IBM MobileFirst Platform 8.0 - Developing Applications (Adding the MobileFirst SDK to Android Applications)

Folk, I'm still testing IBM MobileFirst Platform 8.0. Today it's time to add the MobileFirst SDK to Android Applications.

I will follow once again the guide documented in the development site of IBM MobileFirst Platform.

Hope that helps!

Let's go, the dependencies correspond to core functions and other functions:

• IBMMobileFirstPlatformFoundation - Implements client-to-server connectivity, handles authentication and security aspects, resource requests, and other required core functions
• IBMMobileFirstPlatformFoundationJSONStore - Contains the JSONStore framework
• IBMMobileFirstPlatformFoundationPush - Contains the Push Notifications framework

Prerequisites:

• Android Studio and MobileFirst CLI installed on the developer workstation
• A local or remote instance of MobileFirst Server is running
• Setting up your MobileFirst development environment and Setting up your Android development environment

Procedure:
1. Create an Android Studio project or use an existing one

2. In Android → Gradle Scripts, select the build.gradle (Module: app) file

3. Add the following lines after apply plugin: 'com.android.application': 
repositories{
     jcenter()
}
4. Add the following line inside the android section: 
packagingOptions {
     pickFirst 'META-INF/ASL2.0'
     pickFirst 'META-INF/LICENSE'
     pickFirst 'META-INF/NOTICE'
}
5. Add the following line inside the dependencies section:
compile 'com.ibm.mobile.foundation:ibmmobilefirstplatformfoundation:8.0.+'

6. In Android → app → manifests, open the AndroidManifest.xml file. Add the following permissions above the application element:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE"/>
7. Add the MobileFirst UI activity next to the existing activity element:
<activity android:name="com.worklight.wlclient.ui.UIActivity" />

Note: If a Gradle Sync request appears, accept it.

8. Registering the application to MobileFirst Server, go to project folder and run:
$ mfpdev app register
Verifying server configuration...
Registering to server:'http://###.###.###.###:9080' runtime:'mfp'
Registered app for platform: android

Note: To check the registration in the console, in this example I have installed the MobileFirst Server component in my local environment: http://localhost:9080/mfpconsole/login.html

9. Creating a WLClient instance, in this example, added in MainActivity class.
WLClient.createInstance(this);

Note: Creating a WLClient instance should happen only once in the entire application lifecycle. It is recommended to use the Android Application class to do it.

10. Run the app in Run → Run 'app'

Cheers!!!