Choose Backend for Mobile Swipe2012

studiomagnolia.comCesare Rocchi

Choosing a backend for your mobile application

_funkyboy

Tuesday, September 11, 12

SWIPE CONFERENCE 2012

Outline•Needs when choosing a backend

• Features

•Overview of different approaches



Who am I?



UX designer and developer



mnml



< is >



execution matters



lean approach



Who are you?



Quick version



It’s complicated



Thank you!



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App Target•Not apps where mobile is “just a view”

•Apps which are inherently mobile

•Personal usage

•Backup or synchronization



Examples



dayoneapp.com



culturedcode.com/things



iawriter.com



Questions



Have I to manage it?



Have I to manage it?•At which level?

•Am I able to do it?

•Have I time to learn?

• Is it worth it?



What’s the synch model?



What’s the synch model?•Does it match my goals?

•Can I change it if needed?

•What about protocols?



Have I to pay?



Have I to pay?



Who is to pay?



Impact on UX?



Impact on UX?•Does it break any flow?

•How frequently?

• is it “ok” with that?



Security?



Security?•How data are transferred?

• Is encryption implemented?



Options• iCloud

•Dropbox

•Parse & co.

•Custom



What is iCloud?



6028 Startown Rd, Maiden, NC



Stores and synchs stuff



It just works ...



... when it works.







seamlessness can be a limit



Questions•Have I to manage it?

•What’s the synch model?

•Who’s to pay?

• Impact on UX?

• Security?



Have I to manage it?• Learn the API

•Apple takes care of

• installation

• scalability

• security



What’s the synch model?



Daemon•Monitors changes

•Works on metadata

• Shreds files

• Supports conflict resolution



Special folder, synched



Synched when “appropriate”



Appropriate•Which OS?

•Which connection?

•Battery status?



Types of Information•Key-value

•Documents

•CoreData



Who’s to pay?•The final user

•Your app will use his quota

•5Gb for free



Impact on UX?



Impact on UX?•User expectation

•No control on upload

• “Why isn’t there?”

•Open the app to synch

•User turns off iCloud?



Security

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4865?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US





Security•Using the same API

•Mostly safe

•But ...



Security•Using the same API

•Mostly safe

•But ...



Notes•> iOS5 “Documents” folder is backed up

•You can prevent files from being backed up

•App might be rejected

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#qa/qa1719/_index.html


https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#

https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#


Dropbox



Dropbox• File-based

• Special folder

• Synchronized across devices

• Supports other platforms



Have I to manage it?•Already set up

• installation

•bandwidth

• scalability



What’s the synch model?•Desktop synchronizes continuously

•Mobile apps have to query the backend

•HTTP API

• SDKs for iOS, Android, Ruby, Python



What’s the synch model?•No conflict resolution (revision #)

•Data serialization is up to you

•No file shredding



Who’s to pay?•The final user

•Your app will use his disk quota

•2 Gb for free



Impact on UX?•Authentication the first time

•User might modify files

•Control on the upload



Security

https://www.dropbox.com/help/27/en





Security•Https required

•3rd party apps are “sandboxed”

•Apps are reviewed



Similar•box.net

• sugarsync.com

•google drive

• amazon S3



Parse



Parse•Backend for mobile apps

• Files, key-value

•API for iOS, Android, Javascript and REST

•Push notifications



Parse•User management

• account creation/verification

• Login with Twitter/Facebook

•ACL



Have I to manage it?• Just learn the API

•Parse takes care of

• Installation

•Bandwidth

• Scalability



What’s the synch model?•ORM approach on steroids

•No need to serialize/deserialize



steroids?



PFObject *note = [PFObject objectWithClassName:@"Note"];

[note setObject:@"Ciao" forKey:@"title"];

[note setObject:@"Note on Parse" forKey:@"content"];

[note save];

//[note saveInBackground];//[note saveInBackgroundWithBlock:^( ){ }];//[note saveEventually]; <- steroids



PFObject *note = [PFObject objectWithClassName:@"Note"];

[note setObject:@"Ciao" forKey:@"title"];

[note setObject:@"Note on parse" forKey:@"content"];

PFObject *myTag = [PFObject objectWithClassName:@"Tag"];

[myTag setObject:@"important" forKey:@"tagName"];

// Add a relation[note setObject:myTag forKey:@"tag"];

// Saves both[note saveInBackground];



Who’s to pay?•You

•Pay as you use

• Limit of calls/mo



Who’s to pay?•You

•Pay as you use

• Limit of calls/mo



Security•Uses SSL to transmit

•ACL is up to you

•DBs are snapshotted every 30min

•You own data



Similar services• cloudmine.me

• stackmob.com

•kinvey.com

•buddy.com



Custom





IaaS PaaS SaaS



•Data

•Application

•Runtime

•Middleware

•OS

•Data

•Application

IaaS PaaS SaaS



•Data

•Application

IaaS PaaS SaaS•Data

•Application

•Runtime

•Middleware

•OS



•Data

•Application

IaaS PaaS•Data

•Application

•Runtime

•Middleware

•OS



•Data

•Application

PaaS



PaaS Questions•Which language?

•Which DB?



Heroku



Languages•Ruby

•Python

• Java

• Scala

•Closure

•Node.js



DBs•Postgres

•MySQL (via addon)

•MongoDB (via addon)



Dyno• Essentially a process

•Web

•Worker

•# of dynos + db profile + addons = backend cost



•OS

•Middleware

•Runtime

•Data

•Application

•Data

•Application

IaaS PaaS



•OS

•Middleware

•Runtime

•Data

•Application

IaaS



Questions•Which OS?

•Which language?

•Which DB?

•How many machines?



Amazon Web Services



Amazon Web Services•CDN

• Storage

•Networking

•DBs

• Services: email, queue managers



Good old way•Buy a server

•pick the hardware

• install OS

• rent space/bandwidth in a farm



Server side frameworks



Ruby•http://rubyonrails.org

•http://www.sinatrarb.com

•http://www.padrinorb.com


http://rubyonrails.org

http://rubyonrails.org

http://www.sinatrarb.com

http://www.sinatrarb.com

http://www.padrinorb.com

http://www.padrinorb.com


Python•https://www.djangoproject.com

•http://www.pylonsproject.org

•http://flask.pocoo.org


https://www.djangoproject.com

https://www.djangoproject.com

http://www.pylonsproject.org

http://www.pylonsproject.org

http://flask.pocoo.org

http://flask.pocoo.org


Node.js•http://expressjs.com

•http://geddyjs.org

•http://flatironjs.org

•http://railwayjs.com

•http://towerjs.org


http://expressjs.com

http://expressjs.com

http://geddyjs.org

http://geddyjs.org

http://flatironjs.org

http://flatironjs.org

http://railwayjs.com

http://railwayjs.com

http://towerjs.org

http://towerjs.org


ORM•ActiveRecord

•DataMapper

• Sequel

• SQLAlchemy



Client side frameworks



Networking•AFNetworking

•MKNetworkKit

•RestKit

•DataKit



To have a cake ...



Use a box mix•Choose between flavors

•Add basic ingredients

•Bake



Do it from scratch•Choose all the elements

•Preparation

•Bake



In conclusion ...



“You can’t always get what you wantbut if you try sometime, you just might find ...”



Rolling Stones

“You can’t always get what you wantbut if you try sometime, you just might find ...”



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