GCMMessenger and GCM Subscriber Deprecation

Problem

As of April 10th, 2018, Google has deprecated the use of Google Cloud Messaging, and since May 29th, 2019, access to this service via APIs is no longer available. This affects the GCMMessenger transformer in FME Desktop and the GCM Subscriber in FME Server.

Symptom

Any use of the GCMMessenger transformer or the GCM Subscriber within workflows will no longer work as of May 29th, 2019; this will result in translations and server jobs failing.

Solution

The Google equivalent to Google Cloud Messaging is Google Firebase Cloud Messaging, which has a different API. Currently, there is no direct workaround to update to Google Firebase Cloud Messaging inside of FME. All workflows will need to be migrated to another cloud-based messaging service such as Amazon SNS, which can then push to the Google Firebase Cloud Messaging service. For information on connecting to Google Firebase Cloud Messaging via Amazon SNS, please see Amazon’s documentation.

Workflows within FME Workbench will need to be updated if any workspaces contain a GCMMessenger transformer. The GCMMessenger transformer will need to be removed and a new SNSSender transformer will need to be added. The SNSSender transformer connects to the Amazon SNS, which can then point to the Firebase API.

In FME Server 2018 or older, or a newer FME Server using subscriptions, the subscription protocol will need to be changed from Google Cloud Messaging to Amazon SNS. This can be done easily by going into the Subscription page, finding the subscription(s) using Google Cloud Messaging, changing the protocol and then updating the parameters.

In FME Server 2019 or newer using Automations, within the workflow(s) using the External Action “Send a GCM Message”, this will need to be changed to “Notify an Amazon SNS Topic”.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this change, please contact Safe Support.