Guide: Remote Databases

Introduction to Firebase, Backendless, Back4App and Postman for the "JavaScript Applications" course@SoftUni.

1. Postman
Postman is an application for testing APIs, by sending request to the web server and getting the response
back. It allows users to set up all the headers and cookies the API expects, and checks the response. You
can download it from here.

2. Firebase
Firebase is a mobile and web development platform. It provides a realtime database and backend as a
service. The service provides developers an API that allows application data to be synchronized across
clients and stored on Firebase's cloud. The data is structured as a JSON tree.

Registration
Register at https://console.firebase.google.com. Afterwards, create a new project and start playing
around with it in order to understand how the database works.

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Create a collection
In section Build > Realtime Database > Data.

Permissions
Make sure to enable unauthorized access to your database. Note that this is for educational purposes
only and you should NOT do it in real apps as it is a security hole! After you have done that, access your
data through the REST API.

App Keys
You can find all the App Keys if you click on "Project settings"

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Accessing Firebase REST API with Postman
Open Postman and make a GET request to receive all of the information in your database. In our case that
would be a list of all the available books.

fc138.firebaseio.com/.json
GET

Collections > New Collection. On field "GET" put the link and press button "Send".

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3. Backendless
Backendless is a BaaS provider that makes it easy for developers to set up, use, and operate a cloud back-
end for their apps. It holds users (API for creating an account) and data collections (API for CRUD
operations).

Register
The first thing to do is create an account in Backendless, followed by creating an app.

Create a User
In order to create a user, click on "Data" > "Users" choose the user menu. Create new user from the
"New" button:

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After that, you just enter the new email and password.

Create a Data Collection

In order to create a collection, click on "+" right above "APP TABLES" in the menu.

This will open a new window where you enter the collection name.

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Now we have our new collection with no data init.

Create Data Columns

Now it is time to create some data columns for our collection. Click on the "SCHEMA".

We will make the example with columns title and body. Clicking the "+" button, it will open a form for us:

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We fill the form like it shown into the example. With the button "CREATE" we create the column that
appear like:

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In the DATA BROWSER looks like new columns:

Create Data Rows

Here with click on "New" button, it will add new element to the collection with the defaulted value, which
we can change with entering the new value into the opened input.

For the example, we enter "Title1" here and then with click on the input ownerId here:

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It will load a window where we can choose a user that will be relate like an owner of the current element
of the collection. We mark the user ant then click "ADD RELATION":

Now we have finished the new row:

App Keys
The App ID and JS API key of your app are at the main page - Dashboard

Postman and Backendless

One you have registration with Backendless, create a collection. Then open the Postman and read with a get query,
what’s in your collection.

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4. Back4App
Back4App is a low-code backend to build modern apps. It can be used to store and query relational data
on the cloud. Make it accessible over GraphQL and REST with a scalable, open-source backend, based on
the Parse Platform.

Register
The first thing to do is create an account in Back4App, followed by creating an app.

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Create a collection (Class)
In order to create a new collection (Class) you can click on the button "Create a Class" (or "Create your
first class")

This will open a new window, where you need to choose the type of the collection and write its name.

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Now we have our first collection, which is empty at this time.
You can add new columns to this collection, and also new rows.

Let's try to add the columns: name, capital.

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And add some countries to this collection (rows). The first 4 columns are automatically filled; you don't need to fill
them.

Collection permissions
This collection is public by default and can be accessed from everyone who has the App-ID, and API-key.
You can change the permissions for the collections:

On the new opened window you can choose the permissions you need.

App Keys
You can find all the App Keys if you click on App Settings -> Security and Keys (left on your screen).

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Requests (CRUD operations)
 GET all:
Method: GET
Endpoint: https://parseapi.back4app.com/classes/{MyCustomClassName}
Headers: X-Parse-Application-Id: srhQ02mP2P2aWBMJ9sR0UlXwRd9Mh3jVM4MGkDz7
X-Parse-REST-API-Key: uWY3EYOTwg6g29UvGcvINlJkw39nQWkT3NAItxET

 GET one:
Method: GET
Endpoint: https://parseapi.back4app.com/classes/{MyCustomClassName}/{MyCurrentObjectId}
Headers: X-Parse-Application-Id: srhQ02mP2P2aWBMJ9sR0UlXwRd9Mh3jVM4MGkDz7
X-Parse-REST-API-Key: uWY3EYOTwg6g29UvGcvINlJkw39nQWkT3NAItxET
 POST:
Method: POST
Endpoint: https://parseapi.back4app.com/classes/{MyCustomClassName}
Headers: X-Parse-Application-Id: srhQ02mP2P2aWBMJ9sR0UlXwRd9Mh3jVM4MGkDz7
X-Parse-REST-API-Key: uWY3EYOTwg6g29UvGcvINlJkw39nQWkT3NAItxET
Content-Type: application/json
Body: A JSON document with the key-value pairs that represent your object's data.

 PUT:
Method: PUT
Endpoint: https://parseapi.back4app.com/classes/{MyCustomClassName}/{MyCurrentObjectId}
Headers: X-Parse-Application-Id: srhQ02mP2P2aWBMJ9sR0UlXwRd9Mh3jVM4MGkDz7
X-Parse-REST-API-Key: uWY3EYOTwg6g29UvGcvINlJkw39nQWkT3NAItxET
Content-Type: application/json
Body: A JSON document with the key-value pairs that represent the object's new data.

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  DELETE:
Method: DELETE
Endpoint: https://parseapi.back4app.com/classes/{MyCustomClassName}/{MyCurrentObjectId}
Headers: X-Parse-Application-Id: srhQ02mP2P2aWBMJ9sR0UlXwRd9Mh3jVM4MGkDz7
X-Parse-REST-API-Key: uWY3EYOTwg6g29UvGcvINlJkw39nQWkT3NAItxET

Documentation
You can read more in the documentation. You can find it by clicking on API Reference

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