Google Channel API sending message with token

Question

In documents it says 'client_id' part can actually be the token, however it doesn't work. Anyone know why?

https://developers.google.com/appengine/docs/python/channel/functions

If the client_id parameter is actually a token returned by a create_channel call then send_message can be used for different versions of the app. For instance you could create the channel on the front end and then send messages from a backend of the app.

the reason i want to use this, is because i want to send messages to anonymous users as well, without requiring them to login. i don't know if it is possible to assign them a 'client_id' if token doesn't work.

this is how i am creating the token

    user = users.get_current_user()

    if user:
        token = channel.create_channel(user.user_id())
    else:
        token = channel.create_channel(str(uuid.uuid4()))

then injecting into client

template_values = {
        'token' : token,
    }

on the client side open the channel

      openChannel = function() {
    var token = '{{ token }}';
    var channel = new goog.appengine.Channel(token);
    var handler = {
      'onopen': onOpened,
      'onmessage': onMessage,
      'onerror': function() {},
      'onclose': function() {}
    };
    var socket = channel.open(handler);
    socket.onopen = onOpened;
    socket.onmessage = onMessage;
  }

now send a message

var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('POST', path, true);
xhr.send();

in the server, when the message is received send back a message using the token

channel.send_message(token, someMessage)

back to client

onMessage = function(m) {
alert("you have some message");     
}

this sequence works fine if client_id() is used instead of token when calling send_message

Answer 1

I don't think you actually have a problem here.

You are able to send messages to users that are logged in or not.

The problem you are having I think is knowing that there are multiple ways to use the channel API re: tokens.

https://developers.google.com/appengine/docs/python/channel/overview#Life_of_a_Typical_Channel_Message

In this example, it shows the JavaScript client explicitly requests a token and sends its Client ID to the server. In contrast, you could choose to design your application to inject the token into the client before the page loads in the browser, or some other implementation if preferred.

This diagram shows the creation of a channel on the server. In this example, it shows the JavaScript client explicitly requests a token and sends its Client ID to the server. In contrast, you could choose to design your application to inject the token into the client before the page loads in the browser, or some other implementation if preferred.

Here's my demo implementation, hope it helps somehow: https://github.com/Paul1234321/channelapidemo.git

Here's the code for creating the channel on GAE:

  client_id = str(uuid.uuid4()).replace("-",'')
  channel_token = channel.create_channel(client_id)

And in the JS:

channel = new goog.appengine.Channel('{{ token }}');

Have a look at it in action: http://pppredictor.appspot.com/