[Bug]: Shiny.Push.FirebaseMessaging doesn't work on iOS (Requires updated binding)

[ewerspej]

Component/Nuget

Push - Native (Shiny.Push)

What operating system(s) are effected?

• iOS (13+ supported)
• Mac Catalyst
• Android (10+ supported)

Version(s) of Operation Systems

iOS 18.1.1 and higher

Hosting Model

• MAUI
• Native/Classic Xamarin
• Manual

Steps To Reproduce

1. Use sample project (https://github.com/ewerspej/shinypushbug)
2. Configure values for Firebase in appsettings.json
3. Use provisioning profile with push notifications enabled
4. Deploy app to iOS device (e.g. iPhone) running iOS 18.1.1 or higher
5. Register for push token
6. Hit UnRegister button
7. The call to pushManager.UnRegister(); will throw

Expected Behavior

No exception, device successfully unregistered

Actual Behavior

A NullReferenceException is thrown inside the PushManager when UnRegister() is called

This happens with versions 3.3.3 as well as 3.3.4

Exception or Log output

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at Shiny.Push.FirebasePushProvider.UnRegister()
at Shiny.Push.PushManager.UnRegister()
at PushTesting.MainViewModel.<>c__DisplayClass0_0.<<-ctor>b__6>d.MoveNext() in Q:\repos\pushtester\PushEndToEnd\MainViewModel.cs:line 59

Reproducible Code Sample (should be Small, Shiny specific, Compile & Run)

https://github.com/ewerspej/shinypushbug

Code of Conduct

• I have supplied a reproducible sample that is small, shows the specific issue, compiles, runs, and is NOT FROM THE SHINY SAMPLES!
• I am using the LATEST STABLE version from nuget (v3.3.4)
• I am Sponsor OR My GitHub account is 30+ days old
• I acknowledge that this is not technical support and that the maintainer(s) are not here as teachers or to diagnose logs
• I understand that this is not a paid product, it is FREE code that I am using, and that documentation may not be perfect.
• I acknowledge that any form of swearing or general abuse towards the maintainer(s) will result in my immediate ban.

[aritchie]

Firebase on iOS doesn't have the updated binding at this time.

[aritchie]

Also - please be respectful of the terms. I don't take issue reports for samples on here because they fall out of date for various reasons

[ewerspej]

@aritchie Thanks for the quick reply.

Firebase on iOS doesn't have the updated binding at this time.

So it's a Firebase issue and not related to the Shiny.Push library? Or what would be required to fix that?

Also - please be respectful of the terms. I don't take issue reports for samples on here because they fall out of date for various reasons

Totally understandable and I do respect the terms. However, I think the pushtester sample repo is a valid example for the problem I described. Whether I create a new sample or not wouldn't make a difference in this particular case, I suppose. I tried with both 3.3.3 and 3.3.4.

[aritchie]

So it's a Firebase issue and not related to the Shiny.Push library? Or what would be required to fix that?

Shiny needs to use a new firebase iOS binding. I've started one in v4, but I'm not working on completion yet due to other projects and I don't require firebase for iOS myself

However, I think the pushtester sample repo is a valid example for the problem I described

The terms are clear. You can't pick and choose how you feel they apply. So please... no more of this in the future. It gives the notion to other users that they can start doing this and the simple fact, I have too many things to keep up to date. If you can't post your own sample, than you're basically just saying "you need to fix this".

[ewerspej]

@aritchie I've created a sample repository for the reproduction of the issue (https://github.com/ewerspej/shinypushbug)

BTW: Registering and receiving notifications works. Only unregistering is where it fails.

[aritchie]

Thank you for the repro. I'm not sure how it could be working since Google deprecated the native api which the binding is against months ago and said it wouldn't work. The only thing that can be null in this code is the messaging instance from the binding anyhow, so it has issues in any case.

[dartasen]

We do maintain those bindings at https://github.com/AdamEssenmacher/GoogleApisForiOSComponents if you're ever interested looking at. Or I can open a PR anytime.

[ewerspej]

We do maintain those bindings at https://github.com/AdamEssenmacher/GoogleApisForiOSComponents

We chose Shiny for our project to avoid using those components due to the long path issues with Visual Studio on Windows (building with CLI is possible, deploying and debugging on iOS fails). Despite all the tricks and workarounds for the long path issues, only Shiny seems to work for us (we still need to ensure short base paths for nugets and repo, but at least Visual Studio can build, deploy and debug via the Mac Build Agent).

[aritchie]

@ewerspej Shiny doesn't solve the long path issues. That's due to native bindings and the tooling. The fact that you haven't encountered it is generally just luck due to the naming of the native binding.

[ewerspej]

The fact that you haven't encountered it is generally just luck due to the naming of the native binding.

I am aware of that and we have paths just short enough for it to work. It seems that Shiny's bindings are simply shorter.

Obviously, this issue actually needs to be fixed at its root in Visual Studio; that's been an ongoing topic since 2018 or so, but nothing's been done to really solve it so far. Apparently, it affects a lot of tools in the toolchain. Either way, only Shiny works for us at the moment.

Building via CLI is possible and even other IDEs work when it comes to building solutions with dotnet build. However, unfortunately, only Visual Studio is currently capable of deploying and debugging on iOS devices via the Mac Build Agent and Hot Restart is out of the question, because it lacks support for static libraries.

Hence, we are stuck with Visual Studio on Windows and as long as that is the case, we rely on libraries like Shiny where the long path issues don't occur - even if it's out of pure luck. I'm not happy about it, either.