Processwire to iOS app

[davo]

So a while ago I started a thread about using an existing processwire as the back end for a mobile app. There was some discussion about how viable it was, but i've been working with another developer and we've started to get somewhere.

This iOS app https://appsto.re/gb/mtaH_.i uses http://www.dudmc.com/ as the back end. It's not perfect but we're pretty pleased so far.

[alxndre]

That looks great davo! Would you mind giving some feedback about the hard parts that you had to do, or any special cases or tips you might share?

We're on the last leg of doing the same thing, but with android applications on the frontend. We've built a fully customizable loyalty/rewards web application that serves as the backend for the terminal application (an android POS device with nfc reader) that sends all the transactions to ProcessWire to be processed and saved, and a customer app where the customers can view their transactions, update their profile, and claim rewards. It also serves as a marketing tool as it sends promos and news articles to the customer app. We've finished our client training last week and we're set to be fully deployed by the end of April.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, ProcessWire is awesome!

[davo]

Thanks Alxndre'

So didn't actually do the app programming myself, but I what I did have to do know my own site structure well and then learn how that related to the real database structure behind processwire; which for a novice like me wasn't instantly obvious. I'm sure there's far more technical ways of interpreting the schema, but the way I like to think of it is processwire makes virtual tables of the real sql tables.I then had to explain all the structures to the developer who i have to admit is far more proficient at databases than I!

The app is build for iOS and android. The iOS can be frustrating as everytime we iron out a bug it takes a while to get back into itunes.

The nice thing about this is the client has been used to working in the back end of processwire now for a couple of years and have a very deep site. The app is read only to the db and when there is a connection it looks for live data, if you're out of signal it uses a cached copy of all the data.The good news is the client only has to work on one console ie processwire back end and the content changes are reflected on the live site, android and iOS.

It looks like you're doing two way communication then with processwire; i thought about doing this safely using someone like url query string segments to allow pw to handle security/formatting etc. what was your approach?