2. Signing Up for Web Signals
Before
any data can be pushed through a Web Signal, an organization must first
register with RIM to obtain the credentials needed to communicate with
the RIM Push Infrastructure. Information on Web Signals and a link to
the registration page is available at http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/browserdev/websignals.jsp.
Click the Request a Web Signal for Your Application link to register
for Web Signals. Most of the fields on the registration form should be
self-explanatory; Table 1 lists the values that might require some explanation.
Table 1. Web Signals Registration Information
| Registration Field | Value |
|---|
| Describe product or service Web Signals is to be used for | Briefly describe the push service. Be brief, but as clear as possible. |
| Source IP address for pushes | Identifies
the IP address of the computer system that will perform pushes. The
system must have a static, public IP address assigned to it. |
| How many subscribers will register to Web Signals (Total) | Used
by RIM to help understand the projected audience for the Web Signal.
This value, along with pushes per day (defined next), is likely to be
used by RIM to define a quota in pushes per day to associate with this
Web Signal.
Be sure to accommodate for projected growth for your service when you
set this number; you don’t want to set it too low and constantly
negotiate with RIM to increase the number of allowed subscribers. |
| Pushes per day, per subscriber | Used by RIM to help understand the scope of the Web Signal’s projected daily activity to help estimate pricing for the service. |
| Which URL is used for a successful subscription | When
the subscriber agrees to RIM’s terms and conditions for the Web Signal,
the user is redirected to this URL. Use this URL to allow subscriber to
define preferences or settings for their subscription. |
| Which URL is used for an unsuccessful subscription | If
the subscriber does not agree to RIM’s terms and conditions for the Web
Signal, he is redirected to the URL provided here. Use the page behind
this URL to inform the subscriber that he will not receive the Web
Signal because he did not accept all the terms of service or there was
an error. |
| Which region will this service mainly be offered | This
value is likely used to identify the RIM Network Operations Center
(NOC) that is responsible for handling most of the load for this Web
Signal. |
| Will the Web Signals have a specific enablement date | Identifies when the Web Signal service is expected to be available to subscribers. |
After an organization submits the registration form
and the Web Signal has been approved, RIM sends an email notification
containing the information needed to be able to begin accepting
subscriptions and delivering data to subscribers. Table 2 lists the credentials that are used by Web Signals.
Table 2. Web Signals Registration Credentials
| Registration Item | Description |
|---|
| Service Identifier (SID) | A
unique identifier for the Web Signal. The SID is not case sensitive and
is restricted to both upper and lower alpha-numeric characters (A-z and
0-9), plus bang (!) and the dash (-) character. It cannot contain any
spaces and can have a maximum length of 20 bytes.
The ID is generated by RIM based on the information provided during
registration. |
| Content Provider ID | A
unique identifier for the Web Signal content provider. This value is
not case sensitive and is restricted to both upper and lower
alpha-numeric characters (A-z and 0-9), plus the !, -, @, ., and _ characters. It can contain internal spaces (leading and trailing spaces are removed) and can have a maximum length of 20 bytes. |
| SID Description | Assigned
by RIM, contains a description of the Web Signal. The description can
have a maximum length of 256 bytes and is not case sensitive. The value
is restricted to both upper and lower alpha-numeric characters (A-z and
0-9), plus the !, -, @, ., and _ characters. It can contain internal spaces (leading and trailing spaces are removed) and have a maximum length of 20 bytes. |
| SID Password | The
password associated with the Web Signal SID. Assignment of the password
is managed by the Web Signals Coordinator. The password must be between
8 and 24 characters in length and can consist of any printable
characters in the 7.bit ASCII character set with the exception of
single quotation marks (‘), double quotation marks (“), backslash (\),
and spaces. Any leading or trailing spaces should be removed.
To make the password more difficult to guess, the password cannot
contain the word “password” or the signal’s SID. |
| Quota per day | Assigned by RIM, this value specifies the maximum number of pushes allowed for this Web Signal per day. |
| Quota per hour | Assigned by RIM, this value specifies the maximum number of pushes allowed for this Web Signal per hour. |
| Priority | Specifies
the priority associated with a push request. In the initial
implementation of Web Signals, RIM has only exposed the option of Bulk
Priority to content providers. Bulk Priority means that RIM only
attempts to deliver the push content once and therefore delivery is not
guaranteed. |
| Expiration Date | An
expiration date might be assigned to your Web Signal by RIM. The
expiration date is currently not used, but that could change in the
future. |
