What new features are added in MobileFirst for hybrid application? - ibm-mobilefirst

What new features are included as compared to worklight version 6.2 in MobileFirst for hybrid application? I searched a lot on google and IBM site I dont find any new things which are new in 7.1.0 for hybrid application. Can any one suggest new things which are included for hybrid app.

The biggest addition in MobileFirst Platform Foundation 7.0 was Java adapters, enabling you to write JAX-RS applications thus creating flows not possible with JavaScript adapters.
The biggest additions in MobileFirst Platform Foundation 7.1 are the introduction of the OAuth 2.0 security model and as consequence the session-independent mode in the MobileFirst Server. Also introduced were Cordova applications (as opposed to MobileFirst Studio-managed Hybrid apps), allowing more room for applicative wizardry not possible with Hybrid apps.
For an exhaustive list of changes, see the changelogs:
7.0: http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSHS8R_7.0.0/com.ibm.worklight.getstart.doc/start/c_release_notes.html?lang=en
7.1: http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSHS8R_7.1.0/com.ibm.worklight.getstart.doc/start/c_release_notes.html?lang=en

Related

What is difference between IBM MobileFirst Platform Application Center Console and MobileFirst Foundation V8.0

What is the difference between IBM MobileFirst Platform Application Center Console and MobileFirst Foundation V8.0? Is it a separate console? I'm so confused when there are different screens in IBM MobileFirst Platform Application Center Console and there is no dashboard to deploy adapter.
IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation (formerly known as Worklight Foundation) is a platform for building mobile applications for the enterprise. It is a suite of tools and services available either on-premise or in the cloud, which enable you to rapidly build, administer, and monitor secure applications.
IBM Mobile Foundation:
https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSNJXP/welcome.html
The IBM MobileFirst Platform Application Center is a repository of mobile applications similar to public app stores but focused on the needs of an organization or a team (private app store).
It works with IBM MobileFirst and non IBM MobileFirst apps, and supports any iOS, Android, BlackBerry 6 or 7, and Windows Phone 8 applications.
It can be used in different contexts:
As an enterprise app store across an organization.
During development to distribute applications within a team.
Distributing mobile applications with Application Center: https://mobilefirstplatform.ibmcloud.com/tutorials/en/foundation/6.3/moving-production/distributing-mobile-applications-application-center/
MobileFirst Platform Application Center allows you to host your mobile applications and acts as app repository like any other public app store from Google or Apple. Application center doesn't allow application backend or management capabilities like deploying Adapter etc, for which you would need to use MobileFirst Foundation.
You can find more details about Application center here

Prevent jailbroken/rooted devices from accessing MFP 7.1

I am trying to understand how the MobileFirst Platform could prevent Jailbroken/rooted devices from accessing its resources.
Does MobileFirst Platform provide this type of security.?
How can we implement it as I could not find any resource to walk us through it?
Thanks.
MobileFirst Platform Foundation does not, in itself, provide any facility to prevent jailbroken / rooted devices from accessing resources. However, you can use MaaS360 or Trusteer to provide this kind of protection as desired.
There's a tech note here that gives an overview of mobile OS features that can be used by various versions of MobileFirst Platform Foundation and Worklight.

Integration of MobileFirst Application onto BlueMix

I have a set of applications that have been developed by IBM using MobileFirst so it uses Worklight servers and adapters within the application.
I have been requested to investigate the possibilities of taking a hybrid mobile application developed on worklight and trying to migrate it onto something like IBM's BlueMix.
I was hoping someone could provide me with some insight as to how much work may be involved or if this task is even possible?
Thanks in advance.
Assuming you are using MobileFirst Platform Foundation 7.1, you can run your MobileFirst Server on IBM Containers, a technology powered by IBM Bluemix... you can read more about it here: https://mobilefirstplatform.ibmcloud.com/tutorials/en/foundation/7.1/ibm-containers/
You can start by evaluating it: https://mobilefirstplatform.ibmcloud.com/tutorials/en/foundation/7.1/ibm-containers/evaluate/
And later, assuming you are an IBM MobileFirst Platform customer, migrate your existing project and applications to it: https://mobilefirstplatform.ibmcloud.com/tutorials/en/foundation/7.1/ibm-containers/run/
You will also want to experiment with MobileFirst Foundation 8.0 beta: https://mobilefirstplatform.ibmcloud.com/beta/
v8.0 beta also provides an all-new approach for running on Bluemix: https://mobilefirstplatform.ibmcloud.com/tutorials/en/foundation/8.0/ibm-containers/using-mobile-foundation/
Using 8.0 will require some migration effort, but it'll be worth it. :)
You could migrate your adapters and the app integrated with the MFP SDk as is and move it to Bluemix using MFP 7.1 on containers. The effort is minimal - say 2 days. Based on your comments above, If you want to ditch all that and remove worklight out of the equation all altogether, you will have to hand roll all that functionality that worklight was providing to you and of course maintain it yourself. Then this ceases to be a worklight question :) and the effort is certainly more than couple of days.

MobileFirst and Worklight with Java 8

How to use Java 8 for MobileFirst / Worklight mobile applications? I have always encountered articles that it wouldn't work with Java 8. Any one had luck in using it with Java 8?
At this time, MobileFirst does not support Java8. We're actively working on this and we should be able to announce support "soon". Be aware that there are several different aspects to your issue -
Developer environment; CLI and Studio, and embedded Liberty server
MobileFirst Server, of many different flavors; Liberty, WAS, Tomcat, etc.
Suggest you ask your question again in a week or so, and I should be able to provide a more specific answer.

Is it possible to deploy a JAX-RS web service to MobileFirst Server?

My team is working on the migration of a hybrid app from Tibco Silver Mobile(TSM) platform to IBM MobileFirst Platform.
I have a JAX-RS webservice developed using Weblogic IDE which is currently hosted on TSM server. This webservice does a security check for all the incoming back-end requests and pass the request to the back-end if it is from a valid source.
When the app will be migrated from TSM to MobileFirst platform the TSM server will be moved out of the scene. I am looking for some alternate options for hosting this JAX-RS webservice. I don't want to make any changes to the webservice since it is a tested and proven code used in the TSM based solution.
I understand from the IBM MobileFirst Platform 7.0 documentation that JAX-RS support is now available on the MobileFirst Server and JAX-RS specification based Java adapters can be developed and deployed to the server.
Can I deploy the above mentioned webservice .WAR file as such to MobileFirst Server, without making any customizations?
If yes, what is the procedure for deploying the webservice (.WAR) to MobileFirst Server?
If no, what are the alternate options that can be considered?
As indicated in the comments above:
MFP Server is actually a Java EE application deployed to a supported Java EE application server, WebSphere Liberty or full WebSphere ND being the normal options, though TomCat is also supported.
In principle your own JAX/RS WAR file can be deployed to these same servers, the details will depend upon exactly what Java EE features you exploit and you will need to understand those Java EE servers' administration model. MFP itself is not affected by this, and you need no MFP knowledge to do it. You just need to understand the chosen Java EE server. Personally I would start with WebSphere Liberty.
A further question would be whether it is better to isolate your JAX/RS and Mobile First servers into their own Java EE server instances. It can be easier to manage and scale if you keep things separate, but technically there should be no interference if you do co-locate them. It is pretty trivial to spin up a dedicated Liberty server.
A more interesting question is whether there is value in actually exploiting the MFP Adapter capability to create JAX/RS services. In effect it's your familiar JAX/RS programming model but packaged slightly differently, deployed as a MFP adapter, and with the option explicitly to exploit the MFP security model and easily call other MFP adapters.
Personally, if I were coming to a project with no existing JAX/RS services and have commited to MFP and its security model then I would do my JAX/RS in the MFP Adapters.