Tidbit: Parse
Parse
What is Parse?
Parse is a backend service that stores data and analytics for your app. For the most part it is easy to use. Therefore, we will use it for backend most of the time in this class. Alternatives are other services, Apple's Core Data framework, Apple's CloudKit framework, creating your own, etc. We may touch upon other options later in the course, but for now we will use Parse because it works well and is convenient.
Please watch the two following videos to get started with Parse before lecture on Monday. Setting up Parse isn't super interesting, so it will be nice to get this out of the way before lecture so we can more on to more exciting material.
Parse Tutorial Part 1
This video covers how to setup an account on Parse and how to connect an app with Parse. The example used is an extension of TinyReminders (the version with an add button), so make sure you have that app open to follow along!
Parse Tutorial Part 2
This video covers how to fetch and save data in the background with Parse. For fetching data we find the data we want asynchronously and then use a callback to handle the data we find. We also save data asynchronously.
Parse References
This Parse tutorial just covered the basics. There is so much more you can do with Parse. Their documentation in the iOS guide is okay. Their API reference is much more helpful. It is currently written in Objective-C, but you can easily translate it into Swift. Also, usually if you Google something you would like to do with Parse something helpful shows up on StackOverflow or somewhere like that. In addition, throughout the semester we may post some tibits to cover more Parse material if there is interest.