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Using an External DB

Your project may require a more complex data structure than our datastores. If a key-value store works, we strongly recommend using the built-in datastore to take advantage of language functions.

If you already have (or otherwise require) an external database, any external database that provides a REST API can be used. For the purposes of this tutorial, we will be using restdb.io.

Set Up​

  1. Create a new database.

external-db/create-db.png

  1. Select Developer Mode in the upper right, and then choose Collections +

external-db/add-collection.png

  1. Enter the information for your new collection and click Save.

external-db/collection.png

  1. Add Name and Description text fields to your database by clicking Add Fields +.

external-db/add-field.png

external-db/fields.png

  1. Grab your API Key by clicking on API Docs and finding the value labeled x-apikey:. Save it as a function in your Darklang canvas.

  2. Optionally, also grab the URL at the top of your page (in my case, its https://mydatastore-e7f9.restdb.io/rest/mydata) and save it as another function in your Darklang canvas.

POST a New Record​

  1. Create your header by doing a Dict::merge on HttpClient::jsonContentType and a dict containing your API Key

  2. Write an HttpClient::post using your URL, your fields (note: the field names are case sensitive) and your header, and then run it.

external-db/post.png

  1. Your data will appear in the restdb.io console.

external-db/data.png

GET All Data​

  1. Create your header by doing a Dict::merge on HttpClient::jsonContentType and a dict containing your API Key.

  2. Write an HttpClient::get using your URL and header, and then run it.

external-db/get-all.png

  1. Your handler will return all of the data in your database.

external-db/get-all-data.png