Welcome

I recently discovered http://parse.com/ and started to use it for my mobile developments. Up until this point, I've been using Google AppEngine, but parse.com is better.

you can still get started for free
the documentation is great and contains plenty for examples
the API are generally well designed

Example

// save
ParseObject gameScore = new ParseObject("GameScore");
gameScore.put("score", 1337);
gameScore.put("playerName", "Sean Plott");
gameScore.put("cheatMode", false);
gameScore.saveInBackground();

// retrieve
ParseQuery query = new ParseQuery("GameScore");
query.getInBackground("xWMyZ4YEGZ", new GetCallback() {
  public void done(ParseObject gameScore, ParseException e) {
    if (e == null) {
      // do something with gameScore
    } else {
      // something went wrong
    }
  }
});

// read application values
int score = gameScore.getInt("score");
String playerName = gameScore.getString("playerName");
boolean cheatMode = gameScore.getBoolean("cheatMode");

// read special system managed values
String objectId = gameScore.getObjectId();
Date updatedAt = gameScore.getUpdatedAt();
Date createdAt = gameScore.getCreatedAt();

What's wrong

The treatment between application and system values is not fair.
There's too many strings constants all over the place.
I can't use auto-completion on my application values.

An Alternative

allow auto-completion of field names
compiler will check types for you
define names and corresponding type in one place (DRY)
uses filter/sort by example
augment, but doesn't hide native API, so not functionality is lost
doesn't generate any extra gets and puts to native API
doesn't interfere with partial updates

// save
GameScore gameScore = GameScore.PF.create();
gameScore.score(1337);
gameScore.playerName("Sean Plott");
gameScore.cheatMode(true);
gameScore.parseObject().saveInBackground();

// retrieve
GameScore.PF.query().parseQuery().getInBackground("xWMyZ4YEGZ", new GetCallback() {
	@Override
	public void done(ParseObject gameScore, ParseException e) {
		if (e == null) {
			// do something with gameScore
			GameScore gameScore2 = GameScore.PF.wrap(gameScore);
		} else {
			// something went wrong
		}
	}
});

// read application values
int score = gameScore.score();
String playerName = gameScore.playerName();
boolean cheatMode = gameScore.cheatMode();

// read special system managed values
String objectId = gameScore.parseObject().getObjectId();
Date updatedAt = gameScore.parseObject().getUpdatedAt();
Date createdAt = gameScore.parseObject().getCreatedAt();

Query and Sorting

//
Query<GameScore> query = GameScore.PF.query();
query.equalTo().playerName("Sean Plott");
query.orderAsc().score();
query.findInBackground(new ListCallback<GameScore>() {
	@Override
	public void error(ParseException e) {
		// something went wrong
	}

	@Override
	public void done(List<GameScore> list) {
		// do something with gameScore
		if (list.size() > 0) {
			GameScore gameScore2 = list.get(1);
		}
	}
});

Finally

import shared.parse.ParseBase;
import shared.parse.ParseFacade;

public interface GameScore extends ParseBase {
	public String playerName();
	public void playerName(String in);

	public Integer score();
	public void score(int in);

	public Boolean cheatMode();
	public void cheatMode(boolean in);
	
	public static final ParseFacade<GameScore> PF = ParseFacade.get(GameScore.class);
}

define get and set like methods, but without the prefix
return type should be objects and not primitive type for most flexibility
interface name is use as ParseObject className
method names are used as the field names for get, put, sorting and filtering
the method "parseObject" is reserved

Others

When do you switch from Basic to Pro?

Basic vs Pro

Apache License Version 2.0

http://www.apache.org/licenses/

Default

Wiki

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