BlackBerry Enterprise Server Development

[tsiva]

Hi,

I am new to Blackberry development. I have briefly looked into various network transport protocols that enables communication between BB device and Servers ( such as  MDS, Socket, HTTP, ..)

Our requirement is to send data from BB mobile device to a given server app or BES. The server app or BES would then store all data received from many BB devices on the server PC.      

For our requirements the MDS seems the better option given its properties. 

 I am interested to know if its possible SEND data FROM BB mobile device TO Server App/or BES using MDS? 

If so does anyone know of some pointers or sample code/demo which illustrates that please?

I have read about PUSH API but it seems it supports Server--To-->BB device communication not the other way around, is that correct?

Thank you

Siva

[gbeukeboom]

Hello Siva,

Welcome to the forums!

The term "Push" refers to sending data from the server to the device without the device needing to be aware that new data is available. So in that sense Push is not supported from the device. You can, however, send data from the device to any server using a standard Java network connection (HTTP, UDP, Socket etc).

Regards,

[tsiva]

Hi Garett,

Thank you for your reply.

I am interested to know if  MDS can be used to send data from BB device TO a Server app,  rather than using   HTTP, UDP, Socket etc.  The reason for prefering MDS is that it supports roaming automatically but that wont be the case with HTTP, UDP, Socket etc ( thats my understaning, is that correct?  ).

So can MDS be used to send data from BB device TO a Server app or BES?

Thanks

Siva

[gbeukeboom]

Hi Siva,

MDS is a transport route whereas HTTP, Socket, UDP etc are connection types. A few other transport routes that may clarify the role of MDS would be WiFi and Direct TCP (through the carrier network). You can connect using an HTTP connection through BES MDS if the user is connected to a BES. 

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "it supports roaming automatically", could you please clarify?

Thanks,

[tsiva]

Hi Garett,

Now its more clearer to me.  I initially thought  MDS was kind of a (  higher level ) connection type ( similar to HTTP, TCP Socket,  UDP but provided as  some kind of  Blackberry Middleware API ).   

Now I understand MDS to be a transport route ( i.e gateway ). ( correct me if wrong )    

What i meant by "MDS supports roaming automatically" :  >>>

for e.g

 - TCP socket connectivity using the BlackBerry MDS  ( Provides Seamless support for roaming)

where as

 - TCP socket connectivity using a service provider-hosted IP gateway ( No, Seamless support for roaming ) 

So now I take that it should be possible to send data from BB device TO my own server app using TCP socket connectivity using the BlackBerry MDS , is that correct?   

If so,  is there any sample demo code or pointers available ?

Thanks

Siva 

[gbeukeboom]

Hi Siva,

You can take a look at the SocketDemo sample that's included with any of the BlackBerry Java Development environments. The following article will also be sueful to explain how you can force the network connection to occur through MDS, if available:

http://supportforums.blackberry.com/t5/Java-Development/Different-ways-to-make-an-HTTP-or-socket-con...

Regards,

[tsiva]

Hi Garett,

Thank you very much for clarifying and for the pointers. This should get me started in the right direction 

Regards

Siva