mpns/README.md

#mpns

Send toast and live tile updates to Windows Phones through the Microsoft Push Notification Service (MPNS). Intended for the cloud and Node.js.

## Installation

Via [npm][]:

	$ npm install mpns
	
As a submodule of your Git project

	$ git submodule add http://github.com/jeffwilcox/mpns.git mpns
	$ git submodule update --init

## Usage
### Load in the module

```javascript
var mpns = require('mpns');
```

### Sending a toast
To send a toast, simply call the `sendToast` method on mpns.

```javascript
var mpns = require('mpns');
mpns.sendToast(pushUri, 'Bold Text', 'This is normal text');

// Optional callback
mpns.sendToast(pushUri, text1, text2, callback);
```

Each of the methods that send tile and toast notifications have two alternative parameter signatures:

```
send*(pushUri, [options], [callback]) 
send*(pushUri, string1, string2, ..., [callback])
```

The ordering of the parameters in the non-object calling method assumes ordering as documented in the toast or tile-specific sections below.

For toasts, the properties and ordering for them:

* `text1` the text of the toast, this first text will appear bold on the phone
* `text2` additional toast text, will appear in the normal font. It does not wrap.
* `param` optional URI parameter within your application specifying the XAML page to open within the app, along with any query string parameters for the page's context

### Sending a live tile update
To send a tile update, call the `sendTile` method on mpns.

It is recommended that you use the options syntax for this call as it is possible for the live tile update to include just one component in the update, say the tile count, and not update other properties.

The option names or ordering for parameters is:

* `backgroundImage` URI to the background image for the tile. Beware that the URI may be restricted to the whitelisted domain names that you provided in your application.
* `count` the number to appear in the tile
* `title` the title of the tile
* `backBackgroundImage` URI to the image to be on the flip side of the tile
* `backTitle` optional title for the back tile
* `backContent` optional content for the back tile (appears in a larger font size)

### Create a new notification object
You can create a new notification object (either of type live tile or toast). This is the original style for this module but it is now recommended that you use the shorter `send*` syntax on the mpns object itself. This aligns with the WNS module for Windows in its simplicity.

Property names for the notification object directly correlate to the names used in the MPNS XML payload as documented on MSDN. Properties can either be set directly on the object (such as toast.text1) or by passing the values in as options to the constructor.

```javascript
options = { text1: 'Hello!', text2: 'Great to see you today.' };
var toast = new mpns.toast(options);
```

### Sending a raw notification
When creating the notification object, either provide the raw payload first, or as the `options.payload` property.

```javascript
var raw = new mpns.rawNotification('My Raw Payload', options);
```

Today the type on the request is set to UTF8 explicitly.

### Results object information
A results object is passed back through the callback and has important information from MPNS.

- `deviceConnectionStatus`: The device status as reported by the service.
- `notificationStatus`: The status of your provided notification.
- `subscriptionStatus`: The status of the subscription URI.

The object will also contain all the key fields for your toast or live tile update, plus the pushType. This makes it easy to store this information in a history log somewhere in the ether.

### Handling Errors
It is very important as a consumer that you store appropriate actionable data about failed push notification attempts. As a result, the callback's first parameter (err) is set to the standard results object as well as a few additional fields depending on the returned status code from the server.

Remember to take action on that information in order to be a good MPNS citizen. These values may be set in the error object and of interest to you:

- `minutesToDelay`: If this is present, it is the suggested minimum amount of time that you should wait until making another request to the same subscription URI. For HTTP 412s, for example, the minimum time is one hour and so the returned value defaults to 61.
- `shouldDeleteChannel`: If this is set to `true`, the channel is gone according to MPNS. Delete it from your channel/subscription database and never look back.
- `error`: If an error is captured while trying to make the HTTP request, this will be set to that error callback instance.

### A note about Windows Phone 7.5
This module permits sending toasts and tiles specific to Mango. If you include the `param` field when sending a push to a 7.0 (first Windows Phone release) phone, unfortunately it may not be received, or will error out the subscription.

Take care when registering your subscription channels with your cloud service to include the application platform version of the app (7.1 for Mango apps). To rock, maybe also grab the OS version and deployed app version. That information can be helpful when supporting customers.

## Credits

NPM module written and maintained by [Jeff Wilcox] with contributions from:

- Jeff Wilcox : https://github.com/jeffwilcox
- Shawn Burke : https://github.com/shawnburke
- Jeremie Pelletier : https://github.com/ddude

## License

Copyright Jeff Wilcox

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.

[Jeff Wilcox]: http://www.jeff.wilcox.name
[npm]: http://github.com/isaacs/npm

## Changelog

1.1.1:

* Adds parameter validation that will throw, for robustness.

1.1.0:

* Adds `sendText` and `sendTile` methods more consistent with the WNS module, removing the need to create a new object, only to then call send on it with a push URI.

1.0.4:

* Adds support for Node.js through 0.9.0

1.0.3:

* Addresses issues when using numbers to set the tile data
* Cleans up string encoding functions.

1.0.2:

* Fixes some small formatting issues.

1.0.1:

* Adds raw notification type support.

1.0.0:

* Initial implementation offering basic live tile and toast (no raw) support.