DreamFactory Overview - dfryan/dreamfactory GitHub Wiki

DreamFactory is an open source software package that provides a REST API for mobile enterprise application development. You can think of DreamFactory as a "cloud services platform" that connects mobile devices, such as phones and tablets, to backend data (SQL, NoSQL, and file storage) with a Representational State Transfer (REST) API.

Client devices that make REST calls to DreamFactory can be phones, tablets, and the "internet of things", such as sensors. Desktop applications and web apps can also make REST API calls to DreamFactory.

Backend data is typically SQL, NoSQL, file storage, and remote web services. SQL is probably the most significant and widely implemented by enterprises, based upon recent survey feedback.

DreamFactory enables developers to quickly hook up a wide variety of backend systems, and to expose these assets with a comprehensive palette of RESTful services. The REST API allows client-server separation that simplifies component implementation, reduces the complexity of connectivity, improves performance tuning, and increases the scalability of server-side components.

DreamFactory provides REST APIs for SQL, NoSQL, file storage, and any REST-accessible web service.

• DreamFactory supports RESTful data and metadata access to any ANSI SQL database including MySQL, SQL Server, DB2, and PostgreSQL.
• DreamFactory also provides RESTful access to a wide variety of NoSQL databases including Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon SimpleDB, Azure Tables, MongoDB, MongoHQ, and CouchDB.
• For file storage DreamFactory provides RESTful access to Amazon S3, Azure Tables, and OpenStack Objects.
• DreamFactory supports external service integration manually or automatically with Swagger or RAML (i.e., the ability to securely access any REST API that returns JSON or XML to the client).

DreamFactory provides other services for application development.

• User management features include password hashing, single sign-on, OAuth, Active Directory, Guest Users, and Open Registration.
• Security services include the ability to control access to all backend assets through user roles and permissions.
• Application hosting includes the ability to store and run application files from any cloud storage system.
• Advanced features include server-side filters, events, and scripting (server-side Javascript is currently supported).

On the client side, all transactions use either JSON objects or XML documents. DreamFactory is compatible with applications written in either HTML5 or native client technologies such as iOS and Android. We provide HTML5 example projects for jQuery, AngularJS, and Sencha.

As each new service is hooked up, DreamFactory automatically produces written documentation on the service interface, creates an interactive API browser for exploring the service manually, and generates a dynamic software development kit (SDK) for calling the service from JavaScript, AngularJS, iOS, and Android.

On the server side, you can install the DreamFactory open source software package (Apache license) in a couple of ways:

• Bitnami Installers for Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, VMWare, Amazon EC2, and Windows Azure.
• Install from GitHub on Mac OS X, CentOS Linux, Red Hat Linux, Debian Linux, Ubuntu Linux, and Microsoft Windows.

Bitnami hosts DreamFactory if you prefer not to install the open source package.

We also provide a free hosted sandbox version of the product available at our website www.dreamfactory.com.