Database and API calls - Performance Best Practice

Hi,

Got an app project that would use a lot of data coming from an API. This data would require to be updated at various timeframe, from yearly to real-time. I was wondering if there are best pratices recommandations to handle this kind of data.

I built a very basic prototype to display data from 5+ API calls. I used a repeating group that shows 10 entries at the same time (90% text, 10% png). On page load, it take 3 to 4 seconds to load all the data. When I scroll to display more entries I again have to wait those 3 to 4 seconds to see everything.

In don’t know if it’s because of the preview mode, if my data is to heavy or something else, but that is not great for UX. I came to the idea I need to store the less frequently updated data to a database to ensure faster loading times and better performances. But I am not sure it will be the solution.

So to sump up:

  • what is faster to proceed and load for the app: API data or database data ?
  • in case of a massive database, will the app be experiencing slower performances ?
  • are there limitations in terms of database entries ?
  • are there limitations in terms of API call made by an app (both simultaneously and periodically) ?

Bonus question:

In case I didn’t want to store the data in a database, is there a way to make all the calls on page load to then allow the user to scroll a massive list or entries without experiencing delays ?
In opter words, can I ask the app to fetched all the data when the user begins his session to then speed up data display ?

Thanks for your answers

1 Like

Im interested in an answer to this question, as I have a similar problem. I’ve found that loading all the list into a custom state works relatively quickly, but I have to loop through a paginated API call which takes time (because each API call is called one after the other).