Getting Started with iOS

This overview will guide you through the steps required to integrate the BlackBerry Spark Communications Services SDK for iOS with your application.

Prerequisites

To build and run an application using the SDK, you will need:

• Xcode version 10.0 or later
• Deployment target of iOS version 11.0 or later

Add the SDK Framework to your Application

The SDK contains a framework that must be imported into your project:

Download & Configure the latest version of the SDK for iOS.

Copy the contents of the sdk and sdk-release folders to your Xcode project folder.

Drag BBMEnterprise.Framework into the Frameworks folder of your project in Xcode.

On the left side of the screen, click the project.

Under TARGETS, click the target for your application.

At the top of the screen, click Build Settings.

In the search text field in the upper-right corner of the screen, type Framework Search Paths.

On the left side of the screen, drag the directory in which you placed BBMEnterprise.framework into the Framework Search Paths.

In the search text field in the upper-right corner of the screen, type Bitcode.

Next to Enable Bitcode, in the drop-down list, select No.

Drag the BBMEnterprise.framework into the Embedded Binaries section of the general settings for your application target.

Set your Application's Capabilities

In Xcode, under TARGETS, click the target for your application.

At the top of the screen, click Capabilities.

Ensure that the check boxes next to all the following modes are selected.

<key>UIBackgroundModes</key>
<array>
        <string>voip</string>
        <string>audio</string>
        <string>remote-notification</string>
</array>

Start the SDK

To start the SDK service, see the example code below.

// Start the SDK service by supplying your application's domain.

[[BBMEnterpriseService service] startService:@"Your SDK Domain ID"
                                 environment:kBBMConfig_Sandbox
                             completionBlock:^(BOOL success) {
    // Update the UI once there is a response.
    // Perform any appropriate actions here such as display existing chats.

    // Once the BBM Enterprise service has successfully started,
    // you may now invoke the sendAuthToken API.
}];

Substitute the ID of the SDK domain that you created earlier for Your SDK Domain ID.

The environment parameter will determine which servers the SDK will connect to.

Authentication

Your application is responsible for providing access tokens to the SDK with the BBMAuthTokenMessage APIs. These tokens are used to identify, authenticate, and authorize your users.

As described in the Identity Providers guide, you can configure your domain in the sandbox to have user authentication disabled. Your application must still provide tokens using the BBMAuthTokenMessage APIs, but instead of getting them from a real identity provider, your application generates its own unsigned JWT tokens.

By default, all examples expect your domain to have user authentication disabled. Some examples may optionally be configured to use Google Sign-In or Azure Active Directory as an identity provider.

Key Management

By default, all examples use the BlackBerry Key Management Service which provides automatic management and synchronization of keys. The Support library comes with code that you can use for using Cloud Key Storage with Google Firebase or Azure Cosmos DB.

Support Library

Source code for several helper classes can be found in the Support library. Classes and interfaces for handling authentication, key management, and user management are provided. Where applicable, these classes are written to allow you to utilize your own back-end storage or authentication scheme. Example implementations based on Google Sign-In/Firebase and Microsoft Azure Active Directory are provided and used throughout the example applications.

If you use the support code in your application, please note the following.

• A generic Swift bridging header is included, but is written specifically to support the example applications. You might need to modify this to include or exclude the classes you wish to use. If you are not using Firebase or Google Sign-In, those specific sections should be omitted for example.
• If your application is a Swift application, you must add the supplied bridging header's path to the Objective-C Bridging Header bridging headers location in your project properties or add the relevant classes to your existing bridging header.
• You must add the correct header search paths for the support classes.

Configure the Example Applications

• Configuring Examples for Azure Active Directory
• Configuring Examples for Google Sign-In and Firebase