This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Anamika
What is Appwrite
Going by it's official web-page, Appwrite is a self-hosted solution that provides developers with a set of easy-to-use and integrate REST APIs to manage their core backend needs.
Basically, it is a new open-source, end-to-end, back end server for front-end and mobile developers that allows to build apps much faster. Its main goal is to abstract and simplify common development tasks behind REST APIs and tools, helping developers build advanced apps faster.
Where can it be used
As we already saw, Appwrite is a self-hosted backend as a service. It is packaged as a set of Docker micro-services. It makes it easier to build applications without writing any backend code. But this isn’t the only way to use it. Bsically if we go by Appwrite's official documentation, Appwrite wasn’t designed to replace the backend team, but to provide a better starting point for your project and a better developer experience.
There a many ways to use Appwrite- Appwrite for Web, Appwrite for Flutter, Appwrite for Android, Appwrite for Server etc. You can find many tutorials, videos, demonstrations, source codes, etc to get started with these applications over here. So go ahead and make great use of them!
How to use it efficiently
How to take Advantage of the Appwrite API Without Using Any SDK
As developers, sometimes, we might not want to use the Appwrite SDK, but to directly use Appwrite’s plain HTTP API to integrate our application.
Step- 1: Client Authentication
If you are integrating from a new client platform, you just need to pass the project ID. This can be done by attaching your request the (PROJECT) header like this:
curl -XGET -H '(PROJECT): [MY-PROJECT-ID]' -H "Content-type: application/json" 'https://appwrite.io/v1/locale'
Step-2: Server Authentication
The server authentication provides more scope permissions than by default. For this step, we need to pass our API key. API keys can be generated from the Appwrite dashboard and, permissions for the applications can also be chosen from here.
We need to pass the API Key with Appwrite’s ‘KEY’ headeras follows:
curl -XGET -H 'PROJECT: [MY-PROJECT-ID]' -H 'KEY: [MY-API-KEY]' -H "Content-type: application/json" 'https://appwrite.io/v1/users'
One can also set an Appwrite header to change the API locale. The Appwrite API has support for 46 different locales, and this number is constantly growing.
You can use the locale service to get different responses from the Appwrite’s Locale API, or even in case if you want any sort of emails sent to your users in a different language from the default English.
Final Step: Start Sending API Calls
After authenticating and changing your Appwrite server locale, you can start sending requests to any of the Appwrite API’s.
Advantages and Features
Anonymous Login and JWT 🔐
Not every app needs users to create an account right away.
With Anonymous Login, save sessions without asking for email addresses, and convert those users to registered accounts later with ease. The implementation is just like creating a normal user session via the createSession method.
Know more hereARM Support
A dynamic arm support is an assistive technology product which helps people with limited arm and shoulder function, to move their arms and hands freely (again), and therefore make it possible to conduct all kinds of daily activities.
Starting with 0.8, install Appwrite on your favorite 64-bit ARM device, from Amazon Graviton2 down to the Raspberry Pi 4! ARM support also contributes in making Appwrite technology agnostic.Slimmer and Faster
The recent versions of Appwrite have includes SMTP server rather than the ClamAV server for development. These changes, have helped reduce the minimum requirements to just 1GB of RAM.
Apart from these, there are many more advantages of using Appwrite. Some of them are:
- Fast and Secure
- Manage Access control
- File Previews
- Image Manipulations
- Authenticate, Confirm and Manage your Users
- Multiple Signin Methods
- Auto-Generated SSL
- Built-in Files and Secrets Encryption
- Built-in Anti-Virus scanner
- Webhooks
- Background Tasks
- Open-Source
- Self-Hosted
- Privacy
- Cross-Platform
- Flutter Support
- Audit Logging
- Input Validation
- Abuse Protection
- HTTP\2 Support
Next Steps
You can join the Appwrite Community on Discord. It can help newcomers clear more doubts and provide them with constant support regarding Appwrite.
You can also check the Github Repositories here. These can help you find lots of resources about Appwrite, including text, video tutorials and many demo applications.
Happy Appwriting
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Anamika
Anamika | Sciencx (2021-10-02T20:17:28+00:00) What is Appwrite and How to use it Efficiently. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2021/10/02/what-is-appwrite-and-how-to-use-it-efficiently/
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