Cross platform backend/server

Question

I am developing a cross platform app (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and web). The app will have multiple users, and each of these users will be inserting numbers that need to be saved as well as the time/date at which these numbers were entered. I want to make it so that this data is stored on a server, and a user looking at their account on the web will see these additions seconds after they insert the data in their mobile app.

I know Amazon Web Services provides something somewhat similar to this, but I was unsure as to whether or not it was going to be possible for me to make unique user accounts. I would also be very interested in any other services that anyone can think of.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Obviously I am just starting to look at this and don't know much about how to approach this.

Answer 1

You need a database and some server-side code to handle the users. You need some way of opening up the database to the other platforms, eg a RESTful API. What you're asking for can't really be answered in a few paragraphs, it's a big job with lots of different aspects.

Here are some things for your to read, but I strongly recommend that you spend time learning rather than diving into a project which is likely to be pretty big in scope.

PHP users tutorial http://forum.codecall.net/topic/69771-creating-a-simple-yet-secured-loginregistration-with-php5/

REST server in PHP http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/php/working-with-restful-services-in-codeigniter-2/

Answer 2

I would try an alternative to the answer by Josh and try a mobile backend-as-a-service for this use case. Will be straight forward.

For a cross platform app (not native development) you can try Kii Cloud's Javascript SDK (if it's a web app) or the REST API directly.

If you have more specific question please ask them in community.kii.com and we will be happy to help you out.