How to configure Android Push Notifications (GCM) in Appcelerator Titanium Dashboard? - google-cloud-messaging

Question

I've tried to following the instructions
Configuring push services for Android devices
However, the steps mention 'Click Push Notifications on the left-side navigation' but they don't exist...
Once you've created a Google API project with GCM enabled, you need to update your application's settings page in Dashboard with the API key and sender ID you generated.
To configure Arrow for push notifications using Dashboard:
Open Dashboard and select your application from the Apps drop-down menu.
Click Push Notifications on the left-side navigation <-- MISSING.
Select the Android Push tab.
Enter the server key in the GCM API Key field and the GCM sender ID in the GCM Sender ID field.
Here's a screenshot to show what's listed...
If I look under Arrow (where I suspect it might be expecting to be listed) that's empty (I'm not using Arrow - I thought it was an alternative UI using declarative XML)...
I've checked the subscription that I'm on (Indie) and it shows that I should have the ability to send up to 1 million push notifications for free..
Does anyone know how I can associate the Appcelerator Titanium project to the GCM server key??
Also, when I looked in Googles developer console, my application (which is live on their app store) wasn't listed, so I've created a new application called 'Gcm'. The Appcelerator Titanium seemed to confirm that I needed to 'create' the application, I was just too worried to call it the same name as the live application. How does the 'Google Developer Console' Application relate to the 'Google Play' application?! - if at all?
UPDATE
I've just discovered in TiApp.xml that I can enable some 'Cloud' settings and this has unlocked the 'Push' menu - so I think all is good now, could someone confirm that this is the right thing to do and answer my related question about Google play applications v google developer console applications?
Update 2
I started to get this error
[ERROR] : GooglePlayServicesUtil: The Google Play services resources
were not found. Check your project configuration to ensure that the
resources are included.
[INFO] : CloudPush.retrieveDeviceToken error: INVALID_SENDER
I'm simply calling this to try and register for Android push notifications ...
CloudPush.retrieveDeviceToken({
success : function(e) {
console.info("CloudPush.retrieveDeviceToken success");
},
error : function(e) {
console.info("CloudPush.retrieveDeviceToken error:"+e.error);
}
});
I have tried with and without the ti.cloud module (I think it got added when I clicked the 'Enable Services' button which meant that I could see the 'Push Notifications' tab, but it seems to still be listed whether the ti.cloud module is elected or not)..
Before..
Q - How to stop the Google Play error and retrieve the device token (oddly I was getting the token before enable services.
Q - Is ti.cloud used to receive the push notification, or is ti.cloudpush sufficient for this?

Answer 1

Thanks for the detailed question :) Let me go into some of the things you mention and clarify what I can.
If I look under Arrow (where I suspect it might be expecting to be listed) that's empty
As you later found out you have to enable platform services for your app which will create an ArrowDB app with the same name as your app. This app will have the Push Notifications in the sidebar to configure. I've updated the guide's wordings to make clear we mean the ArrowDB app, not the Titanium app.
(I'm not using Arrow - I thought it was an alternative UI using declarative XML)...
Don't confuse Arrow with Alloy - which is the MVC framework for Titanium which indeed uses XML.
How does the 'Google Developer Console' Application relate to the 'Google Play' application?! - if at all?
It doesn't. You can even have multiple apps share the same GCM sender.
[ERROR] : GooglePlayServicesUtil: The Google Play services resources were not found.
What did you use to test? A Genymotion emulator without Google Apps installed perhaps? You'll need that.
Is ti.cloud used to receive the push notification, or is ti.cloudpush sufficient for this?
ti.cloud is the module to communicate with ArrowDB, subscribe to channels etcetera. On Android you need ti.cloudpush (or as #Shawn mentioned another module) to retrieve the device token where on iOS you can use a Ti. API for that. Follow this guide for all steps.

Answer 2

You can ignore the Google Play Service error, but it seems your GCM Sender ID and/or API Key is wrong. Read through the tutorial and make sure you put down the right ones.
If you are using Appcelerator Cloud Service to send push notifications, you need ti.cloud to register the devices.
To get the device token and to receive push notifications, you use ti.cloudpush. There are other modules that you can use instead of ti.cloudpush.