Initialize the NowSDK in your application
Summarize
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.
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Key Features
- Authorization Provider: Implement
NowSDKAuthorizationProvidingusing your JWT provider or guest token provider to supply authorization tokens. - Device Permission Delegate: Implement
DevicePermissionDelegateto manage device permissions requested by the SDK. - Configuration: Create a
NowSDKConfigurationinstance using your authorization provider, permission delegate, and desired log level, then configure the SDK withNowSDK.configure(with:). - Guest User Support: For unauthenticated users, provide a guest authorization token with type
.guestto 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:
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()
}