Creating an OEM Cloud App Store (RPC v5.1+)

SDL allows OEMs to offer an app store that lets users browse and install remote cloud apps. If the cloud app requires users to login with their credentials, the app store can use an authentication token to automatically login users after their first session.

Note

An OEM app store can be a mobile app or a cloud app.

User Authentication

App stores can handle user authentication for the installed cloud apps. For example, users can log in after installing a cloud app using the app store. After that, the app store will save an authentication token for the cloud app in the local policy table. Then, the cloud app can retrieve the authentication token from the local policy table and use it to authenticate a user with the application. If desired, an optional parameter, CloudAppVehicleID, can be used to identify the head unit.

Setting and Getting Cloud App Properties

An OEM's app store can manage the properties of a specific cloud app by setting and getting its CloudAppProperties. This table summarizes the properties that are included in CloudAppProperties:

Note

Only trusted app stores are allowed to set or get CloudAppProperties for other cloud apps.

Setting Cloud App Properties

App stores can set properties for a cloud app by sending a SetCloudAppProperties request to Core to store them in the local policy table. For example, in this piece of code, the app store can set the authToken to associate a user with a cloud app after the user logs in to the app by using the app store:

SDLCloudAppProperties *properties = [[SDLCloudAppProperties alloc] initWithAppID:<#app id#>];
properties.authToken = <#auth token#>;
SDLSetCloudAppProperties *setCloud = [[SDLSetCloudAppProperties alloc] initWithProperties:properties];
[self.sdlManager sendRequest:setCloud withResponseHandler:^(__kindof SDLRPCRequest * _Nullable request, __kindof SDLRPCResponse * _Nullable response, NSError * _Nullable error) {
    if (!response.success.boolValue) {
        SDLLogE(@"Error sending set cloud properties: Req %@, Res %@, err %@", request, response, error);
        return;
    }

    SDLSetCloudAppPropertiesResponse *setCloudResponse = (SDLSetCloudAppPropertiesResponse *)response;

    <#Use the response#>
}];

let properties = SDLCloudAppProperties(appID: <#app id#>)
properties.authToken = <#auth token#>
let setCloud = SDLSetCloudAppProperties(properties: properties)
sdlManager.send(request: setCloud) { (req, res, err) in
    guard let response = res as? SDLSetCloudAppPropertiesResponse, response.success.boolValue == true, err == nil else {
        return
    }

    <#Use the response#>
}

Getting Cloud App Properties

To retrieve cloud properties for a specific cloud app from local policy table, app stores can send GetCloudAppProperties and specify the appId for that cloud app as in this example:

SDLGetCloudAppProperties *getCloud = [[SDLGetCloudAppProperties alloc] initWithAppID:<#app id#>];
[self.sdlManager sendRequest:getCloud withResponseHandler:^(__kindof SDLRPCRequest * _Nullable request, __kindof SDLRPCResponse * _Nullable response, NSError * _Nullable error) {
    if (!response || !response.success.boolValue) {
        SDLLogE(@"Error sending set cloud properties: Req %@, Res %@, err %@", request, response, error);
        return;
    }

    SDLGetCloudAppPropertiesResponse *setCloudResponse = (SDLGetCloudAppPropertiesResponse *)response;
    <#Use the response#>
}];

let getCloud = SDLGetCloudAppProperties(appID: <#app id#>)
sdlManager.send(request: getCloud) { (req, res, err) in
    guard let response = res as? SDLGetCloudAppPropertiesResponse, response.success.boolValue == true, err == nil else {
        return
    }

    <#Use the response#>
}

Getting the Cloud App Icon

Cloud app developers don't need to add any code to download the app icon. The cloud app icon will be automatically downloaded from the url provided by the policy table and sent to Core to be later displayed on the HMI.

Getting the Authentication Token

When users install cloud apps from an OEM's app store, they may be asked to login to that cloud app using the app store. After logging in, app store can save the authToken in the local policy table to be used later by the cloud app for user authentication.
A cloud app can retrieve its authToken from local policy table after starting the RPC service. The authToken can be used later by the app to authenticate the user:

NSString *authToken = self.sdlManager.authToken;

let authToken = sdlManager.authToken

Getting CloudAppVehicleID (Optional)

The CloudAppVehicleID is an optional parameter used by cloud apps to identify a head unit. The content of CloudAppVehicleID is up to the OEM's implementation. Possible values could be the VIN or a hashed VIN.
The CloudAppVehicleID value can be retrieved as part of the GetVehicleData RPC. To find out more about how to retrieve CloudAppVehicleID, check out the Retrieving Vehicle Data section.