CODEWITHSUNDEEP
androidruby-on-railsrestherokuremote-access
Cristiano
Cristiano

Reputation: 3189

Access Heroku database from Android application

I've built a Rails 4 web application with PostgreSQL database and hosted it on Heroku. The future plan for that database is to also be used by one Android application.

I am not completely sure how can I accomplish that. Do I need to build another REST application and host it on Heroku and somehow connect to the same database or there is another way?

How to connect with Android application to that database which is used by the web site? I know I can't connect directly.

Thank you for your guidance.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1558

Answers (1)

bart
bart

Reputation: 186

You don't need another app - just build an API for current one and then you can communicate from Android app to your web application (web app will connect to db and return data).

Have a look at Twitter API as example - you can access different resources and manage them via Twitter API https://dev.twitter.com/docs/api/1.1

You can build something similar - create rails controllers that access your database and respond with structure you want - preferably JSON format of your models (or something custom if you need) From Android app you can send request to your API and parse JSON responses - then process data your own way on Android app.

Don't forget about authentication between your Android app and web application - let only your Android app to use it. I encourage you to browse internet for best practices 'How to create an API' :)

Upvotes: 3

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