Parent vs. Individual Push Notification Types

Push notification types are configured as either a parent or individual notification type. An individual notification type references a parent notification type; a parent cannot reference another parent. Customers define communication preferences for parent push notification types. Notifications are sent out for individual push notification types. The preferences defined for parent push notification types are applied to the associated individual push notification types.

This means that customers do not have to supply their preferences for every individual notification that your implementation may send. Storing customer preferences for a parent notification type permits those preferences to be inherited for individual notification types added later in time under the same parent. The parent push notification types can be thought of as categories of notifications for which your customers define contact preferences and opt-out preferences.

When system processes or your custom processes attempt to send out a push notification, it should be for an individual notification type. The system will retrieve the parent notification type from the individual notification type when checking for communication preferences.

One function available to push-based notifications as described in Push vs. Subscription Notification Types is the ability to determine a default contact in the absence of a contact preference or opt-out preference. If your implementation wants to take advantage of this function, but would like the customer to supply preferences for receiving an individual notification, a parent push notification type can be set up with only one individual push notification type.