Best iOS Backend for Simple Push and Get - iphone

Which backend should I use in my app? Basically I want a user to be able to submit a number to the cloud, and have another user be able to receive it.
Is Parse.com the best solution to this?

This article might help you make a choice.
I have seen a couple of projects that initially used parse, but later on switched to helios
. Main reasons being transparency of costs and flexibility.

Related

How can use Github for my developer to work on my backend without having to share to much credentials and code?

I have a Node.js backend running on an EC2 Instance with a Mongo DB.
I need to make some changes to my iOS App along with the Backend. I have already shared the Frontend Source Code with the developer, but I don't want to share the backend (if I don't have to directly..)
I have come across Github but I am totally new to it - also I am not a developer myself.
How can I use it for my purpose? Also, can 2 developers - say iOS developer and android developer then work on the code at the same time, without causing any mess?
What would you suggest me to do?
Appreciate any help! Thank you
Android and iOS developer can work together it will not cause any issue.
Now coming to your question first of all why a frontend developer needs to look at the backend code?..
If it's necessary ask them particularly what they wants to know may be backend code documentation can help or if the guy just need a look at some specific thing you can use some remote softwares like TeamViewer or else you don't have any options he have to look at code you can use last option to ask him sign the NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement)

Real time web page

I want to build simple web based app, where users, for example, could push the spacebar button, and then do something further, like answer a question, and while other users at the same time only sees that this question is not available any more for answer. When user submits answer, everyone see it.
All right, here is an example. I have seen TV shows, where four players have one button, if one or two of them know answer, they hit a button, and one lamp turns on and the first is allowed to answer, while other keeps their mouths shut. I want to build the same idea, but in the web.
But problem is that, I don't know where to start, what keywords I should search for help on google and so on. I see, that it might work on HTML5, maybe JavaScript and so on.
I have idea using Ajax, but request it every second to get latest actions made seems rubbish. Also I found one service called Pusher, but it has limited users in one time, which doesn't fit my needs.
I need just ideas. Thanks.
Before you read the rest, a disclaimer: I work for Realtime.co but I do believe I can help here so I'm not trying to "pitch a sale".
You can check out Realtime (www.realtime.co). It's basically a set of tools for developers to use real time technologies on their projects. It uses websockets but does fallback to whatever the user's browser supports (such as long polling, for example).
Behind Realtime you have a one-to-one/one-to-many/many-to-many messaging system that will transport your messages to and from your users.
There's also a plus which is the fact that the Realtime framework is actually cross-platform. This means that you can even have your web users communicate with iPhone users, Android, users, Windows Phone, desktop applications, server applications, etc..
You can learn about the JavaScript API here: http://docs.xrtml.org/getting_started/hello_message.html#javascript.
You only need to register at Realtime.co as a developer and start using the free license.
I really hope that helps.
Okey, I think I will go with node.js.
Writing all this previous post, made me think in right way :)

Phone App + Online Database?

Idea: Create an database that I can integrate with an iPhone app.
As I have never worked very in-depth with online databases, I need advice on what methods are best for creating a database. The database would need to contain a list of usernames and passwords to login.
P.S. - I have my own website server.
The easiest thing would be to just use MySQL probably. Then you would define web services that expose basic access to the entities in the database. Best to do those with REST. That might be more than you are up for.
The problem with lesser solutions is that you can't have users just connecting directly to a db from the mobile app. So you have to have something talking to the db.
The other option would be to try to implement the whole thing using Game Center, since that has support for players and scores, etc. Not sure if that would be sufficient. I have looked at it but not in a lot of depth and there are changes coming in iOS 5.
In my opinion there is no need to bother with the iPhone app, just make a mobile version of the website. At the end of the day, you'll have to write the website infrastructure anyway, and with a website there is no need to worry about distribution. You'll even be able to support those using other devices.
If you are still looking for ideas, I learned a lot of what I know of web-based databases from a book called Head First PHP & MySQL (ISBN 978-0-596-00630-3). I already knew SQL and C++ (C++ is similar in many ways to PHP), but you really don't need it with book. It will teach you the very basics of both languages and how to tie them together. It will also give you a good frame of reference to Google solutions or ask informed questions.

Web-based or App-based for an Events-tracker?

I'm trying to plan out an application on the iPhone/Android that could be used to track dates/locations of events and update them as necessarily but I really have no idea what kind of method I should take.
Currently, there's two ideas for methods in my head:
1) Make a mobile webpage/website that could be updated with the necessarily information, then display this particular webpage/website on the App for users to view.
2) Make an app in iOS/Android to do the above without displaying the webpage at all.
The first idea is the easiest for me to grasp, since I roughly know the procedures of setting this method up. Displaying the webpages on a iPhone/Android screen should be relatively easy and this also allows me to only update the webpage with the latest information and all without (hopefully) building some kind of update system for the app itself.
The second idea is probably the better of the two, since I can make use of all the nifty features in the iOS/Android to make some pretty cool (what are the cool things, i don't know yet) things. I'm not exactly experienced in the field of creating apps, and I really have no idea how to start some kind of self-update functionality on an app, seeing all the apps I've done thus far are offline-based apps that does not communicate with anything save for local files. Should I get the App upon startup to download a file (XML or whichever?) to "read" the contents then update as necessarily?
Or should I just go for the first method, since it can be more efficient than the second one?
I'm really lost here, can anyone offer some tips and advice?
I believe that the first approach is a good one but I would suggest the following:
1- Create the website that will do all the business in your mind then
2- Port out the application in an easy way to be a mobile application how? Please have a look into this http://www.appcelerator.com/
3- Another idea that would save you the pain of going into all the above is to create a facebook application, this way you can make use of the facebook infrastructure and you will have the viral effect as I guess thats what you are looking for.
I hope I've introduced a good tips for you.

How can I learn which devices/OS versions my iOS app is being run on?

I understand that apple no longer allows me to send "device data" to third-party services. As a result of this, Flurry and presumably every other analytics company no longer collects OS/hardware version data. However, this data is very valuable to anyone trying to target development toward the people who are actually using the apps.
I can imagine a few different ways to collect this data.
1) Send a custom event indicating the hardware/os version to Flurry. This, of course, is in direct violation of the agreement with Apple. However, I suspect plenty of people are doing this, and just not getting busted. Still, not an ideal solution. Even if Apple didn't notice that we were sending this data, I'd rather not have the possibility of the app getting pulled hanging over my head.
2) Use an analytics package which allows me to collect data on my own server. Localytics is one company which seems to offer this. However, I don't think they offer this with their free plan. Is anyone aware of any free (or cheap) analytics tools which will allow me to send data to my own server?
3) Roll my own solution. This could either be an entire replacement for Flurry, or I could continue to use flurry, but send only the device data to my own server. This is a little clunky. I'd much rather have all my analytics data in one place. And would much rather not have to deal with building my own tool if I don't have to
So, is anyone else collecting device data? Are you using one of the above techniques? Or maybe something different I hadn't thought of?
Hi maybe "Testflight Live" could help you.
As far as I know Testflight is allowed by Apple.
https://testflightapp.com/sdk/live/
I've heard of people using UIWebViews to connect to a webpage with a counter. The counter is incremented each time a page is accessed, and the pages are separated by feature/UIView. This way the developer can tell which features get the most usage.
As far as device data, you most likely are looking at rolling your own tracking mechanism, probably going through a server like Google App Engine that's set up to receive your data.
I made this an answer so I could continue to check back, because I'd like to know some more info as well. I voted up your question and favorited it
Good luck, sir