Upgrading a mobile application in MobileFirst Server and the Application Center

You can easily upgrade deployed mobile applications by using a combination of MobileFirst Operations Console and the Application Center.

Before you begin

The mobile client of the Application Center must be installed on the mobile device. The HelloWorld application must be installed on the mobile device and must connect to MobileFirst Server when the application is running.

About this task

You can use this procedure to update Android, iOS, and Windows Phone applications that have been deployed on MobileFirst Server and also in the Application Center. In this task, the application HelloWorld version 1.0 is already deployed on MobileFirst Server and in the Application Center.

Procedure

HelloWorld version 2.0 is released and you would like users of version 1.0 to upgrade to the later version. To deploy the new version of the application:

Deploy HelloWorld 2.0 in the Application Center. See Adding a mobile application.
From the Application Details page, copy the setting of the external URL.
Figure 1. Copying the external URL from Application Details
When the external URL is copied to the clipboard, open the MobileFirst Operations Console.
Change the access rule of HelloWorld version 1.0 to "Access Disabled".
Paste the external URL into the URL field.

Running the client: When a mobile device connects to MobileFirst Server to try to run HelloWorld version 1.0, the device user is requested to upgrade the version of the application.

Figure 2. Remotely disabling an old version of an application

Pop-up to upgrade the version of an application installed on a mobile device.

Click Upgrade to open the Application Center client. When the login details are correctly completed, you access the Details page of HelloWorld version 2.0 directly.
Figure 3. Details of HelloWorld 2.0 in the Application Center client