Functionalities
Last updated onSep 15, 2023
Last updated onSep 20, 2021
Mobile applications have evolved in every possible way, making it vital for developers to drastically improve backend capabilities. But then, the backend of an application is a lot more than scalable storage. In the modern app development realm, it involves flexible integrations, high performance, and a lot more.
However, for apps built on dedicated SaaS platforms, the importance of having a real-time database often rivals other aspects. Plus, developers and startup owners must spare a thought for customers who are only on the lookout for the most responsive experience. But, how can an application manage performance, logic, and user-responsiveness, all at once? Well, it can as long as it has the cloud-hosted, Firebase databases connected to it.
What’s in it for the Developers?
Well, everything! But first an analogy! Imagine you are working on a daily meal planning application, where users will be able to fetch nutritional value of certain food items from the cloud, or rather when the app is functional when the mobile is connected to the internet. Seems fine till now!
What happens when the internet connection snaps! Even though every food item and its nutritional composition cannot be procured, a good app is the one where you can go about feeding in the daily schedule, without experiencing snags.
This is what Firebase looks to achieve, allowing developers to build collaborative applications, where secure access to the real-time database can be initiated directly from client-ended code, synonymous with frameworks like Kotlin and Flutter.
More about the Firebase Integration
Before we can talk about the diverse benefits of the Firebase database, it is important to understand how the associated components and parameters work in harmony. Plus, Firebase itself is a massive realm, with database iterations to choose from, namely Real-time Database and Cloud Firestore.
At present, we shall only focus on the latter, courtesy of its solitary database instance, ability to fire offline queries frequently, 99.999% uptime, collection-based data models, support for scalability, and its ability to manage transactions, sorting, and advanced querying.
Sounds promising, right! Well, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Cloud Firestore, as the reinvented Firebase database comes with several targeted benefits for the developers and certainly the app users:
» Organized Data Model
Cloud Firestore supports document storage and also has a thing for sub-collections. Plus, this database doesn’t require you to flatten and denormalize data, excessively to speed up processes.
» Real-Time Support
Firebase does a pretty good job in handling offline queries and supporting local data for apps that need to function without internet connectivity. Cloud Firestore, extends offline support to Android and iOS clients, making cross-platform app development, even more rewarding.
» Advanced Querying
While Cloud Firestore lets you fire instant queries from the client-side to fetch usable data, it is one more feather in Firebase’s cap. Despite the shallow query returns where sub-collections are omitted, Cloud Firestore manages to sort and even filter data while returning results. Plus, data from the UI can be stored in the Cloud Firestore, and every error or successful retrieval prompts specific actions.
» Advanced Writes & Transactions
Cloud Firestore lets you in on numeric operators and arrays, whilst allowing the app to read & write data regardless of where on the database it is stored.
» Automatic Scalability
If your app requires the best possible uptime, Cloud Firestore with its ability to scale automatically and concurrently lets you take care of the same.
How does DhiWise integrate Cloud Firestore with Select App Development Frameworks?
At present, DhiWise extends Firebase support for Kotlin, making the final apps way more responsive than on any other NoSQL database. Our focus, however, is on UI binding where multiple elements like Dialog Boxes, sliders, text fields, and more are connected to the Cloud Firestore, for updating the entire app view in real-time.
Plus, with Firebase integration in play, our ProCode platform will now be able to fire queries, return results, and even set actions for operational success and errors. This approach will have the following benefits for the developers and startup owners:
Faster TTM
Significant reduction in the development effort
Real-time scalability as the app UI can directly interact with the backend
Ability to handle multiple app operations at once
If you have already been using Kotlin as your go-to app development framework, give our Firebase-powered ProCode platform a try, to reduce months’ worth of effort to weeks.
Reach us out, today.
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