Adding an online data store

In the next chapter, we will start to improve the to-do app to support our revised workflow. Before we do this, we need a place to store our data online, which supports device syncing and user sharing. We'll use CouchDB for this.

CouchDB is a NoSQL database that makes certain things very easy: database synchronization, data access (via a built-in REST endpoint), and user management. There are several places to get a free CouchDB database online. We'll use IBM Cloudant to provide this service.

Creating a Cloudant account

IBM Cloudant is an online database host. It's free as long as your monthly usage is less than $50. One alternative is Iris Couch (www.iriscouch.com), which works in basically the same way. For now, let's use Cloudant:

1. Open www.cloudant.com in your browser.
2. Click on Sign Up.
3. Choose your credentials.
4. Click on I agree, sign me up.
5. Click on Add New Database.
6. Name your database lists.
7. Click on API URL to copy the link to your new database...