What solutions are there for a Nodejs app control panel? - node.js

Apologies if this should be somewhere else but I was hoping to get some help, I'm currently learning Node whilst building a private project and was wondering what solutions for a control panel/dashboard for the application?
I will be making API requests to check for changes in intervals (the provider does not support sockets) and I would like to log into a dashboard and do things such as change the frequency in which the requests are made. Where would be the best place to start?

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Embed and manage Google Forms in NodeJS app

I have the following use case.
Status quo:
We have a NodeJS app running that is not publicly accessible. We'd like to introduce some kind of form to acquire some data of the users/participants and that is used for another follow-up process upon completion of the form.
As we'd like to have a quick but also nice solution, I thought about embedding a Google Form as an iFrame in the app that we have already prepared some time beforehand. The Google form also gives us some additional features regarding the form creation that I don't know would be available in any Node native libraries or would be time-consuming to build, I assume. Moreover, we are partly working in the Google world so there might be some easy and fluid workflows possible.
Goal:
Now, my goal or rather problem with using the above-mentioned method is that I don't receive any notification, leave alone the responses, upon completion of the form.
I know the responses can be saved in a Sheet in Google Drive that could be requested by the app but I still don't know when someone has filled out the form in the app so that the follow-up process in the app can immediately be triggered.
Is there any way to solve this problem? I maybe thought about a Pub/Sub topic that was pushed to the app but then, again, the app is not publicly accessible.

Hybrid App Development, Database-Driven Content

I've been doing a lot of research, and perhaps just need a few dots connected.
I have an idea for a mobile app/website that contains lists of local eating/drinking establishments along with the deals/specials they offer each day. The idea is to create an app that people can refer to in order to save money on a night out.
I'm familiar enough with HTML/CSS/JS to create a functioning website, but when it comes to backend I'm a little confused. Editing the markup in order to reflect changes (e.g. a new deal starts or new establishment opens up) is a bit cumbersome. Now I know I want a database with my information ready to be displayed on my page. Does this mean that I need to develop my own API for everything, and then make sure it integrates with the hosting website that I end up choosing?
I feel like I'm missing something that should make it obvious what the next step is. Can anyone offer any advice?
The short answer is yes, you are exactly right.
The long answer is that is definetly one way to do it. But, for large projext just using JS can get quite cumbersomoe on your client end. Usually the first level would be using something like ajax. It's a great way to start and you can go a long way with just ajax. This is acutually where most people "start" when using just javascript to make api calls. The next level would be to use a framework like Angular. This will of course do more for you than just help handle api calls and it requires a larger investment in learning.
So that is all client side...
Now for the server side part... When you publish a website you are now dealing with "server-side" content. You have taken your static content and it is served up from the server but it's always the same static content from the server then it becomes dynamic on the client when all the javascript starts getting parsed.
The API is another server side component. But instead of being static like your pages, a bunch of files just sitting there, it is an actual application on the server. It takes a command via an api request and then does its thinking and then spits out a response object dynamically to the requester, which in this case will be the JS on your site.
Now, if you don't like the idea of learning to make your own API there are resources out there that will host an api for you and give you a gui to build your own API. I can't recommend one because I have never used one, but I do work with businesses that do and they love the fact they don't have to hire a dev to make thier apis. The downside is they are tied to that service and limited to the functionality that the service offers. It's not a big limitation as the services are quire powerful but if you are going to be managing complex data sets then it would probably be better to learn to make your own api.
Hope that clears things up a bit for you!

NodeJS and multiple mini programs

I know that this question is going to slightly broad and it is a development theory question.
But I have a client who wants the ability for one nodejs application to be able to host multiple mini programs inside of it using the same structure as the parent nodejs. Without giving too much away, the theory is there is one platform and experimenters could post their experiments and run those experiments within the application in the form of modules. Sorta like cloud9 in theory but with experiments. I will be using shortcodes within the application as room name for socket.io to have the ability to chat within an experiment.
Does anybody have an ideas or could point me to a place where there is something for this? (I will clarify any questions you may have about this project in the comments.)
Thanks for your feedback

How do BAAS solutions both allow custom code and keep things secure?

Baas, backend-as-a-service, solutions like Parse.com and StackMob allow application developers to add and use custom code to run server-side business logic. I'm interested in learning how you could add functions to the app server without disruptions to other applications and keep malicious code from accessing the system or data they shouldn't.
I've searched for any posts or disclosures of how Parse or StackMob might have built up their architectures and have come up empty.
Take a look at how Kii Cloud provides custom server side code that you can add to the backend. It basically runs in a sandbox with some access to the server side API (but it's well defined, the user can only access what they are intended to access). An there are also resource limitations such as time constraints (a piece of server code can take do processing forever).
This is not exactly the internals of Kii but I think server side code in most MBaaS providers reflects on what's the correct way to add server side logic on a running system without disrupting the system.
Please head to community.kii.com if you want to discuss internals with the engineers (we're happy to chat with you).

Browser-based front-end to database-like server app

I am looking to develop a browser-based front-end/client to what is essentially a database-like back-end/server.
The server application will need to access some local hardware I/O and will be logging events to a database (or even a fixed format text file).
The front-end needs to display real-time status of the remote I/O, as well as be able to browse the event log by date. This means that the server will likely need to be able to push to the client as events happen or status changes.
My background is in embedded/firmware, assembly, C/C++, and I have done a fair bit of work with Windows/MFC clients providing UI to devices via TCP/IP, UDP, and serial connections, but I don't have any web based experience.
The number of choices for web development these days is overwhelming, so I am really looking for somebody with experience to point me in the right direction for which technologies/platforms to consider researching. (ie. AJAX, ASP.NET, NODE.JS, Javascript, PHP...)
I suspect providing the information to the front-end will be the easier part, and that the back-end will require two parts (one app/service to interface with the hardware and create a database/file that the other part can access and serve to the client).
What tools/platforms/technologies would you recommend to tackle this, and why?
Any advice is appreciated. (Links to references/tutorials also appreciated).
Thanks!
I would recommend looking at the ext.js framework. This is a client-side framework that is server agnostic that can greatly speed up development. Being a client framework it is based on JavaScript an can talk via AJAX with JSON/XML to server-side systems. It offers a very rich and professional experience and wirth the $595 price tag.
You build most of your application client-side and it can works with almost any back-end. The engine is fast enough to display real-time data and has a strong developer community.

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