BlackBerry Enterprise Server Development

[jeff23]

Hi, Im fairly new in terms of blackberry development and have read a few documents and watched a few videos. One thing Id like to learn about is sending a message from a web page to a blackberry device via 'PIN'. Ive searched for documents relating to this but havent really come across anything yet. If anyone could point me in the right direction i would be very greatful... I have also come across a website 'web2pin' so it is possible but i just wanted to know the main process behind it.. thanks

[MSohm]

There is no API to do this directly.  The BlackBerry Resource Kit is a set of command line tools.  One thing you can do here is send a PIN message to users on your BlackBerry Enterprise Server.  You could create a web page that interfaces with that.

If you need to send PIN messages to users outside of your BlackBerry Enterprise Server you'll need to use a real BlackBerry smartphone.  You could create a Java BlackBerry application that sends PIN messages.  Your web application could then interface with the application on the BlackBerry smartphone to send the PIN messages.

[klh921]

Msohm, So if I wanted to do this, what would i need?  Do i need a blackberry account?  Can we host the java application that sends bb pin messages?   We have a need to do this for both internal and external individuals and are trying to find the best way.   Some say we need bes but others say we do not.   If we could develop a java app to serve as a device to send pins, that would be best.   Your help is appreciated.

[MSohm]

You can create a Java application that sends PIN messages, however that application would need to run on an actual BlackBerry smartphone. 

This wouldn't require a BlackBerry Enterprise Server, but if you had one your web application could push data (the PIN messages you want to send) to your application running on the BlackBerry smartphone, which would then send them off.  Otherwise the BlackBerry application would need to poll your server for the messages it needs to send.

[ennova2005]

You should also consider the other kind of Push messages available in the BB platform - in particular Message push that will deposit a message to the device inbox. There are APIs for that.  However, these are not true PIN messages and you will not get audio/vibrate alerts ..

web2pin is likely  a 'hack' with a blackberry device connected to the serial port of the PC on which the service runs or using a scheme like Msohm describes.

[Stefc]

MSohm,

I did read that there is a command-line utility to send a PIN message from the BES.  If someone writes a program that can invoke that utility, would that not do exactly what is needed? Or is there a limitation to that utility preventing such use?  Not sure if it's available on all BES version though - I read that in:

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Resource Kit
BlackBerry Enterprise Server User Administration Tool
Version: 5.0 | Service Pack: 1

It that a possibility??

Stefc

[MSohm]

Yes, it is possible to send PIN messages from a BlackBerry Enterprise Server.  However, they can only be sent to users on that particular server.

[Stefc]

Thank you Mark for the very quick reply.  That is very clear.

Regarding the BES on which this (the command-line utility) is available, I think I read somewhere that it was from BES 5.0 and beyond. Is that correct or can it also be done from a command line in BES 4.x ? If so, would you have a clue on where this is documented...?

Best regards,

Stefc

[MSohm]

I recommend posting that question in our BlackBerry Enterprise Solution forum.  You should get a lot of detail on this from the BES Admins who prowl that forum. 

[klh921]

So, on this topic, there are service providers that allow you to send emergency notifications via blackberry pin to pin.  we are wanting to do this but not all users will be on our bes server.   Is how you described how htey are doing it or do htey have soem special relationship with RIM?