The document discusses the mobile backend platform Parse and its features. Parse provides a complete backend for mobile and web applications, allowing developers to store and query data, implement user authentication and authorization, and more. It supports numerous platforms including Android, iOS, JavaScript, and embedded devices. Some key features covered include object modeling and storage, queries, user management, file storage, and security configuration via access control lists.

1. S
Parse
Tushar Acharya
MUTUAL MOBILE

2. Why Parse?
Mobile apps are
HARD

3. HELL
YEAH!
Typical Mobile App
Database REST APIs Server
+ Users
+ Security
Networking Caching The Fun Stuff!
no
no
no
no
no

4. What is Parse
S Complete back-end for applications
S Store key/value data (think NoSQL)
S Store Files
S Compact APIs for numerous platforms
S Mobile - Android, iOS, Unity
S Web - Javascript, PHP
S Desktop - Mac OS X, .Net + Xamarin
S IoT - Arduino, Embedded C

5. What’s in it for me?
S User Management
S Blocking and Async API calls
S Local Datastore, Query Caching
S Location “Stuff”
S Push Notfication, Analytics, Cloud Code, lot more!
S Its FREE!!

6. Parse Object
S Contains key-value pairs of JSON-compatible data.
S Schema-less – need not specify what keys exist, ahead of
time
S Each ParseObject has a class name, ~ Table Name in
RDBMS
S Ex:{task: “parse presentation”, date: “07/08/15”, done: false}
S Each object has default fields – objectId, createdAt,
updatedAt and ACL.


7. Object Model
ToDoItem.java
@ParseClassName("ToDoItem")
public class ToDoItem extends ParseObject {
public static final String COLUMN_TASK = "task";
public String getTask() {
return getString(COLUMN_TASK);
}
public void setTask(String name) {
put(COLUMN_TASK, name);
}
…
}

8. Creating an object
ToDoItem item = new ToDoItem();
item.setTask(name);
item.setDate(new Date(2015,7, 17));
item.setDone(false);
item.setPosition(1);
item.saveInBackground();
S Save synchronously or asynchronously.
S Defaults fields are created/updated automatically on save.


9. Retrieving Objects
ToDoItem.java
public static ParseQuery<ToDoItem> getQuery() {
return ParseQuery.getQuery(ToDoItem.class);
}
Usage
ParseQuery<ToDoItem> query = ToDoItem.getQuery();
query.orderByDescending("createdAt");
query.findInBackground();

10. Supported Data Types
S Int
S Double
S String
S Java.util.Date
S Bytes
S Boolean
S Arrays

11. Local Datastore
ToDoItem item = new ToDoItem();
item.setTask(name);
item.setDate(new Date(2015,7, 17));
item.setDone(false);
item.setPosition(1);
item.pinInBackground();
S Recursively saves everything in the object
S Can be fetched in a query along with various filters.
query.fromLocalDatastore();

12. User Management
S Sign Up
S Log In
S Email verification
S Forgot Password
S Facebook/Twitter Login
S Anonymous Login

13. User Signup - Email
ParseUser user = ParseUser.create(ParseUser.class);
user.setUserName(“willywonka);
user.setPassword(“ilovechocolates);
user.setEmail(“willywonka@chocolatefactory.com”);
user.signUpInBackground(callback);
S Add custom params using user.put(“phoneNumber”, 123);
S Unique email and userName should be unique
S Password stored as hashes using bcrypt
S Setup email verification parameters in Parse Settings.

14. User Login
S Use userName and password for login
ParseUser.logInInBackground(”willywonka", "ilovechocolates", new LogInCallback() {
public void done(ParseUser user, ParseException e) {
if (user != null) {
// Hooray! The user is logged in.
} else {
// Signup failed. Look at the ParseException
}
}
});
S After login, ParseUser.getCurrentUser() is set to the logged in user.
S User can logout using ParseUser.logOut()

15. Facebook Login
S Setup and configure Facebook app and store the app id.
S Add Facebook app id to AndroidManifest.xml
S Launch ParseLoginActivity and handle onActivityResult in
the calling activity.
S Handle success/error response accordingly.
S Done!

16. Twitter Login
S Setup and configure Twitter app and store consumer key and
secret key.
S Add to Parse application’s settings page.
S Login from device using below code -
ParseTwitterUtils.logIn(this, new LogInCallback() {
@Override
public void done(ParseUser user, ParseException err) {
if (user == null) {
//User cancelled the Twitter login.
} else if (user.isNew()) {
//User signed up and logged in via Twitter!
} else {
//User logged in via Twitter!
}
}
});

17. Anonymous Login
S When we want to associate data with a user without
signup.
S Can link later with Facebook, Twitter or existing user.
ParseAnonymousUtils.logIn(new LogInCallback() {
@Override
public void done(ParseUser user, ParseException e) {
if (e != null) {
//Anonymous login failed
} else {
//Anonymous user logged in
}
}
});

18. Queries
S Parse provides lot of query constraints to allow near RDB granularity –
S whereEqualTo, whereNotEqualTo
S whereGreaterThan, whereLessThan
S setLimit, setSkip
S orderByAscending, orderByDescending
S whereContainedIn, whereNotContainedIn
S whereExists, whereDoesNotExist
S whereStartsWith … and many more

19. Queries
S whereEqualTo
ParseQuery<ToDoItem> query = ToDoItem.getQuery();
query.whereEqualTo(”done", true);
query.selectKeys(Arrays.asList(“task”, “date”));
query.findInBackground(new FindCallback<ToDoItem>() {
public void done(List<ToDoItem> toDos, ParseException e) {
if (e == null) {
Log.d(”Query", ”ToDos = " + toDos.size());
} else {
Log.d(”Query", "Error: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
});

20. Queries
S whereGreaterThan
ParseQuery<ToDoItem> query = ToDoItem.getQuery();
query.whereGreaterThan(”date", new Date(2015,8,29));
query.whereLessThan(”date", new Date(2015,9,9));
query.findInBackground(new FindCallback<ToDoItem>() {
public void done(List<ToDoItem> toDos, ParseException e) {
if (e == null) {
Log.d(”Query", ”ToDos = " + toDos.size());
} else {
Log.d(”Query", "Error: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
});

21. Queries
S setLimit, setSkip
ParseQuery<ToDoItem> query = ToDoItem.getQuery();
query.whereEqualTo(”done", true);
query.setLimit(10);
query.setSkip(10*page);
query.findInBackground(new FindCallback<ToDoItem>() {
public void done(List<ToDoItem> toDos, ParseException e) {
if (e == null) {
Log.d(”Query", ”ToDos = " + toDos.size());
} else {
Log.d(”Query", "Error: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
});

22. Queries
S orderByDescending
ParseQuery<ToDoItem> query = ToDoItem.getQuery();
query.orderByDescending(”updatedAt”); // Latest First
query.findInBackground(new FindCallback<ToDoItem>() {
public void done(List<ToDoItem> toDos, ParseException e) {
if (e == null) {
Log.d(”Query", ”ToDos = " + toDos.size());
} else {
Log.d(”Query", "Error: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
});

23. Queries
S whereContainedIn
ParseQuery<ToDoItem> query = ToDoItem.getQuery();
query.whereContainedIn(”date", [new Date(2015,8,29),
new Date(2015,8,30), new Date(2015,8,31)]);
query.findInBackground(new FindCallback<ToDoItem>() {
public void done(List<ToDoItem> toDos, ParseException e) {
if (e == null) {
Log.d(”Query", ”ToDos = " + toDos.size());
} else {
Log.d(”Query", "Error: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
});

24. Queries
S whereDoesNotExist
ParseQuery<ToDoItem> query = ToDoItem.getQuery();
query.whereDoesNotExists(”done”);// 
query.findInBackground(new FindCallback<ToDoItem>() {
public void done(List<ToDoItem> toDos, ParseException e) {
if (e == null) {
Log.d(”Query", ”ToDos = " + toDos.size());
} else {
Log.d(”Query", "Error: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
});

25. Queries
S whereStartsWith
ParseQuery<ToDoItem> query = ToDoItem.getQuery();
query.whereStartsWith(”task", “Home”);
query.findInBackground(new FindCallback<ToDoItem>() {
public void done(List<ToDoItem> toDos, ParseException e) {
if (e == null) {
Log.d(”Query", ”ToDos = " + toDos.size());
} else {
Log.d(”Query", "Error: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
});

26. Query Caching
S Save result of a query for later use.
S Give name to the query and pin them.
ParseQuery<ToDoItem> query = ToDoItem.getQuery();
query.whereGreaterThanOrEqualTo(”date", new Date(2015,8,1));
query.whereLessThan(”date", new Date(2015,9,1));
query.findInBackground(new FindCallback<ToDoItem>() {
public void done(List<ToDoItem> toDos, ParseException e) {
if (e == null) {
ParseObject.pinAllInBackground(“TODO_AUG”, toDos);
}
}
});
S Fetch by querying local data store with “TODO_AUG” as pin

27. Query Caching
S If we aren't using local datastore, we can use the per-query
cache for ParseQuery.
query.setCachePolicy(ParseQuery.CachePolicy.NETWORK_ELSE_CACHE);
query.findInBackground(callback);
S Parse provides several different cache policies –
S IGNORE_CACHE
S CACHE_ONLY, NETWORK_ONLY
S CACHE_ELSE_NETWORK NETWORK_ELSE_CACHE
S CACHE_THEN_NETWORK

28. Security
S Parse implements framework level security by default.
S Developer has to implement class level & object level
security.
S Parse Security Dashboard allows us to –
S Restrict class creation from client.
S Restrict addition of fields from client.
S Restrict querying of data from client.

29. Security

30. Security

31. Security - ACLs
S For every object, we can specify which users are allowed
to read the object, and which users are allowed to modify
it.
S ACL is an object which stores these security parameters
and is attached to a ParseObject. 
ToDoItem todo = new ToDoItem();
todo.setTask(”Get groceries!");
todo.setACL(new ParseACL(ParseUser.getCurrentUser()));
todo.saveInBackground();

32. Security - ACLs
S Permissions can also be granted on a per-user basis
ToDoItem todo = new ToDoItem();
ParseACL groupACL = new ParseACL();
for (ParseUser user : userList) {
groupACL.setReadAccess(user, true);
groupACL.setWriteAccess(user, true);
}
groupMessage.setACL(groupACL);
groupMessage.saveInBackground();

33. Security - ACLs
S Permissions can also be granted to all users at once.
ParseObject publicPost = new ParseObject("Post");
ParseACL postACL = new ParseACL(ParseUser.getCurrentUser());
postACL.setPublicReadAccess(true);
publicPost.setACL(postACL);
publicPost.saveInBackground();
S Useful in scenario where only author can edit and
everyone else should be able to read – like a message
board.

34. Security - ACLs
S Default ACL can be set for all objects created on a
particular android client.
ParseACL defaultACL = new ParseACL();
defaultACL.setPublicReadAccess(true);
ParseACL.setDefaultACL(defaultACL, true);

Automatically adds current user to ACL

35. Files
S ParseFile stores application files in the cloud that are too
large to fit in a regular ParseObject.
S Allows images, documents, videos, music, and any other
binary data.
S Each file has max size limitation of 10 MB.

36. Static Files
S Static files can directly be uploaded into Parse Cloud.
S Configure Parse app with sub-domain in settings.
S Access those files at url -
https://<app-name>.parseapp.com/<file_name>
S Limitations – 500 MB or 500 files, whichever hits first

37. Dynamic Files
S Any byte data can be saved in ParseFile.
byte[] data = ”I am AWESOME!".getBytes();
ParseFile file = new ParseFile("resume.txt", data);
file.saveInBackground();
S Filename extension is mandatory as it determines what
type of file it is.
S Each uploaded file gets unique identifier so no collisions.

38. Dynamic Files
S Any saved ParseFile can be added to a ParseObject
ParseObject jobApplication = new ParseObject("JobApplication");
jobApplication.put("applicantName", "Joe Smith");
jobApplication.put("applicantResumeFile", file);
jobApplication.saveInBackground();
S The ParseFile can be fetched using syntax –
ParseFile resume = (ParseFile) jobApplication.get("applicantResumeFile");

39. Q & A

40. What’s next?
S Cloud Code
S Basic Operations
S Queries
S CommonJS Modules
S JavaScript Promises  Amazing Paradigm
S Background Jobs
S Bolts on Android