Initialize the NowSDK in your application

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
  • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of Initialize the NowSDK in your application

    To use the NowSDK in your iOS application, you must initialize it once per application launch. Initialization is asynchronous and should be started as early as possible, typically in theapplication(:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:)method of your app delegate. Reinitialization is unnecessary when the app foregrounds or detects new scenes.

    Show full answer Show less

    Key Features

    • Authorization Provider: Implement NowSDKAuthorizationProviding using your JWT provider or guest token provider to supply authorization tokens.
    • Device Permission Delegate: Implement DevicePermissionDelegate to manage device permissions requested by the SDK.
    • Configuration: Create a NowSDKConfiguration instance using your authorization provider, permission delegate, and desired log level, then configure the SDK with NowSDK.configure(with:).
    • Guest User Support: For unauthenticated users, provide a guest authorization token with type .guest to allow SDK access without requiring login.
    • Logout Handling: After logging out a user from your application, call NowSDK.logout() to clear the user’s ServiceNow sessions and tokens from the SDK.

    Key Outcomes

    By following this initialization approach, you enable your application to securely and efficiently access ServiceNow Mobile SDK features, manage user sessions including guest access, and handle logout scenarios correctly. This setup ensures your app can interact with ServiceNow backend services with proper authorization and device permission handling from the start of the app lifecycle.

    To access the functionality provided by the NowSDK, you must first initialize the NowSDK in your application.

    The Mobile SDK initialization is asynchronous. It is a good practice to start the initialization process as early as possible, such as in the application delegate’s application(application:didFinishLaunchingWithOptions:) function. Initialization only needs to occur once per application launch. There is no need to reinitialize when foregrounded or when a new scene is detected.

    The following diagram shows the initialization sequence for NowSDK and feature services:


    MobileSDK integration flow diagram

    To initialize the ServiceNow Mobile SDK in your iOS application you’ll need an authorization provider conforming to NowSDKAuthorizationProviding, which uses your JWT provider information, and a delegate conforming to DevicePermissionDelegate.

    The following is an example of a structure of an SDK initialization. For additional code examples, refer to the ServiceNow Mobile SDK sample application.

    // 
    
    //  JWTProvider.swift 
    
    import Foundation 
    import NowSDK 
    
    class JWTProvider: NowSDKAuthorizationProviding { 
      let token: String 
    
      init(token: String) { 
        self.token = token 
      } 
    
      func requestAuthorization(for instanceUrl: URL, completion: @escaping ([AuthorizationToken]?) -> Void) { 
        completion([AuthorizationToken(type: .jwt, token: token)]) 
      } 
    } 
    //
    //  PermissionProvider.swift 
    
    import Foundation
    import NowSDK 
    
    class PermissionProvider: DevicePermissionDelegate { 
      var isUserPermissionAllowed: Bool { Bool.random() } 
    
      func canRequestPermission(_ permission: DevicePermission) -> Bool { 
        guard isUserPermissionAllowed else { false } 
        return true 
      } 
    }
    //  
    //  AppDelegate.swift  
    
    import Foundation  
    import NowSDK  
    
    @main 
    class AppDelegate: UIResponder, UIApplicationDelegate { 
      func application(_ application: UIApplication, didFinishLaunchingWithOptions launchOptions: [UIApplication.LaunchOptionsKey: Any]?) -> Bool { 
    
        let jwtProvider = JWTProvider(token: "a_valid_token”) 
        let permissionDelegate = PermissionProvider()  
        let logLevel: NowLogLevel = .debug 
    
        let config = NowSDKConfiguration(authorizationProvider: jwtProvider, permissionDelegate: permissionProvider, logLevel: logLevel)  
    
        do { 
          try NowSDK.configure(with: config) 
        } catch { 
          // Handle 'error' 
        }
    
        return true 
    
    }

    Guest users

    If the current user is not authenticated, it is possible to for them to access SDK functionality as a guest. To indicate that the current user is a guest, the requestAuthorization function in the authorization provider should complete with a guest type of AuthorizationToken, as shown below. The token value in this case is not important so long as the AuthorizationTokenType is set to .guest. For additional information on guest users, see Configure guest user access.

    //  GuestTokenProvider.swift 
    import Foundation 
    import NowSDK 
    class GuestTokenProvider: NowSDKAuthorizationProviding { 
        func requestAuthorization(for instanceUrl: URL,  
            completion: @escaping ([AuthorizationToken]?) -> Void) { 
            completion([AuthorizationToken(type: .guest, token: "")]) 
        } 
    } 

    Logging users out of the SDK

    After a user is logged out of a host application, you should call the NowSDK.logout() method to clear that user's ServiceNow sessions and tokens from the SDK. For example:

    func onLogout() {
      NowSDK.logout()
    }