For an iOS App I am looking for a BaaS provider. From a developers view StackMob is quite interesting, but I am missing a nice (web-)frontend to add and edit stored objects. The "Data Management" option in the Dashboard is unsuitable for non-technical people.
Is there a nice (free or paid) frontend for content management on StackMob?
I don't know of any prebuilt CMS frontend for StackMob. However, what most of our customers looking for something like that use is the HTML5 offering we have. That allows you to create a custom HTML5 app of the StackMob content that is completely your brand. It isn't as easy as the prebuilt option, but it does provide you with a lot of flexibility.
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There are a ton of online CMS services out there. And a ton of (new) backend-as-a-service products too. But I can't seem to find what I am looking for.
I am building an app for a client. The app contains data about shops, products, and more. The client must be able to update this data (and not just one person: each shop manager needs to be able to log in and edit the data for their own shop). And of course the app must be able to access this data.
Client edits data online
This has to be extremely user-friendly and completely online. I don't want to sell my client something where they need to install stuff on their server. I don't want to sell them something that's accessible online but looks like phpMyAdmin.
I want a shop owner to be able to go to a webpage, log in, and then see a pretty UI where they can edit the data for their shop. The back-end needs to have a pretty front-end that's auto-generated for whatever data this particular shop owner is allowed to edit.
So there are two bits: storing data in the cloud in such a way that it can be accessed by the app (which I am building with Titanium), and allowing the client to log into the backend and edit the data in a non-tech, user-friendly way.
Here's a list of things I tried...
Backend-as-a-service
Services with a great back-end, but without easy auto-generated data editing website:
Appcelerator (Titanium) Cloud Service
Amazon EC2
Stackmob
BackBeam
WebVanta
Parse
API o Mat
ShepHertz Cloud42
Kii
Online CMS
Services that provide a nice way for clients to edit data, but no easy way for apps to connect:
CloudCMS
(and many others I'm sure)
It's insane that no-one seems to be providing the cross-breed of BaaS and online CMS. So many people are building apps for clients, and so many clients are not tech-savvy and are reluctant to get a special server and host database software they don't understand. Why does this not exist? What am I missing?
With apiOmat it's easy to create your own data-editing app for e.g. with JavaScript SDK and HTML. Or you send a feature request so that they build a module for your preferred CMS.
As you mentioned, Cloud CMS is a really good option (disclaimer: I'm one of the founders). The product provides an enterprise content management backend and an API that lets you plug in some really powerful features right into your mobile apps.
This month, we released a brand new user interface which provides much of what you're asking about. Instant forms, document libraries, search and workflow all in one place.
You can check out Cloud CMS here: http://www.cloudcms.com
I completely agree with your assessment particularly with respect to the last mile (getting the final app built). It's kind of the wild west out there and the strong technologies are still proving out.
You mentioned Titanium - that's a good choice. I also quite like the Ionic Framework (http://www.drifty.com/). It's a step in the right direction.
In search of a 'Cloud Content Management System' like http://osmek.com/,
I could not find a single other CCMS that does what I want it to do :)
Basically, what I need is content management without a website frontend attached.
Just basic storage of data, documents, images, etc. etc. with a simple API to access, like Osmek. Just NoSQL or SQL based services won't do, because there can be images or documents attached. And, ofcourse, I'd like to have a backend to manage the data (like a typical CMS does) without writing a backend myself (if it's just the service)
Osmek is great, and it works most awesome in conjunction with Actionscript 3, but I'm just looking / searching for alternatives (if there even are any yet).
I need this form of hosted content management for content-manageing a mobile application.
So the question is: Is there anything else out there that does the same as osmek that you know of? OR, how do you manage application specific content?
Thanks!
I'd encourage you to take a look at Cloud CMS (http://www.cloudcms.com).
Cloud CMS is a JSON content management (CMS) platform built on top of MongoDB with a REST API and drivers for a variety of languages. You just drop in a driver and call methods to query, create, update and delete content.
The platform provides everything you need to power the back-end for mobile and HTML5 applications - from managing your content to managing users and groups, credentials, security tokens (OAuth2), Git-like collaborative workspaces, real-time analytics, activities, data transformations and more.
Everything runs in the cloud on an elastic back-end. It's probably more akin to Parse than a traditional CMS. You just make calls to the APIs. We keep the costs low by letting you only pay for what you use (almost like a utility). You just pay for storage and data transfer.
Disclaimer: I'm one of the founders of Cloud CMS. So I'm a pretty lousy reference in terms of its objective value. However, a couple of us worked at traditional "ECM" companies in the past and we think we've built something that puts a genuine beating on those guys.
Lets say my web server app is in drupal or wordpress, or even code igniter, how would one get about integrating a comment system? TSpecifically what I am trying to find out is if anyone was able to find a successful approach that would save some time as opposed to me going down the road of tying myself to a specific CMS content system.
Just throwing in some considerations here (by no means complete):
Are users also accessing your content (and its comment system) via the website?
If so, you'll want to have a comment interface that is available on the website too, and the easiest choice may be to use the comment system natively supplied by your CMS / through plugins.
If on the other hand your users will only be using the iOS app(s) for commenting (via a native interface) or you'll be heavily customizing the website anyway, using a comment system independent from your CMS might be an option.
How will the content be accessed from the app?
Via a simple web view? Or will the app download via an API provided by your CMS and display it in a native UI? If you are using an API provided by your CMS, you will have the same issue with your content as with your comments when moving CMSes.
You could add an intermediate layer that abstracts from the specific CMS API.
Or if you don't really plan on moving CMSes but want to prepare for that event nevertheless, you could simply implement a no-frills "version check" to ask the server for the CMS kind / version it is using, and if it doesn't match what your app expects, ask the users to update. This isn't the prettiest user experience, but it might be sufficient depending on what you're actually planning.
I would like my iPhone app to get dynamic content off the net. This content should be managed using a CMS. I would like to know in particular if I can setup Drupal or Joomla or other CMS as a backend for my iphone app to get the content.
Any advice on how this can be achieved would be helpful.
I am completely new to setting up/using CMS.
You can also take a look at StorageRoom, which is a CMS for Mobile Applications.
Disclaimer: I created this myself to scratch my own itch.
Wordpress with the JSON-API plugin is a great solution, especially if you need a web site as well.
You can find a good example here that uses Wordpress and Phonegap to get a basic app going.
If you can access the content in any serialized format (e.g. XML or JSON), it should be no problem to use any CMS as a "backend" for your application.
I'm checking out storageroom, and I'm searching for a similar answer, but I also found osmek to be a bit promising. I might use that one because of the menu templates .Osmek can provide responses in json and xml (and other formats that aren't useful in iphone dev like php, html, and templates)
Feed.Us is another option. I have a series of travel guides iphone apps and use Feed.Us to manage the businesses listed within the apps.
It creates a URL with XML that gets imported into the app.
This seems to be a very promising solution!
Apache Usergrid
I have briefly tried DreamFactory for some trial project but never got around to using it in production. Usergrid seems to be in the right direction in providing a full fledged solution (which can also work for modern web apps)
I'm very curious about Helios (helios.io) and will be trying it out shortly.
At least from the write-up on their site it looks very promising. Its open source, and in beta currently. They also have very easy heroku hosting support.
Helios is an open-source framework that provides essential backend
services for iOS apps, from data synchronization and push
notifications to in-app purchases and passbook integration.
I will update the answer again once I use this for some test project.
you can use any cms or framework to implement this. you need to make a jsonm api to communicate between app and backend server.
For php cms joomla, drupal and wordpress are best.
in frameworks you can use yii, cakephp, laravel or zend
hope this helps..
Also worth taking a look at Cloud CMS:
http://www.cloudcms.com
It's a cloud content management system for mobile and web applications, entirely oriented around JSON and having a fast, fully featured API. Your iOS application could easily grab things, render them, capture data, store it back into the CMS and more. Plus, it gives you a user interface you can drop in front of your business users so that they can create, edit and review things.
Note: I'm one of the developers. That said, worth checking out if for no other reason than for inspiration.
Depending on the data-complexity, perhaps willing a CMS into being a data-store or simple API is overkill when you can leverage file storage services like Google Drive/Apps to GET/POST spreadsheets or other documents in JSON, among other formats.
Is it possible to use Dropbox, Google Drive, Skydrive, etc. as a server space?
We are in the early stage of overhauling a multi-brand website built using a custom developed java mvc framework to enable web 2.0 features. Built-in features we are looking at are: i18n, sso, content search and indexing, personalization, mashup support, ajax support, rich media content storage and management support, friendly to search engine optimizations, bookmarkable URLs, support for social networking sites, support for page composition and decoration using templates.
A combination of these features are supported by many portal and cms software.
Any insights will be very helpful in using a portal/cms combination to address this requirements!
This is a follow-up on this post focusing on the portal/cms angle
we are developing the same sort of thing, we are using Umbraco, open source, by far the best opensource we have come across
Joomla comes to mind. The ability to skin and implement templates is a core strength of the product. You can create channels of content as well as enable varying levels of user customization via roles.
Another nice feature is that you can export your changes to your template. that way you can port your changes easily from QA to a customer site.
Finally, there is a very active community of extension developers with customizations, as well as numerous template designers.
If you require a Portal that does integrate with your CRM such as Salesforce and yet allows you to build a Mobile-Optimized branded portal for Customers, Partners or any other groups of users you can check out Magentrix:
www.magentrix.com