Winning the Battle Against User Disengagement with Django Push Notifications

In the fast-paced world of mobile apps, keeping users engaged is a challenge. Today, we explore how Django can help developers combat user disengagement by setting up push notifications to keep users informed and connected.

Setting Up Push Notifications in Django

Push notifications are like a friendly reminder, bringing users back to your app with updates or alerts. Django can handle this effectively with a few essential steps.

Step 1: Build a Notification Model

To get started, Django needs a notification model. This model will store all the notifications your app sends to users.

from django.db import models
from django.utils.translation import gettext_lazy as _

class Notification(models.Model):
    title = models.CharField(max_length=255, verbose_name=_('Notification title'))
    body = models.TextField(verbose_name=_('Notification body'))
    image = models.ImageField(upload_to='notifications/', null=True, blank=True)
    created_date = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)  # Add this field

    def __str__(self):
        return self.title

    class Meta:
        ordering = ("-created_date",)  # Now created_date exists
        verbose_name = _('Notification')

Step 2: Creating a Send Notification Function

Next, we’ll add a function to send these notifications. This is where we write the logic that sends the message when needed, ensuring users get real-time updates.

#notifcations.py

import os
from google.oauth2 import service_account
from google.auth.transport.requests import Request
import requests

def refresh_access_token(service_account_file):
    credentials = service_account.Credentials.from_service_account_file(
        service_account_file,
        scopes=["https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform"],
    )
    credentials.refresh(Request())
    access_token = credentials.token
    return access_token

Step 3: Setting Up Signals

Django can use signals to trigger notifications based on user actions, like a new message or a completed task.

from django.db.models.signals import post_save
from django.dispatch import receiver
import requests

# Import the Notification model and the refresh_access_token function
from my_app.models import Notification  # Change 'my_app' to your actual app name
from my_app.notifications import refresh_access_token  # Update the path if necessary
@receiver(post_save, sender=Notification)
def send_notification_on_creation(instance, created, **kwargs):
    if created:
        service_account_file = '/home/rv/Documents/rv/push_notification/core/my_app/test-project.json'
        tkn = refresh_access_token(service_account_file)
        print('tkn',tkn)
        endpoint = "https://fcm.googleapis.com/v1/projects/test-project-595ae/messages:send"
        access_token = tkn
        headers = {
            "Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token}",
            "Content-Type": "application/json",
        }

        data = {
            "message": {
                "token":"dnTB_cv9TZ25jsOkkQSS0x:APA91bEghK69zhqpTi2B5hPFtX0mpLSzdSQswrGEKl60PrUQDgy9RTIc_f9pjfxoyuUU-w8xjwk0WO1KtvbwF3bYFlQ21HWv-JueS-Fu7azhUsjgULDN41TTTiqONsqLsbIqS9_xKsUv",
                "notification": {
                    "title": instance.title,
                    "body": instance.body,
                }
            }
        }

        response = requests.post(endpoint, json=data, headers=headers)

        if response.status_code == 200:
            print("Push notification successfully sent!")
        else:
            print(f"Failed to send push notification. Status code: {response.status_code}")
            print(response.text)

Step 4: Register in the Admin

Finally, by registering the notification model in the Django admin panel, we can manage notifications easily, keeping everything organized and ready.

from django.contrib import admin

from .models import *

admin.site.register(Notification)

Integrating Firebase for Frontend Notifications
To make sure notifications reach users’ devices, Django partners with Firebase.