Data sources

Connect your application to one or more databases and effectively manage your application data. This data can be the users of your application, products, a score etc.. Depending on your needs, create a PandaSuite database or connect to an external database (Airtable, Cloud Firestore...) via an API.

In this article

What is a database

A database is a collection of data organized in such a way that the information it contains is easily accessible. 

Every database has its own structure that determines how information is accessed. 

Your database can be internal (on the device with the application) and external (via a server call). If the database is internal, it is the PandaSuite database, the query is direct. In the case of an external database, it is necessary to make a request via an API.

PandaSuite database

The PandaSuite database is an internal PandaSuite database. The data is hosted on PandaSuite servers and then stored locally on the user's device. They can be refreshed via an Internet connection. 

If any data is modified from the app, these modifications are only available on the device, they are not associated with a user account. On the other hand they are persistent after closing the app. If the user uninstalls your app, these changes are deleted. If he opens the application from another device, the data is refreshed from the PandaSuite servers.

The PandaSuite database is very useful for: 

  • manage variables for local use (e.g., bookmarking, user selection, or scoring for a simple quiz)
  • display collections that require advanced PandaSuite components (HD Image for example). 

Connect to an external database 

Easily connect your application to an external database via an API. 

With PandaSuite, even from an external source, your content is available offline to your users. Manage your content caching and pagination options for your API.

Learn about the main external databases and their usage:

Cloud Firestore 

Firebase is a mobile app development platform from Google with powerful features for developing, manipulating, and enhancing apps.

Cloud Firestore, also known as Google Firestore, is a component of this platform. It is a cloud-based NoSQL database for storing and synchronizing data.

Among other things, it allows you to manage user sessions and authentication.

Via authentication, each user has a unique identifier in order to recognize him specifically. You can retrieve, create, update or delete the associated data from your application on the Firestore.

To connect your app to Cloud Firebase, insert a component Firebase session.

Airtable 

Airtable is a mix between a spreadsheet and a database.

Airtable has a nice API to work with, making it easy to interface with your Airtable database programmatically.

Airtable is very useful for: 

  • Visually manage your content via rows and columns 
  • Give access to third party users to edit content
  • Generate dynamic content using data in a collection form

To connect your app to Airtable, use the component HTTP: Connect to Airtable

Other Database

You can connect to any other data source via an API.  The API is an interface between the database language and the mobile application language.

Requests are simple actions: GET, DELETE, POST, PUT. They are used to manipulate, modify, save, or expose data. To create an app  it is essential to take these parameters into account when working on the development of the mobile application.

To connect your app to another database, use the component HTTP.

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