Question

I am trying to develop a system that involves a:

1. server with a database that will handle the system’s logic and manipulate data
2. an android app that will interact with that server (pull and push data into the server)
3. a website that will do the same as the android app, but from a website with slightly different data.

What I thought of is to use SQLite with Apache Tomcat installed on the server and deploy a Grails war file on it. That will take care of the ‘website’ side of the system. But what about the android app? Can it communicate with Tomcat as well?

Answer 1

Tomcat will suit your needs. I would look at hosting options though. Are you hosting your own server, or do you have a hosting provider? Do you have experience hosting a tomcat server etc. Do you have experience with java web applications, or other web frameworks? All of the above, and probably more should lead you to your decision on what type of framework/language to use on the server. This in turn will lead you to your options for hosting, and web-container to use.

Once that is determined all major web frameworks will allow you to publish web-services Rest, Soap, etc. that can be consumed by an android application.

Also, if you are planning on providing a web interface and service at the server level, my guess is you are going to be storing a fair amount of data, I would look into a more robust and scalable database such as mysql or postgres. This post contains some insights into this.