This document discusses developing offline mobile apps using Salesforce Mobile SDK. It provides an overview of SmartStore and SmartSync, which allow storing and syncing data locally on mobile devices. Key terminology for SmartStore includes stores, soups, and index specs. SmartSync extends Backbone.js and can be used with or without a SmartStore cache. Patterns like offline queueing are discussed to enable successful offline usage.
Developing Offline Mobile Apps with the Salesforce.com Mobile SDK SmartStore, and SmartSync
1. Developing Offline Mobile Apps
Salesforce Mobile SDK SmartStore and SmartSync
Tom Gersic, Salesforce.com
Director, Mobile Services Delivery
@tomgersic
2. Safe harbor
Safe harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
This presentation may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. If any such uncertainties
materialize or if any of the assumptions proves incorrect, the results of salesforce.com, inc. could differ materially from the results
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements we make. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be
deemed forward-looking, including any projections of product or service availability, subscriber growth, earnings, revenues, or other
financial items and any statements regarding strategies or plans of management for future operations, statements of belief, any
statements concerning new, planned, or upgraded services or technology developments and customer contracts or use of our services.
The risks and uncertainties referred to above include – but are not limited to – risks associated with developing and delivering new
functionality for our service, new products and services, our new business model, our past operating losses, possible fluctuations in our
operating results and rate of growth, interruptions or delays in our Web hosting, breach of our security measures, the outcome of any
litigation, risks associated with completed and any possible mergers and acquisitions, the immature market in which we operate, our
relatively limited operating history, our ability to expand, retain, and motivate our employees and manage our growth, new releases of
our service and successful customer deployment, our limited history reselling non-salesforce.com products, and utilization and selling to
larger enterprise customers. Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial results of salesforce.com, inc. is
included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year and in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the most recent
fiscal quarter. These documents and others containing important disclosures are available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor
Information section of our Web site.
Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other presentations, press releases or public statements are not currently
available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase our services should make the purchase decisions
based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce.com, inc. assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these
forward-looking statements.
10. Three Options: Which One Is Right For You?
Advanced UI interactions
Fastest performance
App store distribution
Web developer skills
Access to native platform
App store distribution
Web developer skills
Instant updates
Unrestricted distribution
16. Soups
• Hold Indexed JSON Documents
• JSON Responses can encompass data from multiple tables
Id
Soup
Created
lastModified
Index 1
Index 2
Index N…
1
{JSON}
1371069899796
1371070436125
a00E0000009Xj2mIAC
Salesforce.com
…
2
{JSON}
1371069899802
1371070436126
a00E0000009Xj36IAC
Facebook
…
3
{JSON}
1371069899803
1371129103154
a00E0000004h2MnIAI
Google
…
17. REST API Returns a JSON Response
/services/data/v28.0/query/?q=SELECT Id, Name FROM Opportunity
18. Some things you can do with your soup…
• Register a Soup with an IndexSpec
• Query a Soup using a QuerySpec
• Upsert Data to a Soup
• Delete Data from a Soup
• Remove a Soup
19. IndexSpec
• JSON Object
• Fields to index
• “string” or “integer”
[
{"path":"Id","type":"string"},
{"path":"Name","type":"string"}
]
20. QuerySpec
buildAllQuerySpec(path,order,pageSize)
Query all records from the object in the given sort order (or null order)
buildExactQuerySpec(path,matchKey,pageSize)
Search for records with index path values matching the key.
buildRangeQuerySpec(path,beginKey,endKey,pageSize)
Return all records with an index path value between the two range values
buildLikeQuerySpec(path,likeKey,order,pageSize)
Basically “select * from [table] LIKE ‘%[likeKey]%’”
buildSmartQuerySpec(smartSql,pageSize)
Basically “select * from [table] LIKE ‘%[likeKey]%’”
23. Backbone
• MV* Framework
• Models: Individual records
• Collections: Collections of Model records
• View: Javascript backing for the stuff that you see
• Router: routes everything after the # in a URL to application functions
• http://myapp.com/#/user/list
24. Force.SObject
• sobjectType: Account, Opportunity, etc.
• fieldlist: ["Id", "Name", "Amount", "StageName"]
• cacheMode: client, server write order
• mergeMode: how to handle conflicts
• cache: if using SmartStore
• cacheForOriginals: backup data for conflict detection
26. Force.StoreCache
• soupName: Name of the SmartStore Soup
• additionalIndexSpecs: IndexSpecs to use, in addition to defaults
• keyField: Name of the field containing the record Id
• __locally_created__
• __locally_updated__
• __locally_deleted__
• __local__ (set to true if any of the previous three are true)
Setup:
Xcode Open, build project
Login to org, open Oppty
Open Workbench
Open Git Repo
We’re more connected then ever, why bother with offline access?
Wifi or Cell coverage might be nearly everywhere, but it’s not everywhere, and it’s coverage is often spotty even when you do have it
Sales Reps, Service Reps need access to their information in the field…
Photos Credits:
Farm: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbeebe/3710702365/
Heavy Machinery: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leecontracting/3424306640/
MRI: http://www.flickr.com/photos/calliope/221238656/
Elevator: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stovak/1413735618/
Not just access to information, but also capturing data – don’t create a call log later, “check in” with the person you’re visiting, track what you did while you were there online or off.
Demonstrate ROI by showing usage vs. performance, etc.
Offline opportunities.
Hybrid offline app, based on AccountEditor sample from SDK
We’ll use it to illustrate SmartStore and SmartSync concepts
This diagram lays out the different strengths and limitations of each of the three custom mobile app development options.
Depending your requirements, the diagram provides a simple framework by which to evaluate the approach that’s best for you.
-----------------------------------------------
KEY QUESTIONS:
• Will you be standardizing on one device platform? Is offline access critical? Do you have plenty of time to build an app? If so, the Native app approach could work best.
• Do you want to build an app in the fastest way possible? Do you prefer to the ‘write once – deploy anywhere’ approach? Then go with an HTML5 option.
• Is Flexibility a high priority? Do you want added marketing visibility for your app through an app store and leverage native platform features? Then a Hybrid provides the best of both worlds