Accessing REST Web Services and Backend as a Service (BaaS) from a native mobile app on Android and iOS using C++ or Object Pascal.

1. Lesson 6:
Accessing
REST
and
Backend
as
a
Service
(BaaS)
Cloud
Services
Jim
McKeeth
Lead
Developer
Evangelist
–
Embarcadero
jim.mckeeth@embarcadero.com
http://delphi.org/

2. Mobile
App
Development
▪ Lesson
1
–
Hello
World!
My
First
Multi-­‐Device
App
▪ Lesson
2
–
Turning
up
the
Style
and
Data!
▪ Lesson
3
–
Accessing
Local
Storage
and
Databases
▪ Lesson
4
–
Building
Multi-­‐tier,
Multi-­‐device
Apps
using
DataSnap
REST/JSON
▪ Lesson
5
–
Connecting
Mobile
and
Desktop
using
App
Tethering
▪ Lesson
6
–
Accessing
REST
and
BaaS
Cloud
Services
Replay
links
and
lesson
slides
will
appear
on
David’s
blog
http://blogs.embarcadero.com/davidi/

3. Lesson
6
Agenda
▪ REST
Client
Library
▪ REST
Debugger
▪ Backend
as
a
Service
(BaaS)
▪ Samples
and
Snippets
▪ Continue
development
of
the
mobile
business
app
▪ Review,
Homework
and
Next
Time
▪ Q&A

4. REST
Client
Library
▪ Framework
for
accessing
REST-­‐based
web
services
▪ The
framework
focuses
on
JSON
as
the
representation
format.
XML
is
not
explicitly
supported.
▪ The
framework
includes
components
and
is
built
around
3
main
components:
– The
client
-­‐
TRESTClient
– The
request
-­‐
TRESTRequest
– The
response
–
TRESTResponse
▪ Most
REST
services
require
authentication.
Components
are
provided
for
– Simple
authentication
–
TSimpleAuthenticator
– HTTP
basic
authentication
–
THTTPBasicAuthenticator
– OAuth1
and
OAuth2
authentication
–
TOAuth1Authenticator
and
TOAuth2Authenticator

5. REST
Client
Library
Components
▪ TRESTClient
-­‐
manages
the
HTTP
connection
to
the
service,
deals
with
HTTP
headers
and
proxy
servers,
and
receives
the
response
data.
▪ TRESTRequest
-­‐
holds
all
parameters
and
settings
that
form
the
actual
HTTP
request
to
a
Web
service.
When
connected
to
a
client-­‐component,
it
can
be
executed
(even
at
design
time).
▪ TRESTResponse
-­‐
holds
all
the
returned
data
from
a
Web
service.
The
returned
data
includes
the
HTTP
status
code,
error
messages
(if
any
exist),
and
the
returned
JSON
data.
▪ TRESTResponseDataSetAdapter
–
takes
the
returned
JSON
data
and
converts
it
to
a
form
a
DataSet
can
use
–
for
example
TDataSet
and
TFDMemTable.
▪ Authenticator(s)
-­‐
most
services
require
an
authentication
before
they
can
be
used.
The
authenticator
components
are
used
to
apply
the
specific
authentication
methods
that
are
required
by
the
REST
service.
An
authenticator
is
attached
to
the
client
and
is
automatically
executed
on
each
executed
request.
You
can
create
custom
authenticators
using
the
TCustomAuthenticator
class.

6. REST
Debugger
▪ Included
on
the
Tools
Menu
▪ Use
it
to
making
queries
to
test
and
debug
REST
queries
before
applying
them
to
your
own
REST
applications.
▪ The
interface
has
four
pages
that
contain
the
main
request
information,
the
resource
and
the
parameters
request,
the
authentication
methods,
and
the
option
to
use
proxy
to
connect
to
the
server.

7. Cloud
Service
(BaaS)
Integration
▪ Use
push
notifications
to
engage
your
users
▪ Access
data
and
object
storage
in
the
cloud
▪ Provide
user
authentication
▪ Supports
popular
BaaS
providers
with
a
common
API
component
set
– Parse
– Kinvey
– Additional
providers
to
appear
in
the
future
▪ App42
has
a
provider
now
https://github.com/shephertz/App42-­‐AppMethod-­‐API

8. BaaS
=
Backend
as
a
Service
▪ Most
mobile
apps
need
server
storage
for
data,
images,
files,
etc
– Build
yourself
(with
DataSnap)
– Buy
a
scalable
cloud
solution
(with
Cloud
or
BaaS
services)
▪ BaaS
=
cloud
solution
with
mobile
users
management
– Services
also
provide
analytics,
push
notifications
(cross
platform
and
more)
▪ REST
BAAS
framework
offers
you
a
variety
of
actions:
– Create,
retrieve,
update
and
delete
objects
– Sign
up,
login,
retrieve,
update
and
delete
users
– Upload,
download
and
delete
files
or
streams
– Query
objects
and
users
– Send
push
notifications
– Register
for
and
receive
push
notifications
on
a
device

9. Backend-­‐as-­‐a-­‐Service
Client
Components
▪ Based
on
REST
Client
architecture
that
was
introduced
in
XE5
▪ BaaS
clients
for
Kinvey
and
Parse
– Native
providers
to
use
services
directly
– Providers
integration
with
framework
for
common
services
– Framework
works
with
these
providers,
open
for
future
extensions
▪ Providers
to
connect
to
Parse
and
Kinvey
service
– TParseProvider
– TKinveyProvider
– TCustomProvider
–
to
implement
your
own
integration
▪ Push
Notifications
– TPushEvents
–
to
register
your
device/app
to
receive
notifications
– TBackendPush
–
allows
an
app
(desktop
or
mobile)
to
push
a
notification
to
the
provider
service
that
passes
it
along
to
registered
devices
▪ Storage
– TBackendStorage
– TBackendQuery
– TBackendFiles
▪ User
Management
– TBackendUsers

10. Backend-­‐as-­‐a-­‐Service
Model
▪ Supports
abstract
features,
provider
independent
– Create,
retrieve,
update
and
delete
(JSON)
objects
– Signup,
login,
retrieve,
update
and
delete
users
– Upload,
download
and
delete
files
or
streams
– Query
objects
and
users
– Send
push
notifications
– Register
for
and
receive
push
notifications
on
a
device

11. Push
Notifications
Scenarios
▪ Send
reminders
to
mobile
apps
even
when
not
active
– App
to
app
notifications
(via
push
server)
– Server
to
app
notifications
(triggered
by
server
events)
– Client
notifications
(for
example
VCL)
to
companion
app
è

12. REST
and
BaaS
Samples
▪ REST
and
BaaS
mobile
samples
– REST
–
SurfSpotFinder
– BaaS
ToDo
List
– C++
▪ C:UsersPublicDocumentsEmbarcaderoStudio14.0SamplesCPPMobile
Samples
Cloud
▪ http://sourceforge.net/p/appmethod/code/HEAD/tree/branches/Appmethod_114W/
CPP/Mobile%20Samples/Cloud/
– Object
Pascal
▪ C:UsersPublicDocumentsEmbarcaderoStudio14.0SamplesObject
PascalMobile
SamplesCloud
▪ http://sourceforge.net/p/appmethod/code/HEAD/tree/branches/Appmethod_114W/
Object%20Pascal/Mobile%20Samples/Cloud/
▪ Always
be
sure
to
update
your
local
samples
from
Sourceforge!

13. REST
and
BaaS
Demos

14. Next
Steps
for
our
Business
Mobile
App
▪ Use
the
REST
Client
Library
components
to
use
a
REST
service
(parts
lookup)
for
the
Parts
table
▪ Use
BaaS
to
push
notifications
to
the
Marine
Adventures
mobile
app
to
tell
employees
that
an
order
has
shipped,
part
is
backordered
and
inventory
is
getting
low.

15. Lesson
6
Review
▪ Quickly
use
REST
Services
using
REST/JSON
and
the
REST
client
library
components
▪ Extend
your
mobile
and
desktop
applications
into
the
Cloud
using
Backend
as
a
Service

16. Resources
(1
of
4)
▪ REST
Client
Library
-­‐
Docwiki
– http://docwiki.appmethod.com/appmethod/1.14/topics/en/REST_Client_Library
– http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/XE6/en/REST_Debugger
– http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/XE6/en/Using_the_REST_Debugger
– http://docwiki.appmethod.com/appmethod/1.14/codeexamples/en/RESTDemo_Sample
▪ Tutorial
– http://docwiki.appmethod.com/appmethod/1.14/topics/en/
Tutorial:_Using_the_REST_Client_Library_to_Access_REST-­‐based_Web_Services
Note:
http://docwiki.appmethod.com/appmethod/1.14/topics/en/...
=
http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/XE6/en/...

17. Resources
(2
of
4)
▪ BaaS
–
DocWiki
– http://docwiki.appmethod.com/appmethod/1.14/libraries/en/REST.Backend
– http://docwiki.appmethod.com/appmethod/1.14/libraries/en/
REST.Backend.ServiceComponents
– http://docwiki.appmethod.com/appmethod/1.14/topics/en/Creating_the_Application
▪ Tutorials
– http://docwiki.appmethod.com/appmethod/1.14/topics/en/
Mobile_Tutorial:_Using_Remote_Notifications_(iOS_and_Android)
Note:
http://docwiki.appmethod.com/appmethod/1.14/topics/en/...
=
http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/XE6/en/...

18. Resources
(3
of
4)
▪ Videos
on
Demand
– David
I
“BaaS
webinar”
replay
▪ http://www.embarcadero.com/landing-­‐pages/rad-­‐in-­‐action-­‐baas
– Sarina
Dupont
“Managing
User
Accounts
and
Storage
with
BaaS”
skill
sprint
replay
▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct13YWSRP04
– David
I
“BackendPush
skill
sprint”
replay
▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2_KA3LEWYw
– Jim
McKeeth
“Integrate
Cloud
Services
with
the
REST/JSON
Client
skill
sprint”
replay
▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sp-­‐EDTKy2BU
– Stephen
Ball
on
Object
Persistence
▪ http://blogs.embarcadero.com/stephenball/2014/04/23/remote-­‐object-­‐persistence-­‐with-­‐parse-­‐and-­‐kinvey/
▪ http://blogs.embarcadero.com/stephenball/2014/06/05/apptethering-­‐leaderboard-­‐passing-­‐objects-­‐remotely-­‐
and-­‐using-­‐resources/

19. Resources
(4
of
4)
▪ Sites
– Oauth
Community
Site
-­‐
http://oauth.net/
– Parse.com
-­‐
https://parse.com/
– Kinvey.com
-­‐
http://www.kinvey.com/
▪ Blogs
– http://blogs.embarcadero.com/
– David
I
blog
–
“Finding
your
Tethered
Apps”
▪ http://blogs.embarcadero.com/davidi/2014/04/28/43708
– Sarina
Dupont
blog
–
Series
of
10
BaaS
tutorials
▪ http://blogs.embarcadero.com/sarinadupont/2014/06/09/baas-­‐tutorials-­‐to-­‐help-­‐you-­‐get-­‐started-­‐quickly/
▪ Or
http://embt.co/baastutorials
– Stephen
Ball
on
Object
Persistence
▪ http://blogs.embarcadero.com/stephenball/2014/04/23/remote-­‐object-­‐persistence-­‐with-­‐parse-­‐and-­‐kinvey/
▪ http://blogs.embarcadero.com/stephenball/2014/06/05/apptethering-­‐leaderboard-­‐passing-­‐objects-­‐remotely-­‐
and-­‐using-­‐resources/

20. Homework
&
More
to
Explore
▪ Read
the
DocWiki
articles
and
blog
posts
for
REST
Client
Library
and
BaaS
▪ Watch
the
videos
▪ Go
through
the
Mobile
Snippets
and
Samples
for
additional
demos
▪ Try
some
of
the
Mobile
Tutorials
– Download
the
PDF
ebook
at
http://docs.embarcadero.com/products/rad_studio/radstudioXE6/
Mobile_Tutorials_en.pdf
– The
individual
mobile
tutorials
are
listed
at
http://docwiki.appmethod.com/appmethod/1.14/topics/en/
Mobile_Tutorials:_Mobile_Application_Development_(iOS_and_Android)
▪ Enhance
the
Marine
Adventure
mobile
app
Note:
http://docwiki.appmethod.com/appmethod/1.14/topics/en/...
=
http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/XE6/en/...

21. Q&A

22. Thank
You
J
jim.mckeeth@embarcadero.com
http://delphi.org/