Part 4: Data

Last modified: April 20, 2023

1 Introduction

Several apps make it so that when user taps a notification, the user is taken to specific page with specific parameters set. You can achieve this by sending data along with a notification.

For example, a user could tap a notification about an entity object. They should be brought to a details page which shows an entity object’s details. But in order to make that happen, you must set your notification up to pass that particular entity to its details page.

Every entry in the Mendix database has an unique ID. If you want to pass an object, your GetGUID JavaScript action must retrieve that object’s GUID and pass it to your local notification. When the notification is tapped, the widget can use the object’s GUID to retrieve that object using the GetObjectByGUID JavaScript action. Finally, your object will be passed to the action you specify in your notification.

You will create the following things to send data to pages:

  • Two entities – Create TestEntity to test how to show particular object, and Notification to help pass data to your page.
  • One page – Create DetailTestEntity which will be shown on tapping a notification.
  • One microflow – Create DS_TestEntity to create dummy data for testing.
  • Three nanoflows – Create DS_Notification to create a dummy notification object ACT_PassGUIDToNotification to pass a GUID, and On_tapNotification to process data from your notification.

2 Prerequisites

Before starting this guide, make sure you have completed the following prerequisites:

3 Sending Data to Pages

To make your two entities, do the following:

  1. Navigate to your domain model.

  2. Drag a new entity into your domain model:

    new entity
  3. Double-click it and name it TestEntity:

    test entity
  4. Click Attributes > New, name it StringAttribute_1, and click OK:

    string attribute
  5. Click OK again until you are back at the domain model.

  6. Create an entity named Notification on your domain model with a string attribute GUIDString:

    GUID string

To set up a notification nanoflow, do the following:

  1. Create a nanoflow named DS_Notification.

  2. Drag a create object activity into your nanoflow.

  3. Double-click your create object activity.

  4. Click Entity > Select.

  5. Click Notification, then click Select.

  6. Click OK.

  7. Right-click your create object activity and select Set $NewNotification as return value:

    create notification nanoflow

To set up your microflow, do the following:

  1. Create a microflow named DS_TestEntity.

  2. Drag a create object activity into your microflow.

  3. Double-click your create object activity.

  4. Click Entity > Select.

  5. Click NativeMobile.TestEntity.

  6. Click Select.

  7. Check Commit

  8. Click OK.

  9. Double-click your end event, make sure its Type is Boolean, type true into the value field, and click OK:

    end event true

To make this microflow run after startup, do the following:

  1. Double-click Settings in your App Explorer:

    app explorer
  2. Click the Runtime tab:

    click runtime
  3. Click After startup > Select:

    select after start up
  4. Click DS_TestEntity then click the Select button to achieve this result:

    select test entity
  5. Click OK

To make your page, do the following:

  1. Crete a new blank native page named DetailTestEntity.

  2. Drag a data view widget onto your new page.

  3. Double-click your data view widget.

  4. In Data Source, click Entity (path) > Select.

  5. Click TestEntity.

  6. Click Select to see the following:

    entity test entity
  7. Click OK.

  8. When asked “Do you want to automatically fill the contents of the data view?” click Yes.

  9. This will be the page your user sees when they tap the notification:

    page with data view

Next you will learn how to pass data to pages after you have tapped a notification. First, make a nanoflow:

  1. Create a nanoflow named ACT_PassGUIDToNotification.

  2. Add a retrieve action to your nanoflow, set Source to From Database, and set Range to First. Click Entity > Select and select the TestEntity. In Object name type FirstTestEntityObject. Then click OK. This will be the object that gets the GUID:

    retrieve object
  3. Add a JavaScript Action Call activity to your nanoflow.

  4. Double-click the action call activity.

  5. Click JavaScript Action > Select.

  6. Type GetGuid into the search field, click GetGuid, and click Select. (You are able to find the GetGuid JavaScript action because it is included in the NanoflowCommons module inside the Native Quickstarter template.)

  7. Click Entity Object drop-down and click $FirstTestEntityObject.

  8. In Variable name field type GUIDForFirstObject.

  9. Click OK.

  10. Drag four create variable activities into your nanoflow: Title, Subtitle, Body, and ActionName. Give them the values ’title1’, ‘subtitle1’, ‘body1’, and ‘OpenPageWithParams’ respectively:

    title1
    subtitle1
    body1
    actionname

    This is how all of your activities will look:

    actionname
  11. Drag a JavaScript action call activity into your nanoflow.

  12. Double-click the action call.

  13. Click JavaScript action > Select.

  14. Type DisplayNotification into the search field, click the corresponding JavaScript action, and click Select.

  15. Set the Body, Title, Subtitle, Action name, and Action guid to the corresponding variables you created previously, and set Play Sound to True:

    first guid action
  16. Click OK.

  17. Drag this nanoflow onto your app’s Home_Native page to create a button which calls it, and name the button Pass GUID to Notification:

    guid button

Good job! When a user taps a notification from the Pass GUID to Notification button, they will now be brought to the DetailTestEntity page. Next you will create a nanoflow which receives notificationEntity as a parameter, retrieves an object via this parameter, and passes the object to a page.

  1. Make a new nanoflow named ON_tapNotification.

  2. Drag a parameter into your nanoflow.

  3. Click Data Type > Select. Click Notification, then click Select.

  4. Fill Name in as notificationEntity.

  5. Click OK:

    guid button
  6. Drag a JavaScript action call into your nanoflow.

  7. Double-click the JavaScript action call, then click Select.

  8. Type GetObjectByGuid into the search field, click that action, then click Select.

  9. Click TestEntity and then click Select.

  10. Next to the Object guid drop-down menu click Edit.

  11. Type $NotificationEntity/GUIDString into your argument field and click OK.

  12. Select Use Return Value > Yes.

  13. In Object name write ReturnedObjectByGUID:

    guid settings
  14. Click OK to save and close your JavaScript Action settings:

    guid activity
  15. Drop a Change object activity into your nanoflow:

    change object
  16. Double-click the change object activity.

  17. Select Object > ReturnedObjectByGUID (NativeMobile.TestEntity) from the drop-down menu.

  18. Click Action > New, make sure Member is set to the string attribute, and into Value type ‘Your notification has forwarded you here!’:

    change object action
  19. Click OK. Check that your dialog box looks like this, then click OK again to close it:

    change object final

Next you are going to create a show page action for ON_tapNotification.

  1. Drag a Show Page activity into your nanoflow:

    new show page
  2. Double-click the Show Page activity.

  3. From the Object to pass drop-down menu select ReturnedObjectByGuid.

  4. Click Page > Select, click DetailTestEntity, then click OK:

    guid button
  5. Click OK to close the Show Page activity settings, then navigate to your Home_Native page.

Now you will set up a data view on your home page.

  1. Drag a Data View widget on your Home_Native page.

  2. Double-click your data view.

  3. Select Data source > Type > Nanoflow.

  4. Click Nanoflow > Select and choose DS_Notification.

  5. Click OK to go back to your home page, and click OK on the subsequent data view dialog box.

  6. Move the Notifications widget inside this data view.

  7. Confirm that the text box in your data flow is using GUIDString as its data source:

    first guid action
  8. Double-click your notifications widget.

  9. Click GUID > Select.

  10. Click GUIDString (String (200)), then click Select. Your results will look like this:

    guid string
  11. Click Actions > New.

  12. Create a New Action named OpenPageWithParams, set On open to Call a nanoflow, and select ON_tapNotification.

    notification action

Great job! Now test your data notification functionality:

  1. Start and load the app on your mobile device.
  2. Tap the button which sends a notification.
  3. Tap the notification to navigate to the DetailTestEntity page with the proper object.

Congratulations! You have harnessed the power of data to enhance your push notifications. Next, in How to Use Local Notifications Part 5: Scheduling, you will learn how to schedule notifications for specific times and cancel them.

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