Firebase is a good solution to use in this scenario, if the app is always running when you want communication to happen. (It will not wake up your app as C2DM/CDM does, unless you have a service running all the time and still wouldn't wake up if the device is asleep... AFAIK )

It may be useful for some scenarios, but may be not for a chat app as you want the device to wake up when a message arrives.

Note that they have limitations on the free subscription though.