Legacy Mobile Push Notification Channel Setup

Note: This page is only applicable to Legacy Push Notifications built off the Cheetah Digital table, and not those built off the EDP

Cheetah Digital allows you to engage directly with your customers by sending marketing messages that appear within your branded application on the customer's mobile device. These messages, called "Push Notifications," can be created, managed, and submitted from within the Cheetah Digital platform, and delivered through the device vendor's Push Notification Servers.

For more information on the Push Notification features available through the Cheetah Digital platform, please see the document Cheetah Digital -- Push Notification Capabilities.

Before you can begin using Cheetah Digital's Push Notification channel, you must perform the following steps to configure your mobile application within the platform. 

Step 1: Register Your App

The Mobile Push Application Groups screen is used to register your mobile app (or apps) within Cheetah Digital. You must register your mobile app if you intend to use the Push Notification channel to contact your customers.

Apps can be organized into "Application Groups," which simplifies the process of sending out notifications. When you create a Push Notification Campaign, the notifications are sent out to an entire Application Group at once. For example, if you have an iOS version and a Google Android version of an app, you could add both versions to the same Application Group, and send out notifications to both versions of the app at the same time.

Register Your App

  1. From the Admin Banner Bar, select Settings > Campaign Settings > Mobile Push Application Groups. The Mobile Push Application Groups screen is displayed.

  2. Select your Legacy Application Group (the Legacy Application Groups are not linked to a Data Source table) from the list shown. A blank Mobile Push Application Group screen is displayed. This screen is split into two main sections: Applications Belonging to this Group and Push Payload Schema for this Group.

  3. Click Add Application in the tool bar. A new Application Details section is displayed.

  4. From the Platform drop-down, select the operating system for your app (Cheetah Digital supports iOS and Android).

    1. iOS: Enter the name of your app. In the Certificate File field, either enter the filepath to your app's certificate file, or click the Browse button to navigate to and select the certificate file. In the Certificate Password field, enter the password for your certificate file.

    2. Android GCM: Enter the name of your app, and upload the FCM Service Account File (JSON file) by clicking the Choose File button, to use FCM authentication.

  5. Click Save. Your app is added to the list within the Applications Belonging to this Group section. This list shows the application name, operating system, and application ID. The application ID is a system-generated identifier that will be needed by the app developer.

  6. Optionally, repeat steps 4 through 6 as needed to add more apps to this Cheetah Digital (non-EDP) Application Group.  

Define Push Payload

Push Notifications are delivered to mobile devices as JSON messages. This message contains the basic text of the notification, but it can be used for more advanced features as well. For example, the JSON message can define the portion of the message that appears within the "Alert" section of the user's device, or a "deep link" to open the app to a specific page, or play a video, or show order information.

The Push Payload section of this screen provides a JSON editor that can be used to define a JSON form schema. This form schema is a set of instructions that determines the appearance and options that are available when building the content of a Push Notification Campaign. Sample code is included by default, and this is what you will see in the Payload section of a Push Notification Campaign.

To make changes:

  1. From the Platform toggle, select the operating system (iOS or Android). The template for this operating system is displayed within the JSON editor.

  2. Make any necessary revisions to the JSON schema.

  3. Click Revert to Default on the tool bar if required.

  4. Click Save on the tool bar to save changes.

Step 2: Table Setup

The next step in the Push Notification setup process is to create a dedicated table that will be used to store information about the consumer's mobile device. This table must contain a Push Registration ID (called the "PRID") field that stores a unique identifier for each consumer mobile device. Along with this ID, this table stores the operating system platform for this device. Once this table is defined, the PRID field must be "linked" to the appropriate Application Group (or Groups).

Push Notification Table Setup

  1. From the System Tray, select Data > Management > Tables. The Tables screen is displayed, showing a list of all current tables.

  2. Click the new item button (plus-sign icon).

  3. Enter a Display Name for the new table. The System Name for the table is automatically populated based on the Display Name, but you can optionally change the System Name.

  4. Click save.

  5. In the Tool Ribbon, click Edit > Fields > New Field. The New Field screen is displayed.

  6. Enter a Display Name for the new field, such as Push Registration ID, for example. The Column Name for the field is automatically populated based on the Display Name, but you can optionally change the Column Name.

  7. From the Data Type drop-down menu, select Push Registration ID.

  8. Click save.

  9. Expand the Application Groups section. Link this field to your Application Group by placing a check mark next to the group name (optionally, you can link this field to multiple Application Groups).

  10. Click save.

  11. Return to the main Table screen by clicking the table name in the top-right corner of the screen. Your newly defined PRID field will appear within the Active Fields section. You'll also see a system-generated Status ID field with the default name of: <Field name> <Application Group name> Status ID. The Status ID field uses Status ID Codes to indicate the eligibility of this consumer to be included in a Campaign.

  12. Drag the new PRID field, and drop it into the Unique Identifier section. This field is now marked as the Unique Identifier for this table (see Working with Fields for more information on Unique Identifiers).

  13. To add the Platform Name field, click Edit > Fields > New Field in the Tool Ribbon. The New Field screen is displayed.

  14. Enter a Display Name for the new field, such as Platform Name, for example. The Column Name for the field is automatically populated based on the Display Name, but you can optionally change the Column Name.

  15. From the Data Type drop-down menu, select String.

  16. Click save.

  17. Return to the main Table screen by clicking the table name in the top-right corner of the screen.

  18. Click Edit > Actions > Save in the Tool Ribbon.

Step 3: Map Device Registration Information

When a consumer installs your app and subscribes to Push Notifications, the app must communicate the device ID and application ID to Cheetah Digital. The platform must then be configured to store this information in the proper table and fields. The final step in the Push Notification set up process is to map new device information to the table you defined above.

Please note that this mapping process is at the application level, and NOT the Application Group level. If you have three apps all in the same Application Group, you would need to perform the steps below three times – once for each separate application.

Map the Device Registration Information

  1. From the Admin Banner Bar, select Settings > Campaign Settings > Device Registrations. The Device Registration screen is displayed, showing a list of all current registrations.

  2. Click the new item button (plus-sign icon). The New Device Registration dialog box is displayed.

  3. In the Name field, enter a name for this new Device Registration.

  4. From the Data Source drop-down menu, select the Push Notification source table that you defined above.

  5. From the Application drop-down menu, select the appropriate app.

  6. Click save new item.

  7. In the Push Registration ID list, select the appropriate field where you want to store new device IDs for this app.

  8. In the Platform Name field, select the appropriate field where you want to store the device platform information for this app.

  9. In the Tool Ribbon, click Edit > Actions > Save.

  10. Repeat the above steps as needed for any additional mobile apps.

Your Push Notification setup is now complete, and you're ready to start using the Push Notification channel. See the Help topic Campaign Configuration: Push Notifications [Classic] or Campaign Configuration: Push Notifications for more details.