Backend for SPA and Mobile App (Managed Services)

Introduction

Single Page Applications (SPAs) and mobile apps can use APIs to communicate with a server and retrieve or manipulate data. This can be used to display data on the frontend, or to send data to the server to be stored.

This article constitutes a component of a comprehensive collection of web architecture pattern references.

Single Page Application Frontend
Backend for SPA and Mobile App (Managed Services)
Backend for SPA and Mobile App (Serverless)
Multi Page Application (Integrated Web)
Single Page Application with Worker Process

API Technologies

For the backend of a mobile app or SPA, various API technologies can be used, including:

  • REST (Representational State Transfer): This is a popular, lightweight, and scalable API technology that uses HTTP requests to perform operations on resources.

  • GraphQL: This is a newer API technology that provides a more flexible and efficient alternative to REST, allowing clients to request only the data they need.

  • gRPC: This is a high-performance, open-source framework for building scalable APIs. It uses the Protocol Buffers data format and supports a variety of programming languages.

  • SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol): This is an XML-based protocol for exchanging structured information in the implementation of web services.

These API technologies can be used to create APIs that can be consumed by mobile apps or SPAs. The choice of technology depends on the specific requirements of the project, such as performance, security, and data exchange requirements.

Architecture

The architecture for all the above API technologies will alomost same. We are considering the REST API for now as that is the most popular option.

There are different solutions and services to host the SPA Backend on cloud, here are some of the popular:

  • VM (eg: EC2)
  • Container Services (eg: ECS)
  • Managed Services (eg: Elastic Beanstalk)
  • Serverless (eg: Lambda)
  • Kubernetes (eg: EKS)

Among the above list, we’re covering only Serverless and Managed Services.

Managed Services

Using managed services like Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Beanstalk and Microsoft Azure App Service provides several benefits, including:

  • Simplified deployment and management: Managed services take care of infrastructure management and deployment, allowing developers to focus on writing code and delivering features.

  • Automated scaling: Managed services automatically scale application instances based on demand, providing high availability and performance without manual intervention.

  • Reduced operational overhead: By outsourcing infrastructure management, organizations can reduce operational overhead and focus on delivering value to their customers.

  • Improved security: Managed services provide built-in security features, such as automatic patching and secure data storage, reducing the security burden on organizations.

  • Easy integration with other services: Managed services integrate seamlessly with other services, allowing organizations to leverage the full suite of cloud services to build and deploy their applications.

  • Cost-effectiveness: Managed services offer a cost-effective solution for deploying and managing applications, with flexible pricing models and the ability to pay for only the resources used.

  • Global availability: Managed services are designed to be globally available, providing fast and reliable access to applications from anywhere in the world.

Backend Architecture (Managed Services)

A complete architecture diagram with frontend and backend would be as follows:

SPA Architecture (Managed Services)

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Single Page Application — Frontend

Introduction

Single Page Application (SPA) is a web application that fits on a single web page and provides a seamless user experience by dynamically updating the content within that page, without the need for full page reloads. This results in a faster and more responsive user interface.

This article constitutes a component of a comprehensive collection of web architecture pattern references.

Single Page Application Frontend
Backend for SPA and Mobile App (Managed Services)
Backend for SPA and Mobile App (Serverless)
Multi Page Application (Integrated Web)
Single Page Application with Worker Process

How it works

Initial Load: When a user accesses the SPA, the initial HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files are loaded into the browser.

Dynamic Updates: Subsequent user interactions, such as clicking a link or submitting a form, do not result in a full page reload. Instead, the SPA dynamically updates the content within the same page using JavaScript, making API calls to the server as necessary to retrieve or update data.

URL Updates: The SPA also updates the URL in the browser’s address bar to reflect the current state of the application, without reloading the page. This allows users to bookmark or share a specific state of the application and enables the back and forward buttons to work as expected.

Components

SPA mainly consists of the following components:

  • HTML, CSS, and JavaScript: The HTML provides the structure of the page, the CSS provides the styling, and the JavaScript provides the dynamic behavior and interactivity.
  • Routing: The SPA manages navigation between different views or states by updating the URL and content within the same page, without full page reloads.
  • API Calls: The SPA makes API calls to the server as necessary to retrieve or update data, without reloading the page.
  • Data Management: The SPA manages data storage and retrieval, including client-side storage (such as local storage or session storage) and server-side API calls.
  • Client-side Template Engine: The SPA uses a client-side template engine, such as Handlebars or Mustache, to dynamically update the content within the page.
  • JavaScript Framework: The SPA often uses a JavaScript framework, such as Angular, React, or Vue.js, to provide a structure for building the application and abstracting away the underlying details of the DOM, API calls, and data management.

Architecture

All the above components can be put into three buckets:

Frontend

There are different solutions and services to host the SPA Frontend on cloud:

  • Static Storage + Content Delivery Network (eg: S3 + CloudFront)
  • VM (eg: EC2)
  • Container Services (eg: ECS)
  • Managed Services (eg: Elastic Beanstalk)

Among the above list, Static Storage + Content Delivery Network is the scalable and cost effective solution. Hosting a Single Page Application (SPA) in Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon CloudFront provides several benefits, including:

  • Cost-effectiveness: S3 and CloudFront are highly cost-effective solutions for hosting static websites, and SPA’s are typically built using mostly static assets.
  • Scalability: S3 and CloudFront are designed to scale to accommodate high traffic volumes, ensuring that your SPA will remain available and performant even during periods of high demand.
  • Global availability: CloudFront has a global network of edge locations that serve content to users with low latency and high throughput, making it ideal for delivering SPAs to users around the world.
  • Security: CloudFront integrates with AWS security services like AWS Web Application Firewall (WAF) and Amazon Route 53, providing a secure and scalable solution for hosting SPAs.
  • High performance: CloudFront uses caching and content delivery optimization techniques to deliver content to users as quickly as possible, improving the performance of your SPA.
  • Easy deployment and management: S3 and CloudFront provide a simple and flexible solution for deploying and managing your SPA, with features like versioning, automated backups, and easy integration with other AWS services.

The architecture diagram for an SPA would look like below:

SPA Frontend

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