The Ultimate Database API Guide for Business Managers

Data is the lifeblood of your business. Managing that data, with proper access and security, is a key to successful operations and growing business revenue.

Whether you're a business leader, project manager, or other executive, let's discuss some key points to ensure your success in this area.

It's not an exaggeration: Databases are the hidden foundation of modern business and life. Your daily routine, from your phone's address book, to your next flight, to your bank account, depends on databases.

Getting it right makes the difference between productive business, or ending up in news headlines. We see it too often: A nationwide or global shutdown of a bank, hospital, or airline. The good news is, these tech disasters are preventable.

With a bit of wisdom, you are prepared to make good strategic decisions about your databases. This supports your enterprise and your customers for continued success.

Connecting Information: Database API Essentials

At the heart of your data ecosystem are three components:

• The database, including the server, also known as "back end"
• The API (Application Programming Interface)
• The application or app, a.k.a. "front end"

It gets fun when you have multiple databases, multiple countries, and multiple apps in the game. Yet every workflow contains these components:

Database Essentials: What You Need to Know

Databases exist in computers of all shapes and sizes (i.e. "on prem", "in the cloud", "local", "edge").  There are many different types of database software, which we'll cover later below. Yet they all have the same basic responsibilities:
‍

The database system is responsible to store the data, keep it secure, give access to authorized apps, and prevent data loss with connections to backup or replication systems.

This is also known as the CIA triad: maintain confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the data.

For example, you might have a database which maintains live copies of all the data in both North Dakota and London (aka "regional backups"). This provides quick access for people in those areas.

As well, your security team configures the database with proper security and access tools, so only the right people have access to view or change specific data. The security team is also responsible to monitor and audit the database access, preventing hackers from tampering with your data, blocking your access, or stealing it.

Yes There's an App for That: Application Basics

The app is where you view, change, and input data. Sometimes this is called the application or "the front end."  

This can be an app on your phone or computer.  It can be a website or digital kiosk, like the ones at the airport. Even the ATM or cash machine where you get money is a "front end system":

An app is also known as "front end software" or "front end system", and you find them almost anywhere.On a phone, on a desktop computer, in a browser, in a car, or in a kiosk.

When you use an app, it tries to figure out what you want.  For example, you might be in your phone's address book, doing a search for Taylor, Ronaldo, or Elon.

The app will then ask the database: Hey, give me the phone number for Taylor.

But to make things easier, modern apps don't ask the database directly.

The app makes the data request via a special tool called the API, or application programming interface:

The Magic of the API: Application Programming Interface

How does an API work with a database?

Analogy: Imagine you have a big multinational company.  You have customers in 20 countries, all speaking different languages. You want to make a special announcement:

To celebrate our 10th anniversary, get 10% off your next purchase, anytime this month!

But how will you get this announcement out to all 20 countries? You don't have time to learn 20 languages, you barely even remember college Spanish.

No problem, you know what to do. You simply send this request to your marketing manager, and they take care of getting the message out in all the right languages, with appropriate adjustments for each country. This is what an API does:

The API is the communications manager, which lets your app make any request simple and easy. It is responsible to provide consistent, reliable, and appropriate communication between any database and your app.

Because databases are so different, like different countries, we don't have to waste time teaching your app 20 different languages.  For example, your database systems might include one database for accounting, and a different one for customer data.  In fact, it is not unrealistic to have a hundred or even a thousand databases in a single organization, and each database has a least one API setup for it.

Either way, your app needs just one language, the API, to talk to any database.

The API even takes care of dealing with the quirks of each database, and for any request, gives a simple, consistent answer back to your app.

Just imagine being able to speak in 20 different languages. That's the magic of the API.

Who Does the Work, the App or the API Database?

I'll tell you a little secret about programmers: we are lazy. We don't like doing the same thing over and over again. The three virtues of a great programmer are laziness, impatience, and hubris.

The Three Virtues, by Larry Wall

• Laziness: The quality that makes you go to great effort to reduce overall energy expenditure. It makes you write labor-saving programs that other people will find useful and document what you wrote so you don't have to answer so many questions about it.
• Impatience: The anger you feel when the computer is being lazy. This makes you write programs that don't just react to your needs, but actually anticipate them. Or at least pretend to.
• Hubris: The quality that makes you write (and maintain) programs that other people won't want to say bad things about.

-Larry Wall, the original author of the Perl programming language

Imagine every time your programmer writes an app, they have to teach it something basic, like sending an email.

Sending an email is pretty easy for us humans, but for an app, it gets complicated quickly. And you don't want to do all that programming for every single app.

That's because not only will you have to write it multiple times, but every time something changes in the email system, you'll have to update all your apps as well.

That's a waste of time and productivity just to keep up with weekly updates.

So to make life easier, you automate these workflows with the API.  Today, modern APIs take care of really complex work, all with a simple request:

Smart APIs now handle these for your app automatically:

• Get an image or video
• Find a location
• Send a notification
• Make a report
• Process a payment
• Tag Elon in a Tweet
• Call someone with a message
• Sort or arrange data
• Update inventory levels
• Provide analytics
• Talk to another database

‍

This saves a lot of time and significant money in programming effort. It prevents maintenance headaches and other delays. So instead of boring repetitive tasks, your programmers can focus on solving more significant problems.

Five Business Benefits of API Database Functions

Now that you know how databases and APIs work together, let's take a look at how your business benefits.

1. Making Smart Choices with Data: Think of databases as a super-brain for your business, storing all kinds of important info in one place. Using your database API treasure trove, you can make smarter decisions faster which reduce costs and increase sales.
2. Boosting Efficiency: Database APIs give you more efficiency and productivity in your data systems.  These reduce manual effort for programmers, software developers, and business managers, so everyone can focus on more strategic tasks.
3. Happy Customers All Around: Imagine if shopping online was as easy as texting your best friend. That's what APIs do for customers. API databases enable VIP treatment with updates on their orders, custom recommendations just for them, and secure payments.
4. Growing Without the Growing Pains: Just like you outgrow clothes, your businesses outgrows certain tech eventually. But with databases and APIs, it's no problem. They're like stretchy pants that expand, so you can keep up with any changes.
5. Staying Ahead of the Game: The digitized business world is a race where everyone's trying to be the fastest. Businesses that use the best database APIs are like sprinters with jetpacks, zooming ahead because they know their customers well and can implement lightning-fast improvements.

You use an API for database efficiency, security, and reliability.  It's your business data at its best.

Dirty Details: How an API Works with a Database

Now that we understand the basics of databases and APIs, it's time to dive into some nitty-gritty of how these powerhouses work together.

Understanding how APIs and databases work together is like learning how a team plays a sport. Each player has a role, and when they work together, they score goals.

APIs: The Go-Between Agents

Remember, an API is like a messenger: it takes requests from the app, asks the database for information, and then brings it back in a way that's easy to understand. Here's how it works step by step:

1. Adding Data (Create):
   • You give new data to the API to put in the database, since you newly got Taylor's phone number.
   • The API changes your info into a database command.
   • The database adds your new data.
   • The API tells you that everything went well, Taylor's number is safe and secure.
2. Getting Data (Read):
   • You ask the API for specific data, maybe about Ronaldo's stats.
   • The API turns your request into a command the database understands (like SQL).
   • The database finds the data and gives it to the API.
   • The API changes the data into a simple format (like JSON) and sends it to you.
   • You gloat over Ronaldo's stats and show your friends why he's the best.
3. Changing Data (Update):
   • You tell the API what data to change in the database, since Elon's stock price changed.
   • The API turns your instructions into a database command.
   • The database updates the data.
   • The API confirms the update was successful, but won't make any other comments about Elon.
4. Removing Data (Delete):
   • You tell the API which data to take out of the database, since Taylor blocked you.
   • The API turns your request into a database command.
   • The database removes the data.
   • The API lets you know the deletion worked.
   • You find a quiet place to heal your wounds after the deletion.

These actions, Create, Read, Update, Delete (CRUD), are the basic moves in the game between APIs and databases.

Real-World Database API Example: How API Works with Database Tech

Imagine you're using an app to book a hotel room. When you pick your dates and room type, the app talks to the API. The API then asks the hotel's database if the room is available and how much it costs. The API gets this info, wraps it up nicely, and sends it back to the app. Now, you can finish booking your room quickly and easily; this includes the payment portal, the email and text receipts, and check-in reminders.

The API is a translator, making sure the app and the database understand each other even though they "speak" different languages. It's like having a genius who knows 20 languages, helping guests talk to hotel staff from around the world.

The Big Picture: How Does API Connect to Database?

While there are many technical details about APIs and databases, the main idea is that databases hold the data, and APIs help apps manage that data wisely.

Yet the quality of your database and the API you choose make big differences in your business capabilities and ongoing costs.  This is so dramatic, it affects your daily business, market agility, public reputation, and bottom line.

Consider that some businesses end up in scary news headlines because of database or API failures.  And smarter companies maintain a dominant market position because of their agility, speed, and consistent good quality. All enabled by their database and tech working in harmony, because of their API.

Next time you use an app or a website, consider the teamwork happening quietly in the background, the smooth chat between databases and APIs that makes your  business run smoothly.

Understanding Common Database APIs and Their Features

We've talked about databases and APIs essentials so far. But where do we store this data? Let's look at some common database APIs and see what makes them special.

SQL-Based API Database

Structured Query Language (SQL) is the standard language for dealing with relational databases. APIs that use SQL let you create, read, update, and delete data using well-defined commands. Here's what they offer:

• Precision: You get exactly the data you need by writing specific queries.
• Flexibility: They work with many different database systems, like MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL Server.
• Control: Advanced users can optimize queries for better performance.

NoSQL API for Database

NoSQL databases, like MongoDB and Cassandra, have their own APIs. These are designed for handling large volumes of unstructured data. Here's why they're cool:

• Scalability: They handle huge amounts of data and traffic.
• Flexibility: You can store different types of data without a fixed schema.
• Speed: They're often faster when it comes to retrieval of certain types of data.

RESTful API Databases

RESTful APIs are not tied to any specific database but are a popular way to interact with online databases over the web. They use standard HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE. Here's what makes them great:

• Simplicity: Easy to understand and use, even for beginners.
• Compatibility: They can be used with any programming language that can make HTTP requests.
• Statelessness: Each request from client to server must contain all the information needed to understand the request.

GraphQL APIs and Databases

GraphQL is a newer API technology that lets clients request only the data they need. Unlike REST, which uses multiple endpoints, GraphQL uses a single endpoint. Here's what's awesome about GraphQL:

• Efficiency: Reduces the amount of data transferred over the network. That makes it faster.
• Flexibility: Clients have more control over the queries they send.
• Strong Typing: The schema defines the structure of data, which helps catch errors.

ODBC and JDBC Connectivity

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) and Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) are APIs that allow applications to connect to any database that has an ODBC or JDBC driver available. Here's what they bring to the table:

• Portability: Write once, run anywhere – your application can work with any database.
• Standardization: They provide a uniform method to access databases, simplifying development.

Each database API has its own set of features tailored to different needs. Whether you need the precision of SQL, the flexibility of NoSQL, the simplicity of REST, the efficiency of GraphQL, or the portability of ODBC/JDBC, there's an API out there for you. Understanding these options will help you choose the right tool for your next project.  Yet there is something even better:

Instant API Engines: The Modern Solution

Instant API engines allow your developers to create APIs much more quickly and easily, without having to write a lot of code. Instead of weeks programming old-school APIs by hand, your software developer can have the API ready in just a few minutes.  

And it gets even better. These engines come packed with high-end security to keep your data safe. As well, they're smart enough to handle complex tasks automatically, like sending emails, generating reports, creating PDFs, and even shooting off text messages.

It's a powerful engine to take care of all the repetitive work, so your team can focus on more important tasks.

With Instant API engines, building powerful, secure, and feature-rich APIs is super easy. I'll explain more about this here:

AI For APIs? The Future of Automated Database APIs Is Here

So far, we've talked about traditional database APIs.  But now, similar to the AI revolution, there is something even better for databases, which saves weeks of programming effort and delivers better results, which is the instant API engine.

What Are Instant API Engines for Databases?

In tech, there's often the chance to find a more efficient method, like instant API engines. These are designed to save your team the lengthy and tedious task of writing a database API by hand, which usually takes weeks or even months.

What Stands Out?  Devii: APIs Done Easy

Devii is the leading instant API engine that has been gaining attention for its user-friendly approach. It simplifies the process of API creation to the point where developers can generate and deploy APIs in a matter of minutes. This is a game-changer for your businesses for many reasons:

The Benefits of Using Instant API Engines for Your Database

• Speed: With instant API engines, you can go from idea to execution rapidly, which is crucial in your fast-paced digital environment.
• Security:  Devii gives you policy-based User Access Control, without role-based security threats.  It's both secure and scalable, and minimizes the complexity that other systems have.
• Ease of Use: These engines are designed to be accessible, even for those with limited coding experience.  Your developer can finish the API in mere minutes.
• Cost-Effective: By dramatically reducing the time and resources needed to develop APIs, instant API engines like Devii save serious money for your company. Big time.
• Flexibility: They offer the ability to quickly adapt to changes and integrate new features or services. So you can adapt to changing customer needs and market conditions, quickly.

Can You Benefit from Instant API Engines?

Instant API engines aren't just for your seasoned developers; they're great for:

• Startups: Small teams can leverage APIs to expand their services without needing a large development staff.  You need to finish development fast, so you can focus on strategic tasks.
• Small and Medium Business (SMB / KMU): Your SMB has a lean and mean dev team, so efficiency pays off.  As well, you get high-grade features usually only available to the big boys.
• Enterprises and multinationals: Devii brings huge benefits to your complex enterprise requirements, simplifying build times, testing, security, audit, compliance, reducing expenses, and much more.

Instant API engines like Devii represent a significant leap forward in making your tech more accessible and efficient.

By removing barriers to API creation, they open up a world of possibilities for innovation and collaboration. If your business has databases, instant API engines are worth a serious look.

That's an API Wrap

So now you know the essentials about databases, apps, and APIs.  You have Taylor, Ronaldo, and Elon all securely stored in your database, and you know how to do it efficiently.

Is your company or team working on a database API?  Stop wasting hours of your life and get it done with Devii.  

Have any questions? Drop us a line here.

And for a limited time, you can signup for a free account for 90 days right here.  No credit card, no tricks, and with dedicated Discord support.

See you soon.

‍