Endpoints
| GET /v1/passes/:passTypeIdentifier/:serialNumber |
Get the Latest Version of a Pass |
| GET /v1/devices/:deviceLibraryIdentifier/registrations/:passTypeIdentifier[?passesUpdatedSince=tag] |
Get the Serial Numbers for Passes Associated with a Device |
| POST /v1/devices/:deviceLibraryIdentifier/registrations/:passTypeIdentifier/:serialNumber |
Register a Device to Receive Push Notifications for a Pass |
| DELETE /v1/devices/:deviceLibraryIdentifier/registrations/:passTypeIdentifier/:serialNumber |
Unregister a Device |
## Command-Line Interface
Helios comes with a CLI to help create and manage your application. After you `$ gem install helios`, you'll have the `helios` binary available.
$ helios --help
helios
A command-line interface for building mobile infrastructures
Commands:
console Open IRB session with Helios environment
help Display global or [command] help documentation.
link Links a Core Data model
new Creates a new Helios project
server Start running Helios locally
### Creating an Application
The first step to using Helios is to create a new application. This can be done with the `$ helios new` command, which should be familiar if you've ever used Rails.
$ helios new --help
Usage: helios new path/to/app
The `helios new` command creates a new Helios application with a default
directory structure and configuration at the path you specify.
Options:
--skip-gemfile Don't create a Gemfile
-B, --skip-bundle Don't run bundle install
-G, --skip-git Don't create a git repository
--edge Setup the application with Gemfile pointing to Helios repository
-f, --force Overwrite files that already exist
-p, --pretend Run but do not make any changes
-s, --skip Skip files that already exist
### Linking a Core Data Model
In order to keep your data model and REST webservices in sync, you can link it to your helios application:
$ helios link path/to/DataModel.xcdatamodel
This creates a hard link between the data model file in your Xcode and Helios projects—any changes made to either file will affect both. The next time you start the server, Helios will automatically migrate the database to create tables and insert columns to accomodate any new entities or attributes.
### Starting the Application Locally
To run Helios in development mode on `localhost`, run the `server` command:
$ helios server
### Running the Helios Console
You can start an IRB session with the runtime environment of the Helios application with the `console` command:
$ helios console
This command activates the services as configured by your Helios application, including any generated Core Data models. The `rack` module is automatically included on launch, allowing you to access everything more directly:
> Passbook::Passes.all # => [...]
## Deploying to Heroku
[Heroku](http://www.heroku.com) is the easiest way to get your app up and running. For full instructions on how to get started, check out ["Getting Started with Ruby on Heroku"](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/ruby).
Once you've installed the [Heroku Toolbelt](https://toolbelt.heroku.com), and have a Heroku account, enter the following commands from the project directory:
$ heroku create
$ git push heroku master
## Integrating with an iOS Application
### Core Data Synchronization
With [AFIncrementalStore](https://github.com/AFNetworking/AFIncrementalStore), you can integrate your Helios app directly into the Core Data stack. Whether it’s a fetch or save changes request, or fulfilling an attribute or relation fault, AFIncrementalStore handles all of the networking needed to read and write to and from the server.
See ["Building an iOS App with AFIncrementalStore and the Core Data Buildpack"](https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/ios-core-data-buildpack-app) on the Heroku Dev Center for a comprehensive guide on how to use AFIncrementalStore with the Core Data buildpack. An article for Helios is forthcoming, but aside from deployment, the instructions are essentially unchanged.
### Push Notification Registration
With [Orbiter](https://github.com/mattt/Orbiter) you can integrate Push Notifications into your app easily.
```objective-c
- (void)application:(UIApplication *)application
didRegisterForRemoteNotificationsWithDeviceToken:(NSData *)deviceToken
{
NSURL *serverURL = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://raging-notification-3556.herokuapp.com/"];
Orbiter *orbiter = [[Orbiter alloc] initWithBaseURL:serverURL credential:nil];
[orbiter registerDeviceToken:deviceToken withAlias:nil success:^(id responseObject) {
NSLog(@"Registration Success: %@", responseObject);
} failure:^(NSError *error) {
NSLog(@"Registration Error: %@", error);
}];
}
```
## Coming Attractions
There's still a lot to do to make Helios even better. Here are some ideas that are at the top of the list:
- Test coverage
- More documentation
- More example projects
- Better RubyMotion integration
- Support for multiple schema definitions (not just Core Data)
- Send push notifications from the UI
- Support for additional platforms (Android, WP7)
---
## Contact
Mattt Thompson
- http://github.com/mattt
- http://twitter.com/mattt
-