Common issues for counting Windows Azure mobile Services

Thank you for helping us to successfully launch the unprecedented #AzureChat. The mobile service and Notification Hub are exciting services on the Windows Azure platform. We are delighted to take the opportunity of this online discussion to listen to members of the community. If you miss the discussion or want to learn more about the topics discussed, check out the following inventory.

We are happy to listen to your feedback – please submit a feature request and comment on the Mobile Service UserVoice page, and we will look at the page in almost every weekly iteration plan to understand what the user thinks.

Q1: If you save the data in an internally deployed server, rather than Windows Azure, can you get that data within the mobile service application?

A1: We have customers who have done this by customizing API functionality and Servicebus relay. -@joshtwist

Resources: You can find more information about Service Bus relay in this tutorial. To see how the custom API works in the mobile service, check this document. -@mlunes90

Q2: How do I use custom authentication in a mobile service application?

A2: There is no doubt that mobile services are highly scalable. I have an article that guides you through adding custom authentication, where you can get: http://qub.me/ydviba-@joshtwist

Q3: Can I use the node module added to my GIT repository in a table script?

A3: Sure you can-start source version control and install your module through NPM. For more information, see this tutorial: http://qub.me/gxfp48.-@kirillg_msft

Resources: After you enable source versioning with local GIT, you can use NPM to install any node module-whether it is an Azure module, a Twilio module, or your own module. -@mlunes90

Q4: When to use push in mobile service and when to use push in Notification Hub?

The A4:notification Hub is compatible with any backend, including mobile service backend, your custom back end in the cloud, and your internal deployment backend. If your back end requires a rich, fluid mass push, use a Notification Hub with a custom backend, including internal deployment. If you have direct push requirements for mobile services, use mobile services to push directly. If you need a richer push (including broadcasts and templates) than the mobile service built-in features, use both mobile services and Notification Hub. -@kirillg_msft

A4:notification Hub is optimized to broadcast millions of highly personalized push notifications in minutes. The mobile service applies to push notifications that send event triggers. For example, in a two-person game, you can use the Notification Hub to push a one-time broadcast of special offers to everyone, using a mobile service push to notify player B that player A has completed its game round. -@mlunes90

Q5: Can I build a MAC application with a mobile service?

A5: You can build a MAC application and now there are some of these programs in the App Store. Although our SDK currently only supports IOS, it is open source, and you can get code from Http://qub.me/oKmhUO to easily get rid of UIKit dependencies. You can vote on http://qub.me/jIq5R9 and support the Mac SDK as a feature. -@joshtwist

A5.1: In addition-Mobile services provide full client functionality through the rest endpoint, and if a platform supports rest, it can support mobile services. – @dontnetgator (community member)

Q6: What's the best way to save directly to blob storage without having to go through SQL?

A6: In my Doto application Http://qub.me/BqOnbB, I use a custom API to generate BLOB URLs and upload them. You can get the code here: http://qub.me/0stztb-@joshtwist

Resources: also provides examples of saving images from IOS, Android, and Windows clients to blob storage. See this article for an overview of how to store unstructured data in a table store. -@mlunes90

Q7: Who is using the Notification Hub now? Where can I see the architecture?

A7: Several common examples: NBC news http://qub.me/wMS0nq, Bing information Http://qub.me/3uVDpE. More information, please look forward to! -@kirillg_msft

Community Issues:

Q: Can mobile Service server scripts be used to dynamically generate images of MPNs push notifications? -@gspyrou

A: You can use the mobile service MPNs API to pass images. The best way to generate an image is to add a worker thread or scheduler job. -@kirillg_msft

A2: Image processing is often a CPU-intensive operation, so it is best to set it to run in the background. You can use the Azure module to arrange work/list results in a mobile service script. If you want to do a lot of computing, you can handle job/build images in a mobile service plan script or a dedicated worker thread and rearrange the results so that mobile service scripts can send images with notifications. -@kirillg_msft

Q: Can we organize the logs? As far as I know, the log is deleted every few days. -@vlele

A: You can use the CLI in Windows Azure Mobile service to retrieve/stream close logs locally for custom processing. -@kirillg_msft

Resources: This page contains an overview of the CLI in mobile services. To retrieve the local log, you can run Azure mobile log download mobileservicename. -@mlunes90

Q: Can you trigger notification to a mobile device from SPROCs? -@ryanabr

A: You can use the mobile Service customization API to send push notifications from the API and then invoke SPROCs. -@kirillg_msft

Q: Can you use Windows Azure Mobile service or the Notification Hub to send push notifications from Nodejs to IOS, Android, and Windows Phone devices? -@oaleynik

A: The Notification Hub has a node.js SDK. Mobile services built on Node.js! Both of these services are available through the REST API. -@kirillg_msft

Q: Creating a C # script is one of the most pressing requirements for users. Is it going to happen soon? -@rafasermed

A: Yes! It will be launched soon. -@kirillg_msft

Q: How can I remotely debug a custom script? Or how do you create a local node.js environment for testing?

A: Isolate the script and perform unit tests locally, please click here for more information: Http://qub.me/wI2QfX. -@joshtwist

Q: Currently, we can only write scripts to perform CRUD operations on Virtual UBM 2013. Can I write APIs and scheduler jobs in the future? -@rafasermed

A: You can use the source code control feature to write a custom API and scheduler script for Virtual UBM. http://qub.me/kmbg8v-@kirillg_msft

Q. Can I clone mobile service instances (that is, scripts, databases, custom APIs, permissions) from the portal site "deep"? -@vlele

A: You can use GIT source code to control most instances of cloning (table permissions, scripts, etc.), and the CLI can perform the remaining operations. -@joshtwist

Q: Can you share some of the new features that will be introduced this time? -@mikewo

A: We just mentioned C # support, and you can also focus on @WindowsAzure activities for more information. -@joshtwist

Q: Why use GIT as a source control container instead of a team Foundation Service? -@rafasermed

Answer: We use GIT as a protocol. TFS supports GIT First class, so you can use TFS and mobile services as two remote control methods. -@kirillg_msft