Offline-First Apps with PouchDB

O'Reilly Fluent
Bradley Holt, Developer Advocate
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Offline-First Apps with PouchDB
@BradleyHolt

Mobile First
Design for the smallest device first and then apply progressive enhancement techniques to
take advantage of larger screen sizes when available

Offline First
Design for offline usage first and then apply progressive enhancement techniques to take
advantage of network connectivity when available

Ubiquitous Connectivity
Why offline first in a world of ubiquitous connectivity?

The Eight Fallacies of Distributed Computing
1.  The network is reliable
2.  Latency is zero
3.  Bandwidth is infinite
4.  The network is secure
5.  Topology doesn't change
6.  There is one administrator
7.  Transport cost is zero
8.  The network is homogeneous
@BradleyHolt

Mobile Backend
What happens when your mobile backend service is unreachable?

Faster User Experience
Better, faster user experience — both offline and online

Works Offline
Ability to disconnect and continue to work offline

Battery and Bandwidth
Limited access to power and communications infrastructure in disaster scenarios

Offline-First Patterns and
Anti-Patterns

CouchDB Replication Protocol
@BradleyHolt
Cloudant SyncCouchDB PouchDB
CouchDB Replication Protocol
CouchDB

PouchDB Code Examples
github.com/bradley-holt/offline-first

JSON Documents
{ 
_id: "6EF9D2B0-13D3-1378-8D30-39E3CE0B36C2", 
_rev: "1-0b457efcf82fb29492ef927ba5b6ee15", 
type: "Feature", 
geometry: { 
type: "Point", 
coordinates: [ 
-71.1028, 
42.3691 
] 
}, 
properties: { 
session_id: "3486b13f-7b8a-8a96-dfbf-9b82800e367f", 
timestamp: 1422928591717 
} 
}
@BradleyHolt

Creating a PouchDB Database
var db = new PouchDB("smart-meter");
@BradleyHolt

Creating a New Document
var db = new PouchDB("smart-meter");
db.put({
_id: "2014-11-12T23:27:03.794Z",
kilowatt_hours: 14
}).then(function() {
console.log("Document created");
}).catch(function(error) {
console.log(error);
});
@BradleyHolt

Updating a Document
db.put({
_id: "2014-11-12T23:27:03.794Z",
kilowatt_hours: 14
}).then(function(response) {
return db.get(response.id);
}).then(function(doc) {
// Update the value for kilowatt hours
doc.kilowatt_hours = 15;
// Put the document back to the database
return db.put(doc);
console.log(error);
});
@BradleyHolt

Querying a Database with allDocs
db.bulkDocs([
{_id: "2014-11-12T23:27:03.794Z", kilowatt_hours: 14},
{_id: "2014-11-13T02:52:01.471Z", kilowatt_hours: 17}
]).then(function(result) {
// Get all documents
return db.allDocs({include_docs: true});
}).then(function(response) {
console.log(response);
console.log(error);
});
@BradleyHolt

allDocs Options
§  include_docs
– conflicts
– attachments
§  startkey
§  endkey
§  inclusive_end
(true by default)
§  limit
§  skip
§  descending
§  key
§  keys
@BradleyHolt

PouchDB Data Storage Limits
@BradleyHolt
Firefox Chrome Opera 15+ Internet
Exporer
10+
iOS Safari Safari
(desktop)
Android PhoneGap /
Cordova
Data
Storage
Limit
50MB
(more with
user
permission)
calculated calculated
250MB
(prompts
user at 10
MB)
50MB
(prompts
user at 5MB
and at
increments)
unlimited
(prompts
user at 5MB
and at
increments)
calculated /
200MB
unlimited
Adapter IndexedDB
IndexedDB
/ WebSQL
IndexedDB
/ WebSQL
IndexedDB WebSQL WebSQL
IndexedDB /
WebSQL
SQLite

Apache CouchDB
CouchDB is a document database featuring an HTTP API, JSON documents,
and peer-to-peer replication
@BradleyHolt

Creating a Remote PouchDB Database
var remoteDb = new PouchDB("https://bradley-holt.cloudant.com/smart-meter");
@BradleyHolt

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)
A security restriction implemented by browsers on cross-site HTTP requests
@BradleyHolt

Bidirectional Replication
@BradleyHolt

Bidirectional Replication
db.sync(remoteDb, {
live: false,
retry: false
}).on("change", function(info) {
// Replication has written a new document
console.log(info);
}).on("complete", function(info) {
// Replication has complete or been cancelled
console.log(info);
}).on("error", function(error) {
// Replication has stopped due to an unrecoverable failure
console.log(error);
});
@BradleyHolt

Live Replication
var sync = db.sync(remoteDb, {
live: true,
retry: true
console.log(info);
console.log(info);
}).on("error", function(error) {
// Replication has stopped due to an unrecoverable failure
console.log(error);
});
@BradleyHolt

Filtered Replication
@BradleyHolt

Filtered Replication
db.replicate.to(remoteDb, {
filter: function(doc) {
return doc._id >= "2014-11-13T00:00:00.000Z";
}
console.log(info);
console.log(info);
});
@BradleyHolt

One Database Per User
@BradleyHolt
Clemmie
Danyel
Shelba
Manuel
Francis
Marissa
Mitchel
Georgianne
Garnet
Audrey
Kalyn

Boilerplates & Tools
§  Frontend Web Apps
–  React Boilerplate with Service Workers
<https://github.com/mbrio/react-boilerplate/tree/react-0.13-flummox-service>
§  Backend Web Apps
–  PouchDB npm Package
<https://www.npmjs.com/package/pouchdb>
–  PouchDB Server npm Package
<https://www.npmjs.com/package/pouchdb-server>
§  Mobile Apps
–  PouchDB for Ionic Framework
<https://github.com/nolanlawson/pouchdb-ionic>
–  "Hello world" Cordova app with PouchDB
<https://github.com/nolanlawson/pouchdb-cordova-hello-world>
–  "Hello world" Cordova app with PouchDB, using the SQLite Plugin
<https://github.com/nolanlawson/pouchdb-cordova-hello-world-with-sqlite-plugin>
–  Cloudant FoodTracker (uses Cloudant Sync for iOS)
<https://github.com/ibm-cds-labs/cloudant-food-tracker>
§  Desktop Apps
–  PouchDB for Electron (formerly Atom Shell)
<https://github.com/nolanlawson/pouchdb-electron>
–  PouchDB for Chrome packaged apps
<https://github.com/nolanlawson/pouchdb-chrome-app>
–  "Hello world" Chrome app with PouchDB
<https://github.com/nolanlawson/pouchdb-chrome-app-hello-world>
–  PouchDB for NW.js (aka Node-Webkit)
<https://github.com/nolanlawson/pouchdb-nw>
§  Internet of Things (IoT) Apps
–  Node-RED
<http://nodered.org/>
@BradleyHolt

Cloudant FoodTracker
An offline-first demo app built with Swift and Cloudant Sync for iOS

Image Credits
§  A mockup of the golden Apple iPhone 5S by Zach Vega,
on Wikimedia Commons
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IPhone_5s.png>
§  Joan Touzet (@wohali), ASF Member, CouchDB PMC Member
<https://twitter.com/wohali/status/595689720933445632>
§  Device landscape by Jeremy Keith, on Flickr
<https://flic.kr/p/anLcHu>
§  Cloud Formation Over the Adirondacks by Bradley Holt,
on Twitter
<https://twitter.com/BradleyHolt/status/623030107679002624>
§  Cell phone tower by Gary Lerude, on Flickr
<https://flic.kr/p/crL7TN>
§  Pneumatic Central by Sleestak, on Flickr
<https://flic.kr/p/mRvRQ>
§  Colunas by Daniel Zanini H., on Flickr <https://flic.kr/p/5ZwHWv>
§  Speed DLR on Doklands by Umberto Rotundo, on Flickr
<https://flic.kr/p/7GmcUo>
§  Waterfall by Paulo Valdivieso, on Flickr <https://flic.kr/p/oNkvRP>
§  Wildfire by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region,
on Flickr <https://flic.kr/p/8zkWGd>
§  Arduino Uno by Pete Prodoehl, on Flickr
<https://flic.kr/p/a3ky7E>
§  Warning by Stefano Brivio, on Flickr <https://flic.kr/p/tuBHA>
@BradleyHolt

Offline-First Apps with PouchDB

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