将文本数据存储在一个或多个文件中以便可以在各种平台上使用的最佳方法是什么？

Question

I'm developing a knowledge base java application, where I can store and retrieve annotations with its title, date when the note was created (SQL datetime), content, tags about the annotation, etc.

It can be done easily with a database (I'm using SQL Server 2014), but the main problem is that the server is running on my own PC and it has to be always on and running the SQL Server. Also, I would like to extend the application by storing and retrieving this kind of data on mobile apps for Android and iOS.

Is there any other way to store that type of data in some files so it can be uploaded to some cloud storage like Dropbox ? After storing it on Dropbox, all I would have to do is sync the app with dropbox, get the files and read/write stuff.

UPDATE: Thanks for all the answers they helped me a lot. The best solution for me is to replace SQL Server with SQlite, as Gabe Sechan commented. Now I can make changes on the database without the need of a server running 24/7 and I can use the same database on Android and iOS apps.

Answer 1

You can use just a basic ajax call to pull content from a Dropbox "public" URL.

function(contenturl,intoselector,callback){
            if (contentwindow.currenttopic!==contentID){
                jQuery.ajax({
                    type:'GET',
                    url:'//www.corsproxy.com/'+contenturl,
                    dataType:'text',
                    async:true,
                    success:function(data){
                        intoselector.html(data);
                        if (jQuery.type(callback)==="function")
                            callback();
                    }
                });
            }

Notice that this example pulls through corsproxy so that you don't receive any XSS errors, so the url you pass needs to not contain a protocol itself.

If you want to pull a JSON or XML string that is stored in the file, then you might need to play around with the dataType and contenttype options in the ajax call.

Answer 2

This can also be done using Google spreadsheets:

Reading:

• Create a spreadsheet and publish it on the web
• Use one of the many available Javascript libraries for pulling data from Google spreadsheets:
  • http://jlord.us/sheetsee.js/ (which uses Tabletop.js)
  • http://chriszarate.github.io/sheetrock/

Writing:

• You can use a Google app script for writing to the spreadsheet ( reference ) OR
• You can create a Google form linked to the spreadsheet and simply fill the form from your mobile app whenever you want to add some data to the sheet ( reference )

Answer 3

Of all the cloud services, when it comes to Android, Dropbox's Sync API is one of the easiest to implement. Do you need specific code examples on how to sync with Dropbox?