“We make an open source REST API backend for mobile, web, and IoT applications”: DreamFactory Software

“DreamFactory can be installed on any server, connected to any SQL or NoSQL database, and used for developing HTML5 or native mobile applications.”

DreamFactory engineers wrote the world's first service-based applications over a decade ago. We worked with XML-RPC in 1998, SOAP in 2002, and REST and JSON in 2004. As the technology behind web services matured, we started writing applications for various partner platforms, including the first AppExchange application DreamTeam in 2006. We have also published on the Intuit Partner Platform, Cisco Webex Connect, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure. Today, DreamFactory applications are used by over twenty thousand companies.

By 2009 we were building our own service platforms, and installing them on IaaS clouds, including Amazon and Azure. Our engineering team became familiar with the best practices for creating REST APIs, and how to make a service platform fast, scalable, and secure. With the rise of mobile phones and tablets, we realized that our application development model would be extremely useful for other companies to adopt, but there simply wasn't a great open source REST API platform available anywhere. As a consequence, developers had to write their own integration code by hand, over and over again, often with mixed results.

In 2011 we decided to tackle this problem, and started work on the DreamFactory Services Platform. We launched this exciting new product two years later. DreamFactory transforms any IaaS cloud into a PaaS backend for mobile application development. Our platform incorporates more than a decade of deep experience about how to securely build, deploy, and manage service-based applications in the enterprise. DreamFactory can be installed on any server, connected to any SQL or NoSQL database, and used for developing HTML5 or native mobile applications. Our technology enables developers to build modern applications for the phone, tablet, or desktop without having to manage server side code and complexity.

Some of many success stories

From API automation, customization, and security to API publishing and API management, DreamFactory has you covered.

TECHeGO

Business Objective

To build a comprehensive and intelligent app marketplace for companies to build their own ERP systems, while streamlining internal processes for developing proprietary product offerings.

Technical Challenge

Integration of multiple APIs into a modular and centralized public facing platform, while retaining the functionality of disparate API extensions with thousands of pre-existing users across multiple contexts.

The Solution

DreamFactory automated the backend integration with databases and external services, while adding robust security and user management capabilities to the powerful automation tool that TECHeGO developed, AVA (Automated Virtual Assistant).

Verizon

Business Objective

On-board enterprise developers to Verizon Cloud with a free developer portal that enables them to rapidly prototype and then run mobile, web, and IoT applications with Verizon Cloud. Shift developer perception of IaaS as a deployment solution for finished applications to an all-inclusive "cloud first" development platform that provides robust RESTful access to data sources at the start of application development projects.

Technical Challenge

Develop and provision a flexible IaaS workspace to give enterprise developers a fast and easy way to get robust REST APIs for a wide range of data sources, including legacy enterprise backend resources; and then fast track this RESTful backend from the developer portal to production—all on the Verizon Cloud.

The Solution

By teaming with DreamFactory, Verizon combined its enterprise-grade cloud services with an open source RESTful backend integration platform to provide developers with a way to quickly get REST APIs to any data source for their applications. The service scales from initial developer sandboxes through to testing and production deployment, fast tracking the development lifecycle entirely within the Verizon Cloud. Packaged as a turnkey developer portal, DreamFactory provides a free trial service for developers and a great way to introduce users to the benefits of the Verizon Cloud.

The latest update

DreamFactory 2.6 adds Firebird SQL and API management improvements

DreamFactory 2.6 has shipped! We've added Firebird SQL support and some major enhancements to API management as well as many API improvements and important bug fixes. You can download the 2.6 release from Bitnami or GitHub now. Here's what's new:

Version 2.6 release notes
API improvements

• Added support for Firebird SQL database. Simply connect to your Firebird database in the DreamFactory admin console and DreamFactory automatically generates a REST API for Firebird data and schema.
• Added support for endpoint-level API limits and HTTP verb-specific limits to DreamFactory Gold. This provides granular control over API limits in your DreamFactory instance.
• Added option to use Redis cache for API limits in DreamFactory Gold.
• Added support for "upsert" on database services, where supported (using PUT verb).
• Fixed inconsistent behavior for selected fields and related data in SQL database services.
• Updated Cassandra service to better handle native types such as UUID and timestamps.
• Added ability for HTTP services to detect and replace external links in response when resolved to other DreamFactory service URIs.

About the luminary

Bill Appleton is a leading expert on the use of web services for smart client applications. He has designed and written approximately three dozen professional software publications, including the first rich media authoring tool World Builder in 1984, the ground breaking multimedia programming language SuperCard in 1989, the worldwide best selling CD-ROM Titanic in 1996, and the first AppExchange application DreamTeam in 2005.

Bill previously served as the President of the gaming company CyberFlix where he worked closely with Disney, Paramount, Viacom and Bandai. Currently he is the CEO of DreamFactory Software, which develops an open source REST API platform for HTML5 and native mobile applications. Many leading computer publications and mainstream magazines have featured Bill’s work, including People Magazine, Newsweek, and US News and World Report.

“Our technology enables developers to build modern applications for the phone, tablet, or desktop without having to manage server side code and complexity.”