Parse Server is a powerful framework that come out from the discontinued Parse API service that was hosted on parse.com, owned by Facebook.
Overview
The open-source Parse SDK's are flexible and easy to use, a community of developers is keeping them up to date, check the official Hub here: parseplatform.org.
Parse Server is a great choice for building applications and websites that need a flexible backend that can be managed with a few lines of code.
You can host Parse Server in your own server. Anyway the process to do that is complex, so here's where back4app comes out to help you. It is a valid website for hosting your Parse apps for free - for test purposes - and it offers affordable subscription plans to get more database storage, API calls and higher speed performance. Check out the Pricing page to get an idea of the offered plans.
The Free plan offers the following features:
- 0.5 GB Database Storage
- 5 GB File Storage
- 10 Requests/second
- 10K Requests/Month
- 1 Cloud code job
Therefore, in case your application ro website will get grow in users and iteractions, you should consider subscribing for a paid plan on back4app.
Easily setup and create a database
It's pretty quick and easy to create a Pasre App on back4app and its relative database. First of all, sign up for a new account, it's free. After signing up, the browser will redirect you to the main Dashboard, where you can build and manage your own Parse Apps.
In order to create a new Parse App, you can either click the Build new app blue big button or the green NEW APP one on the top-right corner of the page. Enter the name of your app, as well as an optional description.
Then click Create to enter the main Dashboard, where you can manage apps settings, upgrade to a paid plan or enter their Parse Dashboards.
Let's get deeper into the Server Settings of an app. Click the Server Settings button and get to the App Dashboard
Core Settings
This section is where you manage your keys, delete, transfer, clone or restart your app. If you click LEARN then you'll be redirected to the official documentation of back4app. If you select SETTINGS, you'll get into the server options:
Here you can grab all those keys you need to use in your mobile or web applications in order to run Parse SDK's.
Scroll down to the bottom of this page to find a few buttons to edit the details of your app, restart it, transfer it to another back4app owner clone or delete your app.
Manage Parse Server
In this section you can change the Parse Server version. Click on SETTINGS to enter a list of Parse Server versions and choose the one you want.
Logs
Click on SETTINGS in this section to enter a page that shows all your server's Log data.
Cloud Code
Cloud Code is where you host useful javascript files that will allow your applications to interact with certain functions of Parse Server.
For instance, in case your app needs to send Push Notifications, you need to create a main.js file with functions to handle Push Notifications and upload it to this section.
Command Line Tool
Click LEARN to read the documentation that explains how to interact with you Cloud Code from the Terminal.
Background Jobs
A Background Job in Parse Cloud Code is a function that you can schedule to run at a certain time, written in javascript and uploaded to your Cloud Code container. It's also known as CronJob in a calssic cPanel.
You can read the documentation by cliking LEARN.
Click SETTINGS to schedule and run your own Bakcground job.
Web Hosting and Live Query
In this section you can create a webpage hosted on back4app.io amd activate Live Query.
Read the documentation to learn how to enable Web Hosting. Click SETTINGS to configure a subdomain and activate Live Query.
Verification emails
In this section you can enable verification emails for user who sign up in your app. The server will send an automatic email with a link to click in order to sent the emailVerified field as True in your own Parse Dashboard, this is useful in case you want to allow users to use your application only if they verify their email address.
You can set the Reply-to address, the subject and body of your verification email and edit the details about the Password reset email as well.
Facebook login
This is the section where you have to paste your own Facebook App ID in order to allow users to sign up/login with their Facebook accounts in your applications.
Click SETTINGS to enter the editor page and add your Facebook App ID. Click LEARN to read how to implement Facebook login in your app.
Twitter login
Here you can configure your own Twitter Consumer and Secret Consumer from your Twitter developer account.
Click SETTINGS to add your keys and enable Twitter login for your applications.
Android Push Notifications
In case your application is an Android one, click SETTINGS and paste your own GCM Sender ID and API Key in their relative boxes, then click NEXT to save them.
iOS Push Notifications
f you're building an iOS app, you need to first generate your .p12 Development and Production Certificates for Push Notifications in your Apple Developer account, then click SETTINGS to upload both certificates and enable back4app to handle Push Notifications in your app.