Setting up Server for Android app development [closed]

Question

I am building an android app with the capability to send notifications (not necessarily push notification in particular) based on user inputs stored in the database. The logic in java triggers notifications to be sent to users based on new user inputs or real time according to the mobile device. Database is built in SQLite; the front end and logic is by Java.

I have explored the option of building this without a server but would like to find out how much more work it would be for setting up a server. I am very new to app development (never done it before) nor am I an experienced programmer. Looking for the simplest solution possible. May I get some guidance on generally what major steps and technology (programming language, hardware etc..) would be required to set up a server that fits what is needed for the app to work please?

Thank you very much,

Cecilia

Answer 1

gcm is designed for exactly this purpose

Theory; you need,

1) app registers with gcm.

2) A website that has a url to accept json post requests from your mobile phone.

3) A trigger on the website to send a gcm push notification to whatever recipients you want to send to.

4) app receives push notification from gcm an takes appropriate action.

There are a huge amount of options open to you for the web server, I would write a Rails website (http://rubyonrails.org/) and host it on heroku for free (http://rubyonrails.org/), others might use the gcm server provided by google as per documentation (http://developer.android.com/google/gcm/index.html) and there is always the myriad of different push services like http://urbanairship.com/products/push-messaging

Why would I use rails?

1) I know the language very well - This is important, go with what you are comfortable with so might not be the best option for you but you might have a lot of fun learning it :)

2) It gives me json and xml handling for no extra work whatsoever as it has a full REST api built in automatically