{"id":12936,"date":"2022-03-24T14:58:34","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T21:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.couchbase.com\/blog\/?p=12936"},"modified":"2025-06-13T20:52:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T03:52:14","slug":"building-a-mobile-application-with-couchbase-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.couchbase.com\/blog\/building-a-mobile-application-with-couchbase-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Build A Mobile Application With Couchbase – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

This multipart blog will help you build an end-to-end mobile application using Couchbase Lite. State of the art end-to-end, scalable and production-grade applications include the following features:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. \n
      \n
    1. An embedded database<\/strong> – storing data locally reduces network trips to a centralized database for every activity. This is crucial for improving the user experience.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Synchronization<\/strong> with other peer mobile devices and with a centralized server.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Advanced analytics<\/strong> capabilities, full-text search and machine learning on the device.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Since there\u2019s a lot to cover, we\u2019ve split this project into three parts.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Part 1 showcases the process for building a mobile application that leverages Couchbase Lite and uses it as an embedded database to store data. <\/b><\/b>Part 2 will show how to run Full Text Search (FTS) on the device. And p<\/span>art 3 will showcase the process of syncing the data with peers and a centralized Couchbase server.<\/span><\/p>\n

      What is Couchbase Mobile?\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n

      Couchbase Mobile<\/span><\/a> includes:<\/span><\/p>\n

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      1. \n
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        1. Embedded Couchbase Lite<\/strong> database for edge devices<\/span><\/li>\n
        2. High-performance Sync Gateway<\/strong> for peer to peer and centralized server synchronization<\/span><\/li>\n
        3. Edge data centers powered by Couchbase Server<\/strong> that can be deployed on the cloud, on-prem or in local edge data centers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          \"Couchbase<\/a><\/p>\n

          Mobile application overview<\/b><\/h4>\n

          The code for this demo application is in my <\/span>Couchbase Mobile GitHub repository<\/span><\/a>.<\/span> Download <\/span>Rateit.zip<\/span><\/i> and extract the files to your local folder.\u00a0<\/span>Alternatively, you can follow the instructions in this blog to build the app from scratch.<\/span><\/p>\n

          The app’s functionality is divided into three parts:<\/span><\/p>\n

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          1. \n
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            1. Send rating requests<\/span><\/li>\n
            2. Receive rating requests from others<\/span><\/li>\n
            3. Viewing the rated request returned from others<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
              Send Rating Requests<\/b><\/h5>\n

              The app that we will build in this application sends a rating request to a person and receives the rated request back.<\/span><\/p>\n

              The <\/span>SEND TO<\/span><\/i> field indicates the phone number of the person to whom you want to send the request. The <\/span>MESSAGE<\/span><\/i> field indicates what you want them to do with it. In this case, since it is a rating request, I have a predefined message of “Rate 1-5”, indicating they need to supply a rating when they send the request back.<\/span><\/p>\n

              The <\/span>SUBJECT<\/span><\/i> field indicates any topic on which you want a rating, for example, like one of these:<\/span><\/p>\n

              Actor: Chris Hemsworth<\/span><\/p>\n

              Book: Pride and Prejudice<\/span><\/p>\n

              www.google.com<\/span><\/p>\n

              There are no strict edit validations on the fields, but that is something you would do when you build a production-grade mobile app.<\/span><\/p>\n

              When you click <\/span>SEND<\/b>, a request is sent to the person you want a response from. Since we will be talking about syncing peer-to-peer with other devices, and with a centralized server in a future post, here we focus on the <\/span>local offline mode<\/b> functionality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              Received Rating Requests\u00a0<\/b><\/h5>\n

              This section in the app lets you respond to rating requests received from others. We define a rating bar that lets you put in the number of stars for your rating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

              Just so I remain within the scope of this app when I send a request, I hardcoded values for <\/span>sender<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>receiver<\/span><\/i>. I have used <\/span>Sandhya<\/span><\/i> as the sender and <\/span>Rangana<\/span><\/i> as the receiver. This section will display all the requests for <\/span>Rangana,<\/span><\/i> i.e., where the <\/span>TO<\/span><\/i> field is equal to <\/span>Rangana<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Incoming Rated Requests<\/b><\/h5>\n

              This section lists all the requests that you sent and received a rating back for.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Now let\u2019s walk through an example to make all the sections clear.<\/span><\/p>\n

              First, we send a request to phone number 732-600-7000 with a message to rate the book Pride and Prejudice.<\/span><\/p>\n

              \"Sample<\/a><\/p>\n

              When you click on <\/span>RECEIVED RATING REQUESTS<\/b> it is actually showing me the ones that I sent to someone else, just for demo purposes here. In the real world, it would go to the actual person to whom this is addressed.<\/span><\/p>\n

              \"Receiving<\/a><\/p>\n

              I select a four-star rating and click on the<\/span> RATE<\/b> button, which initiates returning it to the send (this rated request goes back to me as shown below):<\/span><\/p>\n

              \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

              Now when clicking on <\/span>INCOMING RATED REQUESTS<\/span><\/i>, we can see if the rating made it back to me, the sender. You can see that it came back and listed my rating of 4.0 stars.<\/span><\/p>\n

              The <\/span>DELETE<\/span><\/i> button is available for you to remove that particular row now.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Now, let’s build the app!<\/span><\/p>\n

              Getting Started: Review CBLite Documentation<\/b><\/h4>\n

              Please review the <\/span>documentation<\/span><\/a> to understand the various components of a Couchbase Lite database application. For this app, I create a brand new database when the application is invoked for the first time. Alternatively, the app can also use a pre-built database.<\/span><\/p>\n

              The steps to embed the database can be found here in the <\/span>Couchbase Lite documentation<\/span><\/a>. Review each of the sections to learn the following concepts:<\/span><\/p>\n